A perfect storm: an impossible climate for NHS providers’ finances?

" The failure to spread good practice is not a result of those in the NHS wilfully ignoring the opportunities to improve. Rather it reflects the inherent challenges of transforming a service as complex as health care."

A perfect storm: an impossible climate for NHS providers’ finances? 
S Lafond, A Charlesworth, A Roberts
The Health Foundation
March 2016

Read more here.

How elite commissioning support units can shape transformation

"This edition of the Health Service Journal supplement looks at commissioning support units and how they can support new models of care." 

How elite commissioning support units can shape transformation
HSJ commissioning
March 2015

Read more here.

Six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff

"There is now an overwhelming body of evidence to show that engaged staff really do deliver better health care. The NHS providers with high levels of staff engagement (as measured in the annual NHS Staff Survey) tend to have lower levels of patient mortality, make better use of resources and deliver stronger financial performance"

Staff engagement: Six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff
The King's Fund
February 2015

Read more here.

Achieving better access to mental health services by 2020

"The introduction of new standards, new payment and new commissioning regimes will drive a much richer set of data about the quality and performance of services for all ages and the outcomes achieved. Much more relevant data, open to patients, the public, providers and commissioners will help to drive improvement and expose and then eradicate unacceptably long waits for treatment."

Achieving better access to mental health services by 2020
NHS England, Department of Health
August 2014

Read more here.

Transforming mental health: a plan of action for London

"This report describes a vision for the future of mental health provision in London, generated through a process of engagement with key stakeholders in the capital. The vision is based on a collaborative, integrated approach towards mental health that is relevant in London and elsewhere."

Transforming mental health: a plan of action for London
H Gilburt, N Edwards, R Murray
The King's Fund
September 2014

Read more here.

Priorities for the next government

"The next government must ensure that the focus on improving quality of care established in the wake of the Francis report is sustained. It will also need to set in train a transformation of services to meet the needs of patients more effectively."

Priorities for the next government
The King's Fund
September 2014

Read more here.

Making our health and care systems fit for an ageing population

"Improving services for older people requires us to consider each component of care, since many older people use multiple services, and the quality, capacity and responsiveness of any one component will affect others."

Making our health and care systems fit for an ageing population
D Oliver, C Foot, R Humphries
The King's Fund
March 2014


Read more here.

Community services: How they can transform care

"The ambition to move care closer to home has resulted in some reduction in lengths of stay in hospital, but further significant changes are needed in the way care is delivered."

Community services: How they can transform care
Nigel Edwards
The King's Fund
February 2014

Read more here.

Service transformation: Lessons from mental health

"Some commentators have drawn parallels between the process of transformation in mental health services and what is now desired in other parts of the health system. However, there has been little detailed exploration of how far that comparison is valid or of the lessons that can be learnt. This report takes mental health services for adults in England as a case study and examines the relevance of this experience to current policy."

Service transformation: Lessons from mental health
Helen Gilburt, Edward Peck, Beccy Ashton, Nigel Edwards, Chris Naylor
The King's Fund
February 2014

Read more here.

Planning and delivering service changes for patients

"This guidance is designed to support CCGs and NHS England with the planning, development and assurance of proposals for major service change and reconfiguration. It provides a high level process, sets out good practice, and explains how to assess proposals against the Government’s ‘four tests’."

Planning and delivering service changes for patients
Strategy Unit - NHS England
December 2013

Read more here.

Leading health care in London

"The aim of this report is to provide an update on the service changes taking place in the NHS in London, and in particular to address the question of who will lead these changes in the NHS structures that came into effect in April 2013."

Leading health care in London: time for a radical response
C Ham, N Edwards, B Brooke
The King's Fund
June 2013

Read more here.

Improving patient safety and health care delivery

"Through a series of projects, APL and Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) have focused on applying a systems approach using engineering principles and best practices to hospital-based care, specifically, care in the ICU."

Systems approach and systems engineering applied to health care: improving patient safety and health care delivery
AD Ravitz, A Sapirstein, JC Pham, PA Doyle
Johns Hopkins APL Techinical Digest, 2013, 31(4) pp354-365

Read more here.

Health care lessons from Japan

"This paper is part of a series that examines the way health services are funded and delivered in other nations."

Health care lessons from Japan
N Esmail
Fraser Institute
April 2013

Read more here.

40 ways to support patient leadership

"Patient Leaders are patients, service users and carers, who work with others at strategic level to influence change in health and healthcare. Patient leadership is more than patient and public engagement and can make a unique contribution to improving services. This Guide - the first of its kind - explains what patient leadership means and the role and purpose of patient leaders."

Bring it on - 40 ways to support patient leadership
Centre for Patient Leadership
April 2013

Read more here.

Transforming our health care system

The King's Fund has outlined ten priorities for commissioning:

1. Active support for self-management
2. Primary prevention
3. Secondary prevention
4. Managing ambulatory care-sensitive conditions
5. Improving the management of patients with both mental and physical health needs
6. Care co-ordination through integrated health and social care teams
7. Improving primary care management of end-of-life care
8. Medicines management
9. Managing elective activity – referral quality 
10. Managing urgent and emergency activity

Transforming our health care system: ten priorities for commissioners
C Naylor, et al.
The King's Fund
April 2013

Read more here.

Tools for continuous quality improvement

This set of tools has been provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and encourage feedback on whether they are helpful for research.

Access the tools here (free registration is required).

Putting QIPP and Francis at the heart of commissioning support

"Implementing QIPP and the Francis report and the need to help commissioners drive transformational change emerged as the key themes of a brainstorming event about developing effective commissioning support."

Putting QIPP and Francis at the heart of commissioning support
Commissioning Excellence
March 2013

Read more here.

Reducing colorectal surgical site infections

"In partnership with the American College of Surgeons, the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare led a multi-institutional collaboration of seven leading U.S. hospitals, which was established to reduce colorectal SSIs."

Reducing colorectal surgical site infections
Joint Commission's Center for Transforming Healthcare
December 2012

Read more here.

Creating change: Innovation, Health and Wealth one year on

This is a progress report in response to last year's Innovation Health and Wealth, accelerating adoption and diffusion in the NHS (IHW). "The only way we will improve outcomes and quality for patients in a tighter economic climate is through innovation – both incremental and disruptive."

Creating change: Innovation, Health and Wealth one year on
Department of Health
December 2012

Read more here.

Driving improvement in A & E services

"Trusts have reduced reattendance rates by providing comprehensive information and followup advice when patients leave A & E."

Driving improvement in A & E services
Foundation Trust Network
October 2012

Read more here.