Last week saw announcements on mental health from both the government and the opposition. With the Liberal Democrats pledging to put mental health on the front page of their election […]
The King’s fund
Bev Fitzsimons: Supporting community providers to improve quality
If you look at how the NHS is represented in the media, healthcare dramas tend to equal hospital dramas: Casualty, Holby City, even the marvellous Getting on. Community services often […]
Chris Ham: The NHS Five Year Forward View—the man matters more than the plan
Something very important happened on 23 October and it wasn’t the publication of the NHS Five Year Forward View. Far more important was the passion and confidence with which Simon Stevens […]
Hugh Alderwick: The ups and downs on the road to health service improvement
Parallels between the successful transformation of the Veterans Health Administration (VA) in the United States and the changes needed in the NHS in England have been made for a number […]
Rachael Addicott and Kieran Walshe: How do CQC hospital inspections measure up?
Over the past few years, we have seen several high profile failures of care in NHS acute hospitals in England, leading many in the system to question the ability of […]
Vijaya Nath: Medical engagement—change or die
More than a year since Robert Francis’s recommendations, and after reports by Don Berwick, Sir Bruce Keogh, and the new Care Quality Commission inspection regime, we are still being challenged to […]
Hugh Alderwick: NHS performance—are we really getting it right?
According to the Commonwealth Fund, in the UK we’re getting it (mostly) right—or, at least, we’re getting it more right than our international counterparts. In their comparative study of health […]
Bev Fitzsimons: Practical tools to improve patients’ experience
At the King’s Fund, we have spoken a lot about the benefits of collective leadership lately. With the challenges currently facing the NHS, leaders at all levels across organisations need […]
Michael West: Collective leadership—fundamental to creating the cultures we need in the NHS
Positivity, compassion, respect, dignity, engagement, and high quality care are key to creating the cultures we need in the NHS. And, just as importantly, we must deal decisively, consistently, and […]
Judith Hibbard: How do people become good managers of their own health?
Within the general population some people actively focus on reaching and maintaining good health, while others are more passive about the whole thing. So what makes the difference? Is learning […]