Publications

In an article for the BMJ, Veena Raleigh argues for improved mortality data to help fight Covid-19 and understand the longer term trend of stalling life expectancy in the UK.

The King’s Fund, Health Foundation and Nuffield Trust have submitted a joint letter to the Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee warning that it will take many months before NHS and social care organisations are able to fully restart services following the Covid-19 outbreak.

This article was first published on the BMJ website. General practices have been working together in primary care networks (PCNs) for more than a year, but now growing numbers of GPs are threatening to pull out of PCNs and the associated contract. Richard Murray explains how this situation has unfolded and suggests some potential solutions.

The short term hotchpot of measures taken by the government does nothing to stem the growing pressures on social care, says Richard Humphries.

The Care Quality Commission's State of Care report has both reassuring and disturbing messages: reassuring in that the majority of services are good, but disturbing in that there is significant variation in quality and particularly safety.

The current fragmented system of commissioning is clearly unsustainable. While the idea of integrated commissioning is an old one, the approach to achieving it must be decidedly new, writes Lillie Wenzel.

With the right local leadership and central government support, localism could help address the broad range of factors that drive health inequalities in a particular area, writes David Buck.

This edition of Public Finance Perspectives explores the strategies needed to align and integrate local public services across traditional organisational boundaries. In his essay, Chris Ham argues that health payment systems are not fit for the purpose of providing integrated, patient-centred care.

Richard Humphries reviews recent policy initiatives to achieve the closer integration of health and social care.

We speak to Tim Kelsey, National Director for Patients and Information at NHS England, about the role of technology in improving care.

As the post-election dust settles, the Queen’s speech confirms that the integration of health and social care continues as a headline policy commitment, with the better care fund and ‘DevoManc’ as flagship policies intended to make this happen. But will they be enough?

Rather than prescribe a one size fits all solution, an approach agreed locally by CCGs and local authorities is the best way forward for integrated care, says Richard Humphries.

The experience of Blue Cross and Blue Shield in the US offers lessons for the NHS about some of the ingredients needed to improve population health, says Hugh Alderwick.

Social care for older people will be increasingly important as our population ages. So why the silence from politicians?

We speak to writer Nicci Gerrard about her father's hospital care, and her campaign – John's Campaign – that calls for the families and carers of people with dementia to be allowed to remain with them in hospital for as many hours of the day and night as necessary.

All political parties have endorsed NHS plans for greater integration of care in the next parliament. Chris Ham and colleagues use US experience to suggest what is needed to make it happen.

Hugh Alderwick and Chris Naylor discuss provider-led approaches to integration.

Whilst there is now broad consensus across the political and policy firmament that integration is the right direction of travel, past progress and future prospects are beset with obstacles arising from differences in the organisation, funding, governance, accountability and modus operandi of the two systems.

Politicians must look for evidence-based solutions and avoid the NHS becoming a political football, says Chris Ham.