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Publications

We place a high value on sharing our work.  Please get in touch if you are interested in a topic which is not shown here.

  • Better use of analysis (21)
  • Elective care (24)
  • (-) Emergency care (15)
  • (-) End of life (5)
  • Evaluation and impact assessment (1)
  • Evidence reviews (1)
  • Finance and payments (5)
  • Futures thinking (1)
  • Inequalities (28)
  • Integrated Care (2)
  • Learning and development (1)
  • Mental health (14)
  • (-) Mental health services (0)
  • Policy (30)
  • Primary, community and social care services (28)
  • Public health and prevention (12)
  • Secondary care (2)
  • Service configuration (1)
  • Service improvement (3)
  • Strategy development (1)
  • Strategy Unit information (1)
  • Comparative Analysis
  • Complex Modelling
  • Economic analysis
  • Evaluation and Impact Assessment
  • Evidence Reviews
  • Futures thinking
  • Learning and development
  • Options appraisal
  • Population Mapping
  • Problem Structuring
September 2023 Emergency care | Inequalities | Primary, community and social care services

Learning about what works in urgent community response

The initial report from the national urgent community response (UCR) evaluation, along with an economic modelling tool to help service providers and systems understand the impact of UCR, is now available.

May 2023 Elective care | Emergency care | Policy

How is growth in diagnostic testing affecting the hospital system?

Diagnostic services, such as medical imaging, endoscopy, and pathology, have grown substantially in recent years and at a faster rate than most other healthcare services. Increased diagnostic testing brings benefits to patients, but rapid growth of this service area within a complex, adaptive…

June 2021 Better use of analysis | Elective care | Emergency care | Inequalities | Primary, community and social care services | Public health and prevention

Less noise and more light: using criteria-driven analysis to tackle inequalities

Reducing health inequality is a long-standing aim of health policy. Yet the gap between policy aim and population outcome has grown in recent years: on most measures health inequalities have got worse.

October 2020 End of life | Inequalities

Health service use in the last two years of life

Health and care services get just one opportunity to support people at the end of their life. When this support is compassionate and appropriate, unnecessary suffering can be avoided and grieving can be eased. When this is not the case, harm and distress can result. The difference in these…

January 2020 Elective care | Emergency care | Finance and payments | Policy | Primary, community and social care services

How will we know if Integrated Care Systems reduce demand for urgent care?

The implications of a blended payment system are far reaching: Decisions about planned activity levels will determine the total funding envelope for urgent care within a system and will influence the behaviour of healthcare providers and the services they deliver to patients.

Thumbnail February 2019 Emergency care | Policy

Waiting Times and Attendance Durations at English A&E Departments

In March 2019, NHS England is expected to report the outcome of its review of constitutional waiting times targets. This report reviews the factors that have led to the decline in performance against one of these targets - the 4-hour target for Accident and Emergency Departments. The analysis…

Thumbnail October 2018 End of life

The Status of Electronic Palliative Care Coordination Systems in the West Midlands

Commissioned by NHS England, this report describes the state of electronic palliative care coordination systems in the West Midlands.  It draws on a review of the literature, interviews with local NHS staff and responses to information requests.  As people approach the end of their lives…

Thumbnail June 2018 Elective care | Emergency care | Policy | Primary, community and social care services | Public health and prevention

Horizontal or Vertical: Which way to integrate?

In 2011, Primary Care Trusts faced a difficult choice. The Transforming Community Services policy required a complete break of commissioner and provider functions. But what should PCTs do with the community health services they delivered; vertically integrate with an acute trust, horizontally…

Thumbnail April 2018 End of life | Inequalities

Palliative and End of Life Care Report for Children and Young People

Commissioned by NHS England, this report describes the the characteristics and levels of resource required by children and young people (CYP) (0-25 years) with life limiting conditions and/or life threatening conditions (LLC). The scope of this report does not attempt to explain or address the…

November 2017 Elective care | Emergency care | Finance and payments | Mental health | Primary, community and social care services

Identifying Potential QIPP Opportunities - Dudley Example

Given the pressures within the NHS, being able to identify opportunities for efficiencies and improvements is vital to inform commissioning intentions.  This report is an example of analytical work which to support commissioners.  The objective of this report is to provide information to…

Thumbnail October 2017 End of life

Palliative and End of Life Care in the West Midlands

Commissioned by NHS England, this report describes the status and context of palliative and end of life care services in the six Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships in the West Midlands. The report contains data on trends and forecast numbers of deaths, place of death, palliative…

Thumbnail September 2017 End of life

Changes in Dementia Incidence, Prevalence, Severity and Mortality

Dementia is a key priority for NHS England and is estimated to affect around 676,000 people in the country.  Our analysis is intended to help understand the need for future dementia diagnosis and treatment services in a specific area and to help commissioners to identify and…

July 2017 Emergency care | Policy

Changes to Admission Thresholds

This analysis builds on a paper, Changes in Admission Thresholds in English Emergency Departments, which explores changes in the casemix of patients attending emergency departments (EDs) and the propensity of EDs to admit patients.  The report incorporates additional analysis commissioned by…

June 2017 Elective care | Emergency care | Mental health | Primary, community and social care services

Stage 2 Clinical Assurance Evidence Framework

Service change assurance exists to give confidence to the NHS and public that proposals are well thought through, have taken on board a wide range of views and will deliver real benefits. At the heart of the NHS England assurance process are the ‘five tests for service change’ that are in the…

Thumbnail November 2016 Elective care | Emergency care | Inequalities

Future Fit - acute hospitals options appraisal

The Strategy Unit worked as a strategic partner of the NHS Future Fit Programme in Shropshire and Telford  & Wrekin from its initiation and until it was able to move to public consultation. A key output was the comprehensive appraisal of acute hospital options, the recommendations from…

November 2016 Elective care | Emergency care | Policy

Integrated Impact Assessment for Major Hospital Reconfiguration

The Strategy Unit worked as a strategic partner of the NHS Future Fit Programme in Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin from its initiation and until it was able to move to public consultation. A key output was a comprehensive Integrated Impact Assessment of acute hospital options that enabled…

Thumbnail May 2016 Elective care | Emergency care | Primary, community and social care services

Integrated care: rapid evidence scan

Exploring what integration can mean in different contexts, we have summarised evidence on effectiveness and cost effectiveness of integrated care, alongside lessons for implementation and considerations for measurement and evaluation.

April 2016 Elective care | Emergency care | Primary, community and social care services

Unplanned admissions: rapid evidence scan

Reducing unplanned admissions is a key priority for local health economies. This rapid evidence scan will help you to navigate the evidence base on various service interventions and their impact on unscheduled care.

Thumbnail December 2015 Elective care | Emergency care

The Effect of Demographic Change on Acute Hospital Utilisation

Recognising that the effect of population ageing can be overstated, we set out to ask what effect an older population will have on demand for health and care services.  Here, we explain why typical approaches ‘overlook the fact that rising life expectancy makes … older people “younger”,…

Thumbnail July 2015 Elective care | Emergency care

Modelling Patients Flows under Potential Configurations of Emergency Centres with Specialised Services

Onsite, 24/7 access to complex vascular surgery, hyper acute stroke services and primary percutaneous coronary interventions are expected to be a pre-requisite for a hospital to be designated as an emergency centre with specialised services. This paper sets out the patient access and patient…

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