Skip to main content
Home The King's Fund

Main navigation

  • Topics
    • Health and care services
      • Adult social care
      • Community services
      • Emergency care
      • General practice
      • Hospital care
      • Long-term conditions
      • Maternity services
      • Mental health
      • New models of care
      • Public health
      • Sexual health care
    • Leadership, systems and organisations
      • Clinical leadership
      • Covid-19
      • Equality and diversity
      • Integrated care
      • Organisational culture
      • Quality improvement
      • Sustainability and transformation plans
      • System leadership
      • Voluntary and community sector
      • Workforce and skills
    • Patients, people and society
      • Carers
      • Children and young people
      • Health inequalities
      • Housing
      • Older people
      • Patient experience
      • Patient involvement
      • Patient safety
      • Population health
      • Public opinion
      • Technology and data
      • Volunteers
    • Policy, finance and performance
      • Access to care
      • Brexit
      • Commissioning and contracting
      • General election 2019
      • Governance and regulation
      • NHS finances
      • NHS five year forward view
      • NHS long-term plan
      • Performance
      • Productivity
      • Social care finances
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • Health and care explained
  • Events
  • Courses
  • Consultancy and support
    • Organisational development
    • Policy and advisory services
    • Library services
  • About us
Newsletter sign up
Newsletter sign up

Publications

Independent research and analysis on health and social care

Listing Content Type

  • All publications
  • Reports
  • (-) Long reads
  • Articles
  • Evidence and consultations
  • Commissioned reports
Share this content
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Email
  • Print this page
  • (-) Health and care services
    • Adult social care
    • Community services
    • Emergency care
    • General practice
    • Hospital care
    • Mental health
    • New models of care
    • Public health
  • Leadership, systems and organisations
    • Clinical commissioning groups
    • Clinical leadership
    • Equality and diversity
    • Health and wellbeing boards
    • Integrated care
    • Local service design
    • Quality improvement
    • Sustainability and transformation plans
    • System leadership
    • Voluntary and community sector
    • Workforce and skills
  • Patients, people and society
    • Carers
    • Health inequalities
    • Patient experience
    • Patient involvement
    • Population health
    • Public opinion
    • Technology and data
  • Policy, finance and performance
    • (-) Access to care
    • Commissioning and contracting
    • General election 2019
    • Governance and regulation
    • Health and Social Care Act 2012
    • NHS finances
    • NHS five year forward view
    • (-) NHS long-term plan
    • Performance
    • Productivity
    • Social care finances
  • 2016
  • 2017
  • 2018
  • 2019
  • 2020
EMH teaser
Long read

The health of people from ethnic minority groups in England

This explainer examines the differences in health outcomes for ethnic minority groups, highlighting the variation across groups and conditions, and considers what’s needed to reduce health inequalities.
Thumbnail
By Veena Raleigh et al - 17 February 2021
Brexit
Long read

Brexit and the end of the transition period: what does it mean for the health and care system?

On Christmas Eve 2020 a new EU-UK trade and co-operation deal was agreed. Jonathon Holmes looks at what the new deal means for the health and care system.
Thumbnail
By Jonathon Holmes - 11 January 2021
Long read

The next steps towards integrated care

This explainer considers NHS England and NHS Improvement’s proposals to further integrate health and care services and describes the associated proposals for legislative change.
Thumbnail
By Richard Murray et al - 9 December 2020 11-minute read
Critical care teaser
Long read

Critical care services in the English NHS

Critical care capacity has been described as ‘the number to watch’ during the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. This updated explainer looks at the number of critical care beds, how critical care units work and how they are staffed.
Thumbnail
By Siva Anandaciva - 25 November 2020
Long read

Community pharmacy explained

Community pharmacy is a critical part of primary care in England, but its role and relationship to the wider NHS is often poorly understood. This explainer looks at the community pharmacy sector in England, explaining how pharmacies are contracted and funded, the types of services they provide and future trends in the sector.
Thumbnail
By Beccy Baird et al - 16 December 2020
Long read

Primary care networks explained

A key part of the NHS long-term plan, primary care networks (PCNs) will bring general practices together to work at scale. But what are they? How are they funded and held accountable? And what difference will they make? Beccy Baird explains the latest form of GP collaboration.
Thumbnail
By Beccy Baird et al - 20 November 2020
Red stethascope teaser
Long read

The 2020/21 update to the GP contract explained

NHS England and the British Medical Association’s general practice committee have negotiated an update to the five-year GP contract framework published in January 2019. This explainer outlines the changes and explains what they mean for the future of general practice.
Thumbnail
By Beccy Baird et al - 19 November 2020
Long read

What is social prescribing?

Social prescribing enables GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services to support their health and wellbeing. But does it work? And how does it fit in with wider health and care policy?
Thumbnail
By David Buck et al - 4 November 2020
Rising cost of medicines teaser image
Long read

Access to new medicines in the English NHS

Have you ever wondered how new medicines are developed, approved and priced? This explainer outlines the long journey from the discovery of a new drug to when it becomes available on the NHS.
Thumbnail
By Ben Collins - 28 October 2020 30-minute read
Long read

How Covid-19 has magnified some of social care’s key problems

The Covid-19 pandemic has not changed the fundamental problems facing social care, but it has exacerbated some of them, says Simon Bottery.
Thumbnail
By Simon Bottery - 25 August 2020 22-minute read
Long read

Deaths from Covid-19 (coronavirus): how are they counted and what do they show?

Veena Raleigh examines the methods being used to count deaths from Covid-19 and discusses what the numbers to date show.
Thumbnail
By Veena Raleigh - 19 August 2020 15-minute read
Long read

The road to renewal: five priorities for health and care

Covid-19 is the biggest challenge the health and care system has faced in living memory; it's essential that lessons are learned from this experience. So how can the system build on this learning to bring about positive change and renewal? This long read sets out five priorities to help guide the approach to renewal across health and care. 
Thumbnail
By Anna Charles et al - 16 July 2020
Long read

What is happening to life expectancy in the UK?

2011 marked a turning point in long-term mortality trends in the UK, with improvements tailing off after decades of steady decline. Veena Raleigh examines the trends in life expectancy.
Thumbnail
By Veena Raleigh - 26 June 2020
GP contracts explainer figure 1
Long read

GP funding and contracts explained

This explainer sets out how general practices are contracted and paid in England, looking at the services they are contracted to deliver, and the different streams of funding they receive.
Thumbnail
By Jake Beech et al - 11 June 2020 9-minute read
Two people standing outside a nursing home
Long read

Social care 360

Updated with 2018/19 data, our 360 review outlines and analyses 20 key trends in adult social care in England over recent years. Using a variety of publicly-available data, it provides a uniquely rounded – ‘360 degree’ – view of the sector.
Thumbnail
By Simon Bottery et al - 6 May 2020
Long read

Testing times: the government’s approach to Covid-19 testing

Testing is a central strand of the government’s approach to tackling the Covid-19 outbreak. This explainer looks at how testing works and the thinking behind the current strategy.
Thumbnail
By David Buck - 1 May 2020
First 100 days of new government
Long read

Health and care: the first 100 days of the new government

We provide a record of the progress made towards meeting the government’s manifesto pledges and campaign commitments during its first 100 days in office.
Thumbnail
By Jonathon Holmes - 27 March 2020
What are health inequalities?
Long read

What are health inequalities?

This explainer provides an overview of how health inequalities are experienced in England’s population.
Thumbnail
By Ethan Williams et al - 18 February 2020
How to build effective teams in general practice
Long read

How to build effective teams in general practice

This guide draws on insights from our research, policy analysis and leadership practice to outline ways in which practices can create and sustain effective teams, as they come together to form primary care networks.
Thumbnail
By Beccy Baird et al - 9 January 2020
Long read

Unconventional health and care: five organisations delivering care differently

How can we make sure that people always receive the compassionate care they need? Ben Collins looks at five organisations that are thinking differently about how they support patients and service users, and considers what we can learn from their unconventional approaches.
Thumbnail
By Ben Collins - 5 December 2019
Long read

Why can't I get a doctor's appointment? Solving the complex issue of GP access

Public satisfaction with general practice is lower now than it has ever been, while the number of people reporting difficulties in booking appointments continues to grow. We run through the proposed solutions to issues around GP access and consider their potential effectiveness.
Thumbnail
By Beccy Baird et al - 21 November 2019
What's your problem, social care? The eight key areas for reform
Long read

What’s your problem, social care? The eight key areas for reform

Different people have different ideas about what’s ‘wrong’ with social care. This long read outlines the eight key issues and the options cited to tackle them.
Thumbnail
By Simon Bottery - 5 November 2019
Long read

Five numbers to sum up the Spending Round for health and social care

Siva Anandaciva takes a look at the key numbers mentioned in the Spending Round (and those that weren’t) add up, and the implications they have for health and social care.
Thumbnail
By Siva Anandaciva - 6 September 2019
Long read

What does the NHS England review of waiting times mean for accident and emergency departments?

As NHS England proposes new waiting times targets, Siva Anandaciva weighs up the impact of the four-hour target and outlines seven key issues for the new standards that have been proposed for emergency departments.
Thumbnail
By Siva Anandaciva - 18 April 2019
Viewing 1 - 20 of 32

Pagination

  • Previous page
  • Current page 1
  • Page 2
  • Next page

Subscribe to our Weekly Update newsletter

""

Health and care explained: How does the health and care system work? How is it changing?

This selection of content aims to make sense of the health and care system – including videos, articles, illustrated summaries and more.

Got a question? Ask a librarian

Quick links

  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Corporate partners
  • Job vacancies
  • Multimedia
  • Press centre
  • Projects
  • Who's who

Connect with us

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Youtube

Latest Tweet

Weekly Update newsletter

Subscribe for a weekly round-up of our latest news and content

Footer

  • Privacy notice and cookies
  • Accessibility
  • Terms and conditions
  • Comments policy
  • Copyright
© The King's Fund 2021 Registered charity: 1126980