Friday, 28 February 2014

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.

Commissioning and funding general practice

"This paper describes the current system of commissioning and funding general practice and how this is being used in four areas of England to develop innovative models of primary care provision."

Commissioning and funding general practice: Making the case for family care networks
Rachael Addicott, Chris Ham
The King's Fund
February 2014

Read more here.

How is the health and social care system performing?

"The Quarterly monitoring report combines publicly available data on selected NHS performance measures with views from NHS trust finance directors, clinical commissioning group (CCG) finance leads, and local authority directors of adult social services."

How is the health and social care system performing? Quarterly monitoring report
The King's Fund
January 2014

Read more here.

Providing integrated care for older people with complex needs

"This report synthesises evidence from seven case study programmes, each from a different country, that are successfully delivering integrated health and social care for older people with complex needs. The aim is to identify lessons for policy-makers and service providers to help them improve how care is designed and co-ordinated."

Providing integrated care for older people with complex needs: Lessons from seven international case studies
Nick Goodwin, Anna Dixon, Geoff Anderson, Walter Wodchis
The King's Fund
January 2014

Read more here.

Thursday, 27 February 2014

NHS safe staffing: not just a number

"The greatest running cost of the NHS is its workforce. The authors show how this aspect of the NHS can too easily be neglected in the policy process, or discussed only in the context of concerns for costs of the NHS payroll...We try to identify some of the potential clinical and financial benefits from more robust workforce data, and the barriers that limit progress towards the adoption of digital technology for the closely linked tasks of rostering, payment, and quality assurance."

NHS safe staffing: not just a number
Tony Hockley, Sean Boyle
London School of Economics and Political Science
January 2014

Read more here.

Capturing Value from Health Technologies in Lean Times

"This Commentary focuses on an emerging, evidence-based policy tool called Health Technology Assessment (HTA). HTA helps inform decision making on how to balance demand and supply pressures for new technologies within a health-system budget. The overarching objective is to obtain the greatest health gains within fiscal constraints by grounding decisions in a clear, transparent and coordinated process."

Capturing Value from Health Technologies in Lean Times
Åke Blomqvist, Colin Busby and Don Husereau
C.D. Howe Institute Commentary,  No. 396 (Canada)
December 2013

Read more here.