Publications

Anna Dixon questions whether the Outcomes Framework offers a coherent guide to help steer the health service through the more difficult financial times ahead.

The Operating Framework sets out the Department of Health's vision for the NHS, bringing together last year's priorities with the proposals on quality.

John Appleby provides a data analysis of the new PCT allocations, looking at the likely impact, particularly in the context of the wider economic climate.

Assesses patients' experiences of hospital care and suggests that staff at all levels help to shape that experience. Proposes two initiatives that have the potential to promote compassion in care.

Through in-depth interviews with GPs, hospital and primary care trust staff in four sites, this report assesses the progress of practice-based commissioning (PBC) and identifies the barriers that are limiting success.

How can technology be used to improve care for patients? This report gives examples of how technology could be used and suggests ways to overcome the obstacles to its adoption.

How can we encourage patients to become more engaged in their own health care and what impact will that have on the NHS? This report presents discussions from an expert seminar.

This update examines how PCTs allocate their spending to different programmes of care, and considers the true effect of the different needs of local populations.

The government is set to empower patients with personal budgets for care, but clear rules must guarantee choices are well informed and cost-effective, say Anna Dixon and Rebecca Ashton

Simon Bird discusses whether clinicians are alwas the best leaders in this 2008 article for the Health Service Journal.

The NHS Next Stage Review outlines a sensible set of measures to transform patient care, but The King's Fund's chief executive Niall Dickson argues that real cultural change will be needed in the health service if the vision is to be translated into reality.

Niall Dickson's BBC Radio 4 Today programme briefing on Darzi, 30 June 2008

The Department of Health commissioned The King's Fund and Loop2 to undertake a simulation-based project to consider the shift in the balance of care from hospital to community settings.

This paper responds to the Department of Health consultation on the framework for the registration of health and adult social care providers.

This report suggests that without the right level and type of investment into mental health care we will all pay the price – not just in wasted resources but also in wasted lives.

Presents the views of doctors and other health professionals on the many challenges to their roles, the way they practise and the nature of their professionalism.

We share the lessons from a pilot programme launched in 2006 to improve environments for care at end of life, with experiences from eight pilot sites.

Ruth Robertson, Anna Dixon and Julian Le Grand consider the factors that explain patient satisfaction with general practice physicians and how this may drive patients' choice of practice.

Free choice, allowing patients to choose a hospital anywhere in England, begins in April 2008. This briefing summarises the most recent data on choice of referral.

The case for change in the health service is irrefutable, argues Niall Dickson, but strong managerial and clinical leadership, astute financial planning and significant changes in working practices will be needed to ensure Lord Darzi's review is truly a 'once in a generation opportunity'.