Funding, news and events from February 2022 

Events 

Webinar: Speeding up NHS service transformation – how can we do better? 

On 23 March we will be joined by Dr Tim Ferris, NHS England’s Director of Transformation, to explore the next steps for service transformation at scale. Find out more and sign up.  

Webinar: Learning from international health care system responses to COVID-19 

On 24 February we were joined by experts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the EU Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and NORC at the University of Chicago to compare international health system's responses to COVID-19. Catch up on the event.  

Current opportunities  

Independent evaluation of IMPACT

We are seeking an evaluation partner to undertake an independent evaluation of the IMProving Adult Care Together (IMPACT) Centre, a new centre for implementing evidence in adult social care, funded by the Health Foundation and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation. Find out more about this opportunity.  

Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Healthcare Data Analytics  

The third round of the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Healthcare Data Analytics is now open for entries. The award is led by Royal Statistical Society and supported by the Health Foundation. Find out more.  

Q Exchange is open for ideas 

Q Exchange is Q’s participatory funding programme. Over the next few weeks Q members will submit ideas for projects focusing on bringing together the worlds of improvement and digital to create faster, more sustainable change. This year the programme is being funded the Health Foundation and the NHS, in partnership for digital health and care. Could you offer insight to help shape and develop these projects? Share your expertise.  

Blogs and long reads 

The Care Act amendment: who is set to lose out?  

The government has proposed an amendment to the Care Act which would change how the social care cost cap is applied. This would significantly reduce the protection against large costs for those in receipt of means-tested support. Here we summarise our independent analysis with the Institute for Fiscal Studies, assessing how this would affect different groups. Read the blog.

Harnessing the potential of automation and AI in health care 

Automation and AI hold significant potential to support the NHS in its recovery, through facilitating improvements in care and productivity. Read our 15 recommendations for how policy makers and the NHS can harness this potential. 

Five tests for tackling health disparities 

While the levelling up white paper recognises the scale of health inequalities, there's no sign of the new measures needed to make significant progress. With a new white paper on health disparities due in the spring and led by Sajid Javid, we set out five tests to make it as ambitious and impactful as possible. 

How can we think long term when the issues facing the health service are so urgent? 

Winter is always a difficult time for the NHS but, this year and last, COVID-19 has made these pressures more extreme than ever. With the backlog of care growing, unfortunately we are likely to see more broken records and longer waiting times. As the REAL Centre enters its second full year, this blog reflects on the growing challenges.  

Public perceptions of the NHS and social care: performance, policy and expectations 

Our long read reveals that the public has a bleak view of government’s NHS policies, with growing concern about workforce challenges. Read more.

Publications  

Does the cap fit? Analysing the government’s proposed amendment to the English social care charging system 

Working with the Institute for Fiscal Studies we explore how government’s proposed amendment to the social care cap will put more people at risk of catastrophic care costs, particularly older people with modest wealth and those in the North East, Yorkshire & the Humber and the Midlands. Read the report to find out more. 

Addressing the leading risk factors for ill health 

Smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity and harmful alcohol use are leading risk factors driving the UK’s high burden of preventable ill health and premature mortality. Our report reviews government policies to address these risk factors and urges stronger action.  

News  

Understanding activity in general practice: what can the data tell us? 

General practice is under pressure, managing high levels of routine work alongside responding to COVID-19. This short analysis explores recent trends in general practice activity in England, and highlights the limitations in general practice activity data. 

Growing problems: What has been the impact of COVID-19 on health care for children and young people in England? 

The pandemic’s effect on children and young people’s health, care and wellbeing has been dramatic and concerning, particularly with regard to mental health. Read the analysis from QualityWatch, a Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation programme. 

Better data is crucial to understanding ethnic inequalities in health care 

Josh Keith, Senior Fellow in Data Analytics at the Health Foundation, comments on the NHS Race and Health Observatory’s report Ethnic inequalities in healthcare: a rapid evidence review. Read his comments.

No let up for staff or patients with NHS facing historic levels of pressure 

The latest NHS monthly performance statistics show there has been no let up for staff or patients, with the NHS reaching historic levels of pressure. Read our response.  

Better integration between services makes sense but is no replacement for properly funding them 

Hugh Alderwick, Head of Policy at the Health Foundation, responds to the government’s integration and social care white paper. 

Staff shortages will undermine efforts to bring NHS waiting lists down 

The NHS elective recovery plan is a step forward, but the challenge is daunting and it needed to go further. Support will also be needed for services outside hospitals, including social care, to ensure they have the necessary resources to recover. Read our response. 

Public has bleak view of government’s NHS policies with high concern about workforce challenges 

Our new polling research with Ipsos shows that only 12% of the UK public agree that the government has the right policies for the NHS. More than half disagree. Find out more.

‘Levelling up’ plan fails to grasp the enormity of the health challenge 

The government’s levelling up white paper fails to join the dots between health and wealth. A ‘whole government’ strategy with health at the centre of every major government policy, is urgently needed. Read our response. 

Evidence hub: What drives health inequalities? 

Our health inequalities evidence hub brings together data, insights and analysis exploring how the circumstances in which we live shape our health. We recently updated our evidence hub, explore the hub to find out more. 

COVID-19 policy tracker 2020 

Our tracker documents government and health and social care system responses to COVID-19 in England in 2020. We track national policy changes in five areas, from health and care system changes to wider social and economic policy. Visit the site. 

This content originally featured in our email newsletter, which explores perspectives and expert opinion on a different health or health care topic each month.