Sign up with your email address to receive FREE newslettersRecent Media
NHS targets axed in cost-cutting shake-up
James Tapsfield, The Independent, 21/06/2010
Reaction: NHS Operating Framework
Pulse, 21/06/2010
GP funding formula favours doctors in richest areas
Sally Gainsbury, HSJ, 08/04/2010
NHS spends 14% of budget on management, MPs reveal
Denis Campbell, The Guardian, 30/03/2010
Recent Articles
Commissioning needs to be reborn, not killed off
Dr Judith Smith, HSJ, 29/04/2010
Viewpoint - Commissioning unjustly damned
Dr Judith Smith, Healthcare Republic, 22/04/2010
Can the NHS cut costs without substantially damaging the quality of health care? Yes
Rebecca Rosen, BMJ, 14/04/2010
The social policies we want from a new government
The Guardian, 07/04/2010
Recent Publications
Trends in emergency admissions in England 2004 - 2009
Trends in emergency admissions in England 2004 – 2009: is greater efficiency breeding inefficiency?
Giving GPs budgets for commissioning: what needs to be done?
Making progress on efficiency in the NHS in England: options for system reform
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The number one issue facing the NHS in England is reversing the ‘unsustainable’ rise in emergency hospital admissions, our new report warns. The comprehensive analysis of admissions between 2004/05 and 2008/09 reveals there has been an 11.8 per cent rise over this period – resulting in around 1.35 million extra admissions. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of short-stay admissions, while the report found significant variation between NHS hospital trusts. Access our resources:
Publication | Narrated slide show | Podcast | Blog | Key slides
From the Blog
In our latest blogs, Head of Policy Dr Judith Smith and Senior Fellow Ruth Thorlby report from their visits to New Zealand and the US respectively, where they have been examining the commissioning arrangements in both countries. Speaking at some major conferences, they joined international policy-makers and academics in debating health care reform, including many of the ideas contained in the UK Government's health White Paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS. Read their thoughts and join the debate.
Real budgets for GPs
Handing GPs power and responsibility for holding real budgets and commissioning health services is the centrepiece of the Coalition Government’s NHS White Paper. The Nuffield Trust, along with five other national organisations, has published a report that outlines the most critical issues that will need to be addressed if the policy is to work. The report says the policy has real potential to help improve patient care but that there will be significant challenges in engaging GPs and reversing avoidable use of costly hospital care.
NHS White Paper
GP commissioning consortia will need huge investment in their management if they are to transform themselves into organisations that are able to deliver and commission – at scale – high quality care for patients, while challenging large hospitals. That was the verdict of the Nuffield Trust in response to the Coalition Government’s health White Paper. The scale of the challenge is huge and more detail will be needed on how GPs will be held to account for the use of real budgets, it said. Read Nuffield Trust Director Dr Jennifer Dixon's response.
Video: Integrated care
The concept of integrated care has been emphasised as a means to achieve better care for patients and provide greater value for money. In this new video, Nuffield Trust Director Dr Jennifer Dixon examines the latest developments in integrating services between primary, secondary, community and in some cases social care as a way of helping the NHS respond to the financial challenges ahead. Dr Dixon outlines the potential benefits of integrating care services, what the main barriers are, and how competition and choice can be ensured within an integrated system.
The Nuffield Trust's mission is to promote independent analysis and informed debate on UK healthcare policy