Hospital trusts productivity in the English NHS

"In 2009, the NHS Chief Executive warned that a potential funding gap of £20 billion should be met by extensive efficiency savings by March 2015. Our study investigates possible drivers of differential Trust performance (productivity) for the years 2010/11-2012/13."

Hospital trusts productivity in the English NHS: uncovering possible drivers of productivity variations: CHE Research Paper 117
MJ Aragon Aragon, A Castelli, J Gaughan
Centre for Health Economics, University of York
October 2015

Read more here.

Review of innovative medicines and medical technologies

"The review has explored the question of accelerated access through four workstreams spanning the development pathway and a fifth focussing on patient engagement in all parts of the pathway. Each workstream has looked across issues concerning drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital health products."

Accelerated access review: Interim report: Review of innovative medicines and medical technologies, supported by Wellcome Trust
October 2015

Read more here.

People-centred health systems in the WHO European Region

"This publication is a collection of personal stories describing experiences in health systems associated with improved health and well-being. While these examples are not intended to replace technical guidance on how to organize, finance or deliver health and social services, they emphasize people-centred approaches from the perspective of patients and carers."

People-centred health systems in the WHO European Region: Voices of patients and carers
World Health Organization
October 2015

Read more here.

Sustainable care pathways guidance

In 2015 the Coalition for Sustainable Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices created an innovative set of guidance to allow users to consistently appraise environmental impacts of health care pathways.

The guidance has been developed to enable sustainability to be considered when designing new models of care, redesigning existing models or investigating the benefits of prevention.

Read more here.

Local solutions to national challenges

"CCGs are now firmly established as key players in delivering quality health services and shaping the long-term future of the NHS. They are local doctors who understand the needs of their areas, focusing on the national priorities of sickness prevention, public health, self-care and care delivered in the community."

Local solutions to national challenges: Delivering our commitment to patients
NHS Clinical Commissioners
October 2015

Read more here.

The 2015 Quality of Death Index

"This is the second edition of the Index, updating and expanding upon the first iteration, which was published in 2010. The new and expanded 2015 Index evaluates 80 countries using 20 quantitative and qualitative indicators across five categories: the palliative and healthcare environment, human resources, the affordability of care, the quality of care and the level of community engagement. To build the Index the EIU used official data and existing research for each country, and also interviewed palliative care experts from around the world."

The 2015 Quality of Death Index: Ranking palliative care across the world
The Economist Intelligence Unit
October 2015

Read more here.

Focus on: People with mental ill health and hospital use

"Our aim for this work is to improve understanding of how people with mental ill health use hospital services differently from those without. The differences observed should help those planning services so that resources are adequately assigned and influence future policies to continue striving towards parity of esteem. The analyses shown here may also provide a new way of understanding the quality of care for those with mental ill health and provide a way to track whether things get better or worse over time."

Focus on: People with mental ill health and hospital use: Exploring disparities in hospital use for physical healthcare
H Dorning, A Davies, I Blunt
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
October 2015

Read more here.