Will the NHS be on the table for a Pacific trade deal?

Will the NHS be on the table for a Pacific trade deal?
Nuffield Trust 28 June 2021

• Talks have begun for the UK to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This briefing which looks at the key ways in which joining the CPTPP could affect health in this country, should talks on UK accession succeed.

NHS Administration - the patient perspective

Admin matters: the impact of NHS administration on patient care
Kings Fund 24 June 2021

• NHS Administration from the patient perspective and how it affects quality of care. A long read which looks at patient and staff perspectives on what it is like to use NHS admin to understand the impact it can have and where there are opportunities for improvement.

Paper Works: the critical role of administration in quality care
National Voices June 2021

• This report examines the experiences of people who have found administrative problems in the NHS have reduced their ability to access quality care.

The NHS’s role in tackling poverty

The NHS’s role in tackling poverty
Kings Fund 18 March 2021

• This report sets out what the NHS, as the largest economic institution in the country, needs to maximise its contribution to tackling poverty, within its resources and with its partners.

NHS in a nutshell

NHS in a nutshell
Kings Fund

• A series of visualisations presenting essential facts and figures about the NHS, health and social care in England including funding, budget, activity and health inequalities.

What’s next for the NHS? Building the resilience of the health and care system

What’s next for the NHS? Building the resilience of the health and care system
Reform UK, Edge Health February 2021

• The healthcare system is now at a crucial point and a clear plan is needed to increase the Service’s resilience, both by tackling the backlog and implementing changes that will mitigate against delays in routine care and procedures during future crises. This paper seeks to address these “hard truths” and provide a framework for the conversation on the future of the NHS in England by highlighting some of the key questions that should be addressed by Government and policy makers.

Access to new medicines in the English NHS

Access to new medicines in the English NHS
Kings Fund 28 October 2020

• This briefing describes the processes that decide whether NHS services in England will pay for patients to receive new, patented drugs, from the initial development and testing of drugs, to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE’s) appraisal of their effectiveness and negotiations between the NHS and pharmaceutical companies to agree prices.

Health as the new wealth: the NHS’s role in economic and social recovery

Health as the new wealth: the NHS’s role in economic and social recovery
NHS Confederation 21 September 2020

• This report argues that health services have a vital role to play in the wider recovery and rebuilding of local economies and communities – driving up prosperity, population health and wellbeing – in the wake of Covid-19. It highlights the links between health and growth, outlines a five-point plan for every system to build on to maximise their local impact and influence, and showcases innovative practice that is supporting lasting local change.

The history of the NHS - online book

The history of the NHS
Nuffield Trust

• This online book is the new home of NHShistory.net. The book traces the story of the NHS, recounting how it was set up, what happened next, and why.

Commissioning Healthcare in England [book]

Commissioning Healthcare in England: Evidence, Policy and Practice
Edited by Pauline Allen, Kath Checkland, Valerie Moran and Stephen Peckham, April 2020

• A book bringing together research which the Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System (PRUComm) has undertaken during the period 2011 to 2018. The analytical work supports understanding of how NHS commissioning operates and how it can improve services and access, increase effectiveness and respond better to patient and population needs.

Economic downturn and wider NHS disruption likely to hit health hard – especially health of most vulnerable

Economic downturn and wider NHS disruption likely to hit health hard – especially health of most vulnerable
Institute for Fiscal Studies 9 April 2020
Two IFS Briefing Notes describing the future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Recessions and health: the long-term health consequences of responses to the coronavirus
• The wider impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the NHS

How is the NHS structured? - funding and regulation

How is the NHS structured?
Kings Fund 8 April 2020

• Infographics and videos explaining how funding flows in the NHS and how providers are regulated and commissioned.

NHS financial management and sustainability

NHS financial management and sustainability
NAO 5 February 2020

• The National Audit Office has published two reports. The first, NHS financial management and sustainability, looks at the financial and operational performance of the NHS as a whole as well as the financial performance of local NHS organisations. The second, Review of capital expenditure in the NHS, examines the use of the NHS capital budget, which is for replacing and maintaining equipment and buildings.

The economic influence of the NHS at the local level

The economic influence of the NHS at the local level
Kings Fund 16 January 2020

• As the biggest employer in England and a significant economic force in local communities, the NHS has a unique opportunity to use its resources to influence the wellbeing of the population it serves and reduce the health inequalities that exist in England. 
• This long read looks at the NHS’s role within the wider economy from several perspectives – the level of influence the NHS holds through employment and spending; the relative level of earnings in the NHS compared to the wider local economy; and the provision of training, skills and opportunity.

The economic influence of the NHS at the local level

The economic influence of the NHS at the local level
Kings Fund 16 January 2020

• This long read looks at the NHS’s role within the wider economy from several perspectives – the level of influence the NHS holds through employment and spending; the relative level of earnings in the NHS compared to the wider local economy; and the provision of training, skills and opportunity.

NHS pressures in England: Waiting times, demand, and capacity

NHS pressures in England: Waiting times, demand, and capacity
House of Commons Library 17 December 2019

• A highlight summary of trends around NHS waiting times, demand and capacity. 

Health care explained - reading lists

Health care explained
Kings Fund

• Reading lists to accompany the Kings Fund The NHS Explained online course:
• Week 1: history of the NHS, structure of the health and care system, key information about the NHS, international comparisons
• Week 2: funding and finance, commissioning and decision-making, the NHS internal market, privatisation, workforce, and regulation
• Week 3: access and waiting times, financial pressures, quality of care and patient experience
• Week 4: Brexit and the NHS; NHS long-term plan; integration and collaboration; technology and data; the public and the NHS

Building healthier communities: the role of the NHS as an anchor institution

Building healthier communities: the role of the NHS as an anchor institution
Health Foundation August 2019

• Anchor institutions are large, public sector organisations that are unlikely to relocate and have a significant stake in a geographical area. 
• This report identifies five ways in which NHS organisations act as anchor institutions: employment, procurement and commissioning for social value, use of capital and estates, environmental sustainability and as a partner in a place. 
• The conclusion sets out actions and opportunities for the NHS to harness its considerable influence to have an even greater impact on the health and wellbeing of communities.

NHS Long-term Plan: legislative proposals

NHS Long-term Plan: legislative proposals
Health and Social Care Select Committee 24 June 2019

• The Committee found that NHS England and NHS Improvement proposals  for legislative changes to the Health and Social Care Act 2012 in many cases continue the direction of travel towards a more integrated collaborative and placed-based system. It broadly supports NHS England and NHS Improvement’s proposals to:
• to promote collaboration and lessen the role of competition in the NHS, especially the proposal to repeal section 75 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and revoke the regulations made under it;
• remove the Competition and Market’s Authority’s role in mergers of foundation trusts;
• ease the burden procurement rules have placed on the NHS, ensuring commissioners have discretion over when to conduct a procurement process, with the inclusion of a ‘best value’ test; and
• allow greater flexibility locally over payment systems.
• However the Committee comments that the plans remains too NHS-centric rather than looking at the wider system with which it seeks to integrate and that the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement should be clearer about the roles local government, the voluntary and community sector and independent providers should play in the future of the NHS.
• Themes of the report are competition, integrated care, NHS leadership, and Cross-party endorsement of legislative proposals

A timeline of the NHS

Health & social care explained
Nuffield Trust

• An interactive timeline of 70 years of reform and change in the National Health Service, charting its evolution from its inception in the post-war years through to the present day. With accompanying quiz.

NHS financial sustainability

NHS financial sustainability
National Audit Office 18 January 2019

• This report 
• summarises the financial position of NHS England, CCGs and trusts 2017/18
• examines the financial flows and incentives in the NHS and whether these encourage long-term financial sustainability
• examines how local partnerships of health and care organisations are progressing, and what the Department of Health & Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement are doing to support them 

Report conclusions: