News
Can social care ever become a true political priority?
3+ hour, 32+ min ago (123+ words) This invisibility means that it rarely becomes a political priority. That is, until is becomes very visible in high-profile debate that is underpinned by fundamental misunderstanding and low awareness." Sadly, these experiences have exacerbated public misunderstanding of social care, reducing…...
Can the new women's health strategy deliver the improvement in healthy life expectancy it has set out to achieve?
5+ day, 10+ hour ago (126+ words) Chart of the week The chart below shows how this ambition compares with recent trends in healthy life expectancy for women, comparing the most deprived and least deprived 10% of the population. Improving healthy life expectancy to the level anticipated in…...
Gaps in support could undermine wave of new pharmacist prescribers entering NHS, warns new report
1+ week, 6+ day ago (403+ words) A major expansion in the number of pharmacist independent prescribers entering the NHS could be undermined by gaps in supervision, training and workforce planning, putting plans to shift more care into the community at risk." A new report from the…...
Is England making progress to improve maternity care?
1+ mon, 2+ day ago (616+ words) Maternal mortality rate is direct and indirect maternal deaths during pregnancy and the first six weeks post birth, per 100, 000 materneties. Data is UK wide. Nuffield Trust analysis of MBRRACE-UK data. Per 100, 000 of babies born at 24 weeks and over in England…...
A question of trust
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (597+ words) The Nuffield Trust Annual Summit provides an opportunity for senior stakeholders to briefly step away from their day-to-day work and perhaps consider new terms to add to their word cloud. This year's Summit proposes trust as a word that has…...
Commissioning: lessons from the last 30 years and implications for the new role of ICBs
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (1187+ words) While much of the noise around the latest round of NHS reform is about abolishing NHS England and the promise of neighbourhood health teams, there has been little scrutiny about the central role that commissioning is set to play in…...
Will the recent raft of policy developments in palliative and end of life care make a difference for patients?
2+ mon, 3+ day ago (315+ words) The bill to legalise assisted dying has brought a new political focus on the provision of end of life care. While it remains possible that the bill will be timed out in parliament and therefore does not pass, there are…...
High stakes: the risks of relying on domestic recruitment to fill social care roles
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (70+ words) The pressure the government feels to bring down net migration has led to some major policy changes. Social care " despite being vital in the lives of many people " is at the sharp end of some of these. Lobont C (2026) "High…...
Nuffield Trust response to cancer target announcements
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (78+ words) Responding to announcements from the National Cancer Plan, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research Sarah Scobie said: "The ambition in today's plan is very welcome, and the government has made the right choice to focus on hitting existing cancer waiting…...
The changing terrain of mental health in A&E: specialised care or the same old bottlenecks?
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (287+ words) In the absence of detailed, large-scale pilot data, this blog uses existing A&E data to explore the mental health care provided currently in A&Es, as well as the gaps and challenges new specialist services will need to overcome…...