Health Service Planning in a British New Town

1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-439
Author(s):  
John J. A. Reid ◽  
Dulcie G. Gooding

The initial postwar development of new towns in Britain took place at a time when the present British National Health Service was in its infancy, and few attempts were made to integrate health service planning into the overall planning process. The more recent new towns have been the object of better social planning and, at the same time, the National Health Service has been substantially unified, at first functionally and, in 1974, administratively. In consequence, attempts have been made to use the opportunities which such towns present for planning health services in a comprehensive and integrated manner. The evolution of a planning and implementation structure for health services in Milton Keynes, a new town with a target population of 250,000, is described, together with some of the implications for the administratively unified National Health Service which came into being in 1974.

Author(s):  
David Lawrence

This chapter shows you how to contribute to planning health services successfully at strategic and operational levels. It first explains what health service planning is and the nature of health services as mainly ‘soft’ systems. It provides a conceptual framework for planning and then goes through steps and tasks in planning. It then suggests some ways of overcoming pitfalls, notes some common fallacies about planning, and provides a real planning case study with its successes and failures. Finally, it notes ways to assess how well you are doing


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Turner ◽  
Natalia Niño

Abstract Background Coronavirus (COVID-19) is posing a major and unprecedented challenge to health service planning and delivery across health systems internationally. This nationally funded study is analysing the response of the Colombian health system to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on qualitative case studies of three local health systems within the country. The approach will be informed by the concept of ‘major system change’—or coordinated change among a variety of healthcare organizations and other relevant stakeholders— to identify processes that both enable and inhibit adaptation of health services to the challenges presented by COVID-19. The study will collect information on capacity ‘bottlenecks’ as well as successful practices and forms of innovation that have emerged locally, which have the potential for being ‘scaled up’ across Colombia’s health services. Methods/design This qualitative study will be undertaken in two phases. In the first, up to 30 stakeholder interviews will be conducted to ascertain immediate challenges and opportunities for improvement in response to COVID-19 that can be shared in a timely way with health service leaders to inform health service planning. The stakeholders will include planning, provider and intermediary organizations within the health system at the national level. In the second, up to 60 further interviews will be conducted to develop in-depth case studies of three local health systems at the metropolitan area level within Colombia. The interview data will be supplemented with documentary analysis and, where feasible, non-participant observation of planning meetings. Discussion The study’s findings will aid evaluation of the relevance of the concept of major system change in a context of ‘crisis’ decision-making and contribute to international lessons on improving health systems’ capacity to respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics. Study findings will be shared among various stakeholders in the Colombian healthcare system in a formative and timely way in order to inform healthcare planning in response to COVID-19 and future pandemics. Conducting the study at a time of COVID-19 raises a number of practical issues (including physical distancing and pressure on health services) which have been anticipated in the study design and research team’s ways of working.


2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 401-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Holloway

SummaryThe Health and Social Care Act 2012 brings in profound changes to the organisation of healthcare in England. These changes are briefly described and their implications for mental health services are explored. They occur as the National Health Service (NHS) and social care are experiencing significant financial cuts, the payment by results regime is being introduced for mental health and the NHS is pursuing the personalisation agenda. Psychiatrists have an opportunity to influence the commissioning of mental health services if they understand the organisational changes and work within the new commissioning structures.


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