Publications

In 2009, the English NHS introduced a world-leading initiative in the pursuit of quality health care: the measurement of patients’ views about their own health became a routine part of the delivery of NHS-funded services. So how has this laudable initiative progressed since its initial success? The answer is, sadly, barely at all.

The LGA and ADASS invited senior figures from across the care and support sector to provide their perspective on some of the issues covered in their report, Adult social care funding: 2014 state of the nation. This is Richard Humphries' viewpoint.

The recent party conference season saw a flurry of pledges from the main parties, and we now have a much clearer idea of some of the commitments that will make up their manifestos. So where do the three main parties stand now that the conference season is over?

Richard Murray looks at the issues to consider when designing a better approach to financial failure.

The predictable and understandable reluctance to talk about higher taxation before the election means that the funding challenge facing the NHS is not being adequately addressed.

Rachael Addicott, Ruth Robertson and Shilpa Ross, along with Kieran Walshe and Alan Boyd at Manchester Business School discuss the findings of their report on the CQC's new inspection regime.

We speak to Vijaya Nath, Assistant Director in Leadership Development at The King's Fund. about our study on the impact of medical revalidation.

The Health Service Journal (HSJ) has published its second celebration of health care's most inspirational female leaders with three of The King's Fund's staff being recognised for their work.

As part of the Local Government Association's new campaign, Investing in our nation’s future: the first 100 days of the next government, Richard Humphries details what the Fund would like from the next government in its first 100 days in office.

There are a range of models being explored by the Dalton review to improve NHS provider models in future. Health care management is complex and mulifaceted, so needs to successfully meet varying local health needs, argue Chris Ham and Chris Hopson.

Staff are beginning to question how much longer they can stave off the consequences of unprecedented financial pressure.

John Appleby assesses whether the policy of charging for prescriptions in England is helping or harming the NHS.

We speak to Michael West about how to nurture the sort of leadership that enables positive changes in culture.

Much less emphasis should be placed on the use of external pressures, such as targets and inspection, and much greater priority should be given to reforming the NHS from within.

The government’s NHS reforms were meant to devolve power away from Whitehall. In practice the health service remains one of the most centralised in the world. Bottom-up change is urgently needed.

The fact that people now live longer has been a source of concern for some years now. Many older people say they are happy and report high levels of well-being, while research is beginning to suggest that the proportion of old people with poor health may be reducing. So should this phenomenon be a cause for celebration rather than concern?

Chris Ham reviews this week's news and discusses why we must debate the future funding of NHS and strengthen leadership.

Senior health service staff must be able to engage their workforce to meet the challenge of delivering continually improving, high quality and compassionate care.

This paper, written in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership, shows how collective leadership can be implemented to deliver sustainable culture change and improvements in patient care.

Leadership needs to be shared and distributed throughout the NHS, with leaders engaging with colleagues, says Chris Ham.