In this briefing, The King’s Fund seeks to clarify whether a new government could extract the NHS from European Union procurement and competition rules.
The health care system needs to respond to the growing burden of chronic illness. Many NHS researchers, managers and clinical leaders believe that increased integration within the health service will help to achieve this, and the government has made clear its ambitions that the health reforms should encourage integrated care. ...
The policy of offering patients a choice in where they receive hospital treatment was intended to create competition between providers, encouraging efficiency and responsiveness to patients’ preferences and ultimately to drive up the quality of care. So has the policy met those aims? Since January 2006, patients requiring a referral ...