Publications on Health
Jul
2010
Tuesday 27th July, 2010
Careless: Funding long-term care for the elderly
By Henry Featherstone and Lilly Whitham
The Commission on the funding of care and support long-term announced by the Coalition Government should not consider paying for care solely through general taxation.
The report says that free personal care funded out of general taxation, as was introduced in Scotland in 2002, could cost the Government up to £106 billion each year – the equivalent to funding a second NHS. It recommends instead that the Commission considers three specific funding models: the King’s Fund partnership model; a social insurance model as used in Europe, and a hybrid model whereby the State guarantees some level of care, but people are required to top-up for their long term care through insurance or annuity backed products.
Press coverage • Guardian • FT Adviser • BMJ • Health Insurance • Public Service • Citywire • Ashall Glover Financial Services • Money Marketing
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Mar
2010
Thursday 18th March, 2010
Cough Up: Balancing tobacco income and costs in society
By Robert Nash and Henry Featherstone
Smoking is the single, largest preventable cause of serious ill health and kills tens of thousands of people in England every year. It is a popular myth that smoking is a net contributor to the economy – our research finds that every single cigarette smoked costs the country 6.5 pence. In order to balance income and costs, tobacco duty should be progressively increased until the full societal cost of smoking is met through taxation.
Press Coverage • Telegraph • Mirror • Sky News • Press Association • Daily Record • politics.co.uk • Nursingtimes.net
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Thursday 18th March, 2010
Future Foundations: towards a new culture in the NHS
By Bill Moyes and Paul Corrigan
Edited by Henry Featherstone
Writing for think tank Policy Exchange, the architects of the Government’s Foundation Trust programme call for a wholesale change in the culture of the NHS. Currently hampered by tight central control, which stifles innovation and effective delivery of services, their report argues that Ministers and Parliament still assume that the only approach is to exert managerial authority and issue top down instructions.
The report, Future Foundations, is co-authored by Paul Corrigan, former health advisor to Tony Blair and Health Secretaries Alan Milburn and John Reid, and Bill Moyes, who was until recently the Chairman and Chief Executive of the foundation trust regulator Monitor. The report argues that the continuing obsession at the top of Government with ‘being seen to do something’ means that ministers think and act if they were responsible for almost all significant operational decisions, in effect undermining the independence that was at the heart of creating Foundation Trusts.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Feb
2010
Wednesday 17th February, 2010
The Cost of Cancer
By Henry Featherstone & Lilly Whitham
The UK currently has a cancer death rate 6% higher than the European average. However if the survival rates were improved in England to a level commensurate with the best in Europe, on a cumulative basis by 2020, 71,500 lives could be saved and total costs could be reduced by £10 billion.
The report highlights late diagnosis, poor survival rates for older people and those in deprived communities, and relatively poor take up of new treatments and technologies as being the most likely causes behind the UK’s comparatively high mortality rate. Key recommendations include the Department of Health identifying and adopting the best practice in cancer services from high-performing European countries, focusing resources where largest reductions in mortality can be achieved and focusing on cancer prevention strategies.
Coverage • Sky News • The Mail • The Express • The Express II • The Star • Reuters • The Times • The Guardian • The Guardian II • The Telegraph • freshbusinessthinking.com • Health Insurance & Protection • Health Insurance & Protection
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Jan
2010
Thursday 7th January, 2010
Controlling Public Spending: The NHS in a period of tight funding
By Henry Featherstone & Natalie Evans
Our research, which included a roundtable discussion with a number of senior academics and business leaders with expertise in the NHS, considers some of the options for the NHS in a period of tight funding. We believe that in order to protect the NHS into the future the next Government needs to make bold decisions on:
• Performance related pay • Reducing variations in clinical practice • GP fundholding • Decommissioning services • Transformational change project
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Dec
2009
Tuesday 22nd December, 2009
Which Doctor? Putting patients in control of primary care
By Henry Featherstone and Carol Storey
Foreword by Julian Le Grand
A radical new framework to tackle the inequality of primary health care provision has been proposed in this report. The proposals recommend that the majority of NHS funding (£84.4 billion in 2010–11) be distributed on the basis of a patients’ age and postcodes, and that GPs be financially incentivised to set up practices in areas of most need through a ‘patient premium’.
If you would like a hard copy of this report priced at £10 + £3p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
May
2009
Tuesday 26th May, 2009
Hitting the bottle
By Henry Featherstone & Carol Storey
Bank Holiday binge drinking is predicted to cost the NHS £25 million this weekend. Policy Exchange's new report, Hitting the bottle recommends a fundamental overhaul of the alcohol duty regime, to allow for prices to be raised on super-strength beer and ciders, and to promote the production and consumption of lower alcohol products.
If you would like a hard copy of this research note for £4 + £1p&p then please email: janet.batterbee@policyexchange.org.uk
Dec
2008
Wednesday 17th December, 2008
All Change Please
By Professor James Barlow & Jamie Burn.
Edited by Gavin Lockhart.
Even when backed by clear evidence, new technologies and practices inch their way too slowly through the vast web of structures that make up the National Health Service. This is one of the reasons our standards often fall below those of comparable countries. Data collected by the World Health Organisation shows that premature deaths from causes that are preventable with prompt and effective healthcare are higher in the UK than Germany, Canada, Australia and France. A lack of MRI and CT scanners can lead to long waits for diagnostic tests, while shortages in radiotherapy equipment are a factor in our comparatively poor cancer treatment. Among European countries, the UK is consistently below average in the adoption of new drugs for the treatment of certain common cancers. And within Britain, too, there is an unjustifiably wide variation in outcomes of care.
Nov
2008
Monday 10th November, 2008
Weighing In
By Jamie Burn.
As the nations waistlines continue to grow, there is a need for a systematic review into the effectiveness of interventions aimed at tackling obesity, says the latest research by leading think tank Policy Exchange.
And with a quarter of adults in the UK now classified as obese, without effective preventative action this figure could easily rise to nine in ten by 2050.
Jun
2008
Wednesday 4th June, 2008
All Change Please
By Professor James Barlow, Jamie Burn & Gavin Lockhart.
The NHS’ performance in taking up and spreading innovations and existing best practice is variable. All Change Please is an inquiry into what can be done to improve this position.
If a company isn’t innovating, it is running on empty, living on its legacy. It’s the same with public services. There is a real problem spreading innovation and best practice across UK health services. Bringing new ideas into the health service may save lives, raise the quality of the experience for patients or improve productivity. The difficult thing is finding the ideas and bringing them into everyday practice.
All Change Please is the culmination of a nine month enquiry into how the NHS can develop a more innovative culture with the freedom to take on board new ideas. It sets out Professor James Barlow’s preliminary findings and recommendations ahead of the Lord Darzi’s report. Some short case studies of innovations which have failed to spread are included. It is based on a review of the extensive research literature on the adoption and spread of innovation and best practice in health systems across the world and 36 interviews with leading decision makers from healthcare in the UK.
See the Telegraph's coverage of the report here.
