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Publications

Independent research and analysis on health and social care

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  • 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
  • 2018
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  • 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.
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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.
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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.
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By Richard Murray et al - 9 December 2020 11-minute read
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.
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By Ben Collins - 28 October 2020 30-minute read
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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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By David Buck et al - 4 November 2020
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.
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By Veena Raleigh - 19 August 2020 15-minute read
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.
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By Veena Raleigh - 26 June 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.
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By David Buck - 1 May 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.
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By Ethan Williams et al - 18 February 2020
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.
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By Beccy Baird et al - 21 November 2019
Long read

The NHS long-term plan explained

On 7 January, the NHS long-term plan was published setting out key ambitions for the service over the next 10 years. In this explainer, we set out the main commitments in the plan and provide our view of what they might mean, highlighting the opportunities and challenges for the health and care system as it moves to put the plan into practice.
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By Anna Charles et al - 23 January 2019
Long read

The NHS 10-year plan: how should the extra funding be spent?

The government has announced increases in NHS funding and has asked the NHS to come up with a 10-year plan for how this funding will be used. After eight years of austerity, there is now an opportunity to tackle the issues that matter most to patients and communities and to improve health and care.
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By Professor Sir Chris Ham et al - 12 July 2018
Long read

The Montefiore Health System in New York: integrated care and the fight for social justice

The Montefiore Health System in the Bronx, New York, has found ways of helping even the most deprived by stepping beyond the bounds of conventional health services.
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By Ben Collins - 25 April 2018
Diagram showing the four main approaches to working with communities in improving health.
Long read

Communities and health

The role of communities in improving population health is receiving increasing, and long overdue, attention in health policy and practice. This piece gives an overview of the different approaches to working with communities for health.
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By David Buck et al - 14 February 2018
Long read

Six ways in which NHS financial pressures can affect patient care

NHS finances are almost at breaking point. What does this mean for people who access health services?
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By Ruth Robertson - 31 March 2016
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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.

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