Six ways in which NHS financial pressures can affect patient care

"In The King’s Fund report Thinking about rationing, Rudolf Klein and Jo Maybin describe a useful framework for understanding the different ways in which access to high-quality care can be limited by commissioners and providers, building on earlier work by Roy Parker. Their typology outlines six ways in which patients can be affected by financial pressures and provides a useful means of examining what is happening in local health systems."

Six ways in which NHS financial pressures can affect patient care
R Robertson
The King's Fund
March 2016

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Monitoring change in health care through statistical process control methods

"The family of approaches known as statistical process control (SPC) have been widely used for monitoring outcomes in industry and have gained acceptance in many health care settings: usually within an organisation or clinical pathway. However, they are less commonly applied to look at population level changes across organisations: the changes we now see emerging in new models of care. Moreover, SPC methods can be applied to looking at some of the measures (such as changes in emergency admissions) that are commonly used to monitor major programmes of organisational change as seen in, for example, new models of integrated care or the Vanguards."

Monitoring change in health care through statistical process control methods
C Sherlaw-Johnson, M Bardsley
Nuffield Trust
January 2016

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The cost of the cuts: a social impact tool for local authorities

"A major research project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has catalogued and explored the implications of local council savings over the past five years. The aim of the project was to analyse the extent to which the range of measures – activities focused on reducing future needs and costs, reductions in services, changes in eligibility thresholds and consolidations of facilities – has impacted on poorer groups of service users. The result is a social impact tool which enables councils in England and Scotland to replicate a key part of the quantitative analysis undertaken for the study. This user guide introduces that social impact tool."

The cost of the cuts: a social impact tool for local authorities: User guide
A Hastings, N Bailey, G Bramley, M Gannon, D Watkins
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
October 2015

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Moving healthcare closer to home: Literature review of clinical impacts

"As set out in our summary paper, many providers and commissioners facing both demand growth and capacity constraints may be considering these schemes, particularly as they could deliver clinical and patient experience benefits."

Moving healthcare closer to home: Literature review of clinical impacts
Monitor
September 2015

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Socioeconomic impact of inaccurate tests

"The results of this analysis suggest that incorrect HER2 test results have far-reaching clinical and economic consequences."

Immunohistochemical expression of HER2 in breast cancer: socioeconomic impact of inaccurate tests
M Vyberg, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:352

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International responses to austerity

"Financial crisis provides a window of opportunity and stimulus for reform."

Evidence scan 22: International responses to austerity
J Ellins, S Moore, M Lawrie, O Jackson, D Mann, K Singh, R Dam
The Health Foundation
September 2014

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Click here to read a summary from The Commissioning Elf.

Undetermined impact of patient decision support interventions on healthcare costs and savings: systematic review

"Although there is evidence to show that patients choose more conservative approaches when they become better informed,there is insufficient evidence, as yet, to be confident that the implementation of patient decision support interventions leads to system-wide savings."

Undetermined impact of patient decision support interventions on healthcare costs and savings: systematic review
T Walsh, PJ Barr, R Thompson, E Ozanne, C O'Neill, G Elwyn
British Medical Journal, 2014, 348:g188

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Improving the public's health: a resource for local authorities

"This resource presents information on evidence-based actions that can help local authorities increase the impact of their activities on health – and demonstrate that impact to others."

Improving the public's health: a resource for local authorities
D Buck, S Gregory
The King's Fund
December 2013

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Volunteering in acute trusts in England

"Our findings suggest that trusts believe that volunteers play a critical role in improving patient experience, but there is less systematic measurement of how they do so."

Volunteering in acute trusts in England: Understanding the scale and impact
A Galea, C Naylor, D Buck, L Weaks
The King's Fund
November 2013

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Corruption, inequality and population perception of healthcare quality in Europe

"We found robust evidence for the impact of socio-demographic variables on the perception of quality of health care."

Corruption, inequality and population perception of healthcare quality in Europe
Z Nikoloski, E Mossialos
BMC Health services Research, 2013, 13:472

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What should the 'what works network' do?

"This short paper recommends five ways that the What Works centres can ensure that they maximise their impact, and avoid the mistakes of past evidence initiatives, which were often overly focused on supply rather than demand and use, and on academic research to the exclusion of other types of evidence."

What should the 'what works network' do?
R Puttick, G Mulgan
Nesta
May 2013

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Innovation in health economic modelling of service improvements for longer-term depression

"The purpose of the analysis was to develop a health economic model to estimate the costs and health benefits of alternative National Health Service (NHS) service configurations for people with longer-term depression. Cost-effective service improvements for longer-term depression have been identified. Also identified were limitations of the current evidence for the long term impact of services."

Innovation in health economic modelling of service improvements for longer-term depression: demonstration in a local health community
J Tosh, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:150

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Assessing the impact of economic evidence on policymakers in health care

"This is a systematic review of published studies to assess what is known about how economic evidence from cost-effectiveness analysis or cost-utility analysis makes an impact on health care decisionmaking in the United States and in other countries."

Assessing the impact of economic evidence on policymakers in health care: A systematic review
Johns Hopkins University Evidence-Based Practice Center
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
October 2012

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