UK social care and health policy

Context The adoption of digital technologies by both patients and staff has significantly increased over the last few years. Around 10 million more people in the UK used NHS websites or digital applications in 2021 compared with 2020, and NHS App registrations increased from 2 million people in...

This report from a cross-party coalition including former health and care ministers, employers and unions, makes the economic case for investing in social care, setting out the benefits this investment would have to the wider economy. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, this report emphasises the substantial return on investment that social care could deliver. Potential benefits include improving employment chances for disabled people, reducing pressure on the NHS, reducing costs for employers, levelling up for poorer areas, and building a more purposeful economy.

DEVELOPING A DATA PACT
The relationship between the public, their
data, and the health and care system

NHS Providers

This research shows low public confidence in being able to access NHS services. It finds that a third of adults in England lack confidence that they can access timely care, including GP services, mental health support and hospital care. It also suggests that perceptions of access to NHS care is a health inequality issue, with some of the most vulnerable groups having the lowest confidence that they will get the care they need in a timely way. Healthwatch England

Institute of Health Equity

This document from Care England (a registered charity and a representative body for small, medium and large providers of adult social care in England) sets out the sector’s priorities across three key themes – workforce, funding and integration. The roadmap issues a series of policy recommendations for the next government to implement within 100 days, two years and five years of entering office. The plan is backed by major representative groups from across the sector.

NHS confederation report

Institute of Public Care

 

New perspectives on market facilitation: provider commissioner relationships

 

Martha’s Rule: a new policy to amplify patient voice and improve safety in hospitals Martha Mills died aged 13 in the summer of 2021 and the inquest into her death heard that she would likely have survived the sepsis that killed her had consultants made a decision to move her to intensive care sooner. This report is a response to a call from Martha Mills’ parents to rebalance the power between patients and medics to improve patient safety. It outlines evidence that shows that failing to properly listen to patients and their families contributes to safety problems in the NHS, along with public awareness among citizens that the NHS can feel unresponsive at times.

 

Questions of fairness in health and social care policy decisions: a Socratic approach The Socratic method is a way of teaching attributed by Plato to Socrates that works through teachers asking questions of their students, to clarify students’ thinking and expose the reasons for thinking as they do. This research paper takes the form of a checklist of questions for those who make and implement health and social care policies. The questions cover the broad context of health and care, fairness as a concept, public health, implementation and other topics

Those who work, train and learn within the healthcare system have the right to be safe and feel supported at work. Organisations across the healthcare system need to work together and individually to tackle unwanted, inappropriate and/or harmful sexual behaviour in the workplace.

Harm caused by delays in transferring patients to the right place of care national report. Independent report by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch NI-004133