With a few exceptions, medical students have little, if any, training in management, leadership, and service improvement. Yet from the moment they graduate, doctors require a range of such competencies, which become more important as they progress to become consultants and general practitioners. Early exposure to management and leadership should provide the foundation for an […]
Category: The King’s fund
Vinice Thomas: The push for improvement in maternity care
Substandard care within maternity services remains a high profile issue. It seems that every month there is news coverage about failing hospitals, avoidable maternal deaths, and below optimum care provided to mothers. Last month the Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued a formal warning to a hospital outside Greater London following three visits in February 2012. […]
Catherine Foot: Will the Information Strategy start an information revolution?
The Department of Health’s Information Strategy is due to be published next month. It’s been a long time in development—it’s nearly two years since the government consulted on its aim to achieve an “Information Revolution.” So what should the strategy say if it is to start the revolution? Put simply, the strategy needs to address […]
Chris Ham: Inertia rather than privatisation is the biggest threat facing the NHS
The Prime Minister’s summit on implementing the NHS reforms has provided a new focus for debate about what the reforms will mean in practice. The government’s critics maintain that competition will undermine the core values of the NHS to the detriment of patient care. Some of these critics go further to claim that competition will […]
Chris Naylor: Effective chronic care means recognising the importance of mental health
The interaction between physical and mental health has been attracting increasing attention across the political spectrum. Last year, the government recognised the importance of the issue with its mental health strategy “No health without mental health.” And more recently, Andy Burnham chose integration of mental and physical health care as the subject of his first […]
Sarah Waller: We need to make our wards more friendly for people with dementia
The report of the national audit of dementia care in general hospitals 2011, published last week, has put a sharp and timely focus on the care of people with dementia in hospitals and the need for improvements in the physical environment of care. A ward at King’s College Hospital, refurbished as part of The King’s […]
Nick Goodwin: Case management and the urgent need for primary care investment
Over the next decade and beyond, the ageing population and the increased prevalence of chronic disease requires a step change in the way services are delivered. There needs to be a strong re-orientation away from the current emphasis on acute care towards prevention, self care, more consistent standards of primary care, and care that is […]
David Buck: Obesity and public health – a taxing issue
Obesity, and its control, is high on the public health agenda. Recently the Lancet published a series of important papers on the science and social science of obesity and its prevention. According to conservative estimates the projected obesity trends in the UK to 2030 imply 5,450,000 new cases of diabetes, 330,000 cases of coronary heart disease and stroke, […]
Chris Ham: Commonwealth Fund survey: If the NHS is doing well, why is it changing?
The Commonwealth Fund’s survey of the experience of adults with complex care needs, published last week, paints a remarkably positive picture of the NHS. The results show that, of the eleven countries surveyed, the number of patients reporting that they did not use services because of concerns about cost was lowest in the United Kingdom. […]
Anna Dixon: Innovations in the healthcare workforce needed to deliver productivity improvements
The NHS in England faces a huge challenge over the next decade. The tighter public spending settlement for the NHS means the NHS will have to increase productivity in the order of four per cent per annum. The health sector is a labour intensive industry; it will only be possible to deliver productivity improvements by using […]