1. The contemporary health-care environment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Jo Samanta ◽  
Ash Samanta
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Health Care Environment ◽  
Care Environment ◽  
Government Response ◽  
The Government ◽  
Contemporary Health Care

This chapter provides an overview of the contemporary health-care environment, with particular reference to the National Health Service (NHS) and its core principles, as well as its constitution. Access to health services, as set out in section 3(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006, is also discussed, together with the quality of care provided for individuals. In addition, the chapter looks at the findings of the Francis Report, which conducted a public inquiry into acknowledged failings in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, the government response to the report, and the future of the NHS. In addition, there is a section on public health and the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. The contemporary healthcare environment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Samanta ◽  
Ash Samanta
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Healthcare Environment ◽  
Public Inquiry ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Government

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter provides an overview of the contemporary healthcare environment, with particular reference to the National Health Service (NHS) and its core principles, as well as its constitution. Access to health services as set out in section 3(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006 is also discussed, together with the quality of care provided for individuals. In addition, the chapter looks at the findings of the Francis Report, which conducted a public inquiry into acknowledged failings in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, the government response to the report, and the future of the NHS.

More Patient Choice in England's National Health Service

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Patient Choice ◽  
Private Provider ◽  
National Quality ◽  
The Government ◽  
English National Health

A new political consensus has emerged over the benefits of new rights for patients to choose their provider of elective health care in the English National Health Service. From December 2005, patients will be able to select from a number of alternative providers at the time they are referred for treatment. In the longer term, patients will be able to access care at any public or private provider that meets national quality and cost standards. The government intends that this policy will lead to improvements in the quality and efficiency of health care and will reduce levels of inequity among patients. Pilot schemes have shown that a majority of patients will exercise a choice of provider when this is offered. However, the policy of patient choice may involve significant costs to the NHS and may be more difficult to implement outside urban areas. Further, the information needed to support patients' choices is not yet available. Whether such a policy will increase or decrease levels of equity in the English NHS remains open to debate.

scholarly journals “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”: Democracy, the Secretary of State for Health and Blame Shifting Within the English National Health Service

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
David I Benbow
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
National Health ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The Government ◽  
English National Health ◽  
English National Health Service

The English National Health Service (NHS) has suffered from a democratic deficit since its inception. Democratic accountability was to be through ministers to Parliament, but ministerial control over and responsibility for the NHS were regarded as myths. Reorganizations and management and market reforms, in the neoliberal era, have centralized power within the NHS. However, successive governments have sought to reduce their responsibility for health care through institutional depoliticization, to shift blame, facilitated through legal changes. New Labour’s creation of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Monitor were somewhat successful in reducing ministerial culpability regarding health technology regulation and foundation trusts, respectively. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition created NHS England to reduce ministerial culpability for health care more generally. This is pertinent as the NHS is currently being undermined by inadequate funding and privatization. However, the public has not shifted from blaming the government to blaming NHS England. This indicates limits to the capacity of law to legitimize changes to social relations. While market reforms were justified on the basis of empowering patients, I argue that addressing the democratic deficit is a preferable means of achieving this goal.

Increasing Patient Charges in the National Health Service: A Method of Privatizing Primary Care

1986 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Birch
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
The Real ◽  
Real Value ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACTFrequent increases in the real value of National Health Service (NHS) patient charges have been made since the Conservative Party's return to office in 1979. For those patients subject to these charges the increases have led to a substantial reduction in the level of subsidization of the cost of the service. The rationale for the subsidization of health care is shown to be unrelated to ‘ability to pay’ considerations. Consequently the ‘backdoor privatization’ of these services is inconsistent with the objectives of the NHS even though the Government has continually committed itself to these objectives. Alternative policies to increasing patient charges are suggested which would encourage the efficient use of NHS resources without compromising NHS objectives.

Accountability for Rationing — Theory into Practice

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 660-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Newdick
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Health Care ◽  
Concept Of Health ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Health Need

Most now recognize the inevitability of rationing in modern health care systems. The elastic nature of the concept of “health need,” our natural human sympathy for those in distress, the increased range of conditions for which treatment is available, the “greying” of the population; all expand demand for care in ways that exceed the supply of resources to provide it. UK governments, however, have found this truth difficult to present and have not encouraged open and candid public debate about choices in health care. Indeed, successive governments have presented the opposite view, that “if you are ill or injured there will be a national health service there to help; and access to it will be based on need and need alone.” And they have been rightly criticized for misleading the public and then blaming clinical and managerial staffin the National Health Service (NHS) when expectations have been disappointed.

scholarly journals The Future of Health Care: Protocol for Measuring the Potential of Task Automation Grounded in the National Health Service Primary Care System (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Willis ◽  
Paul Duckworth ◽  
Angela Coulter ◽  
Eric T Meyer ◽  
Michael Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
The Future

BACKGROUND Recent advances in technology have reopened an old debate on which sectors will be most affected by automation. This debate is ill served by the current lack of detailed data on the exact capabilities of new machines and how they are influencing work. Although recent debates about the future of jobs have focused on whether they are at risk of automation, our research focuses on a more fine-grained and transparent method to model task automation and specifically focus on the domain of primary health care. OBJECTIVE This protocol describes a new wave of intelligent automation, focusing on the specific pressures faced by primary care within the National Health Service (NHS) in England. These pressures include staff shortages, increased service demand, and reduced budgets. A critical part of the problem we propose to address is a formal framework for measuring automation, which is lacking in the literature. The health care domain offers a further challenge in measuring automation because of a general lack of detailed, health care–specific occupation and task observational data to provide good insights on this misunderstood topic. METHODS This project utilizes a multimethod research design comprising two phases: a qualitative observational phase and a quantitative data analysis phase; each phase addresses one of the two project aims. Our first aim is to address the lack of task data by collecting high-quality, detailed task-specific data from UK primary health care practices. This phase employs ethnography, observation, interviews, document collection, and focus groups. The second aim is to propose a formal machine learning approach for probabilistic inference of task- and occupation-level automation to gain valuable insights. Sensitivity analysis is then used to present the occupational attributes that increase/decrease automatability most, which is vital for establishing effective training and staffing policy. RESULTS Our detailed fieldwork includes observing and documenting 16 unique occupations and performing over 130 tasks across six primary care centers. Preliminary results on the current state of automation and the potential for further automation in primary care are discussed. Our initial findings are that tasks are often shared amongst staff and can include convoluted workflows that often vary between practices. The single most used technology in primary health care is the desktop computer. In addition, we have conducted a large-scale survey of over 156 machine learning and robotics experts to assess what tasks are susceptible to automation, given the state-of-the-art technology available today. Further results and detailed analysis will be published toward the end of the project in early 2019. CONCLUSIONS We believe our analysis will identify many tasks currently performed manually within primary care that can be automated using currently available technology. Given the proper implementation of such automating technologies, we expect considerable staff resources to be saved, alleviating some pressures on the NHS primary care staff. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPOR DERR1-10.2196/11232

Renewing the National Health Service: Labour's Agenda for a Healthier Britain

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rae Barrantes
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Point Of Use ◽  
Tier System

In this report the Labour Party gives its view of the current status of the British National Health Service (NHS), and outlines its plans for the NHS under a Labour government. The values underlying the NHS—comprehensive health care, free at the point of use, based on need rather than ability to pay—have been betrayed. The truly national health service, created by a Labour government in 1948, has been replaced by a market-based service led by accountants. Patients are suffering, health care professionals are dissatisfied, some of the nation's finest hospitals are closing, community care is in chaos, and NHS dentistry has all but been privatized. Under the Tories, the NHS faces a future of privatization, competition, and markets, money wasted on bureaucracy, and the unfairness of a two-tier system. Under Labour, the NHS faces modernization, planned progress, money spent on frontline services, and excellence for all. Labour will follow a model of health care that is patient centered and community led, a properly coordinated and efficient public service.

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