From ‘right drift’ to ‘left shift’?

Our Head of Policy, Fraser Battye, looks at the challenges facing the intention to shift care ‘from hospital to community’. He suggests that we have missed a critical part of the explanation for why this ‘left shift’ hasn’t taken place following previous initiatives.

Charisma

In this long read, which first appeared in the HSJ, Fraser Battye - our Head of Policy – looks at the role of charisma and innovation in the way that NHS resources are allocated.

‘NHS 10 Year Plan’: Strategy Unit consultation response

The Strategy Unit’s response to the Government’s current consultation on the ‘10 Year Health Plan’ for England.

Ara Darzi, Wes Streeting and English health policy. Part 2: cutting the knot

Following on from part one, Fraser continues exploring the Gordian Knot of English health policy.

Ara Darzi, Wes Streeting and English health policy. Part 1: the Gordian Knot

Health policy is not at a crossroads, it is in a bind. Strands so entangled, so complex they resemble a Gordian knot. Can this knot be untied?

Want to ease pressure in urgent care? Simply cut community services!?!

What should decision makers do with analysis that challenges deeply held assumptions? In this blog, Fraser Battye reflects on a surprising recent finding about community services.

Ghosted by an old friend

“…personal contact was a vital element in general practice from the beginning. By 1959 50% of people in England regarded their GP as a personal friend.”

Part-time GPs and the decline in continuity of care: a cause or a symptom?

In our recent paper we explore why levels of care continuity have been declining and what might be done to turn things around.

Two sides of the same coin

Hospital demand arising from GPs not seeing patients, is eating into the resources that they would use to manage down the elective backlog. In turn, this is creating more demand for GPs.

Are GP consultation rates rising or falling? Who or what should we believe?

If the "data suggests" GP appointments are substantially higher than pre-pandemic, then what is behind patients reporting recieving fewer appointments?

GP services: new analysis and fresh insights

In our latest analysis for the Midlands Decision Support Network (MDSN), we explore the long standing problem of access to GP practice consultations we consider the implications, and explore potential solutions.

Urgent Community Response – What Works?

The Strategy Unit, with our partners Ipsos, has been commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) to provide a long-term national evaluation of the Urgent Community Response programme rolled-out across England. The programme aims to shift resources to home and community-based services as part of the NHS commitment to providing the right care, to the right people, at the right time. And there are a range of outputs from the early work that provide learning for local systems as they develop their services.

Bringing patient flow modelling into general practice

With general practice appointments hitting the highest numbers on record (34.8 million in England alone in November 2021), careful organisation and planning for patient appointments is increasingly important.

Strategy Unit releases opensource model for planning vaccine centre capacity

The UK is running its largest ever vaccination programme. The stakes are enormous.

Let’s face the music and (not) dance

David Frith leads our strategy consultancy work with NHS and third sector organisations.

Lessons from the Vanguard: Procurement

Scenario planning – an antidote to the false certainties of forecasts and grand plans

The resurgence of uncertainty

Scenario planning – an antidote to the false certainties of forecasts and grand plans

The resurgence of uncertainty

Scoping study: the economics of caring

There is a clear moral case for supporting unpaid carers.