Earlier this year, the Strategy Unit reported how levels of attendances at consultant-led emergency departments dropped dramatically in the early days of the COVID pandemic. Rates crept back up during the first lockdown but never reached pre-pandemic levels, and rates fell away again as the local tiered and subsequent national lockdowns were imposed. 

Round table event, 12 July

Over a million people in the UK believe they have lingering symptoms of ‘Long Covid’, which can range from brain fog and fatigue to chest pain and breathlessness. In fact, it’s thought that one in five people with Covid will go on to develop longer term symptoms.

“What is an analyst?” 

Dr Anna Lock, Justine Wiltshire and Lucy Hawkins reflect on the Strategy Unit's innovative end of life care analysis. How can this work help clinicians to improve services?

In this blog, Fraser Battye makes the case for localism in the NHS. He tells four short stories. He suggests that these stories highlight an opportunity as the NHS enters a period of reform.  

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be one of the leading causes of death and disease in the UK. It is the leading cause of death in men, second leading cause in women, and around 7.4m of the population currently live with CVD.

The NHS has long identified CVD as a priority. It is one of the main disease groups where primary preventative measures can make a difference. And great progress has been made: over recent decades mortality rates have fallen, as public health and healthcare measures have made inroads into the problem.

In 2020, collaboration and community meant more than ever. And the response to the pandemic highlighted the value of analysis. We needed open and transparent analysis and we wanted to find the ways to share statistical models across the UK and health and social care sector.

So NHS-R Community is looking back and reflecting on how we spent this challenging year.

The UK is running its largest ever vaccination programme. The stakes are enormous. Ending lockdown, reopening schools and large parts of the economy, allowing social contact: so much depends on the NHS’ ability to deliver.

We know that patterns of access to healthcare have changed during the pandemic. We know this will affect people’s health. And we also know that this will be unevenly felt. The more precisely we can analyse these problems, the better our ability to respond appropriately.

Our analysis of access to emergency departments (ED) during ‘Lockdown 1’ contributes to this evidence base. It shows that there was a radical fall in activity, but that this was concentrated in specific ethnic, age and diagnostic groups.

In this blog, Fraser Battye leaves the Strategy Unit’s usual careful and empirical view of the world. He reflects on NHS England and Improvement’s ‘Integrating Care’ paper from the perspective of wider ideological and societal trends. In doing so, he suggests that there is scope for bolder reform – and that localism is the way to go.