This review incorporates the views and visions of 2,000 clinicians and other health and social care professionals from every NHS region in England, and has been developed in discussion with patients, carers and the general public. The changes proposed are locally-led, patient-centred and clinically driven. Chapter 2 identifies the challenges facing the NHS in the 21st century: ever higher expectations; demand driven by demographics as people live longer; health in an age of information and connectivity; the changing nature of disease; advances in treatment; a changing health workplace. Chapter 3 outlines the proposals to deliver high quality care for patients and the public, with an emphasis on helping people to stay healthy, empowering patients, providing the most effective treatments, and keeping patients as safe as possible in healthcare environments. The importance of quality in all aspects of the NHS is reinforced in chapter 4, and must be understood from the perspective of the patient's safety, experience in care received and the effectiveness of that care. Best practice will be widely promoted, with a central role for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in expanding national standards. This will bring clarity to the high standards expected and quality performance will be measured and published. The review outlines the need to put frontline staff in control of this drive for quality (chapter 5), with greater freedom to use their expertise and skill and decision-making to find innovative ways to improve care for patients. Clinical and managerial leadership skills at the local level need further development, and all levels of staff will receive support through education and training (chapter 6). The review recommends the introduction of an NHS Constitution (chapter 7). The final chapter sets out the means of implementation.

This book provides a refined clinical guide for evidence-based recommendations in paediatric orthopaedics. Focusing on specific body regions (hip, knees, ankle and feet, spine, shoulder, elbow and wrist and hand) this resource addresses clinical questions related to conditions in these areas. A background section in each chapter sets the scene for the best available practice and also appraises the evidence for its strength and weakness. At the end of each chapter, the authors’ provide recommendations on future research. Evidence-Based Paediatric Orthopaedics: The Best Answers to Clinical Questions has been edited by a team of surgeons with a great interest in evidence-based practice who have brought together an international experts to produce this timely book. A wide spectrum audience including paediatric orthopaedic surgeons, trauma surgeons, orthopaedic residents, emergency department doctors, general practitioners and medical students looking for an evidence based approach to paediatric orthopaedics will find this book to be an essential guide for clinical practice.

A practical, succinct guide to the major health systems around the world and what lessons can be drawn from each about improving health worldwide. The essays are designed to give the reader essential knowledge of the history, strengths, weaknesses and lessons of each health system.

Health Policy: Application for Nurses and Other Healthcare Professionals, Second Edition provides an overview of the policy making process within a variety of settings including academia, clinical practice, communities, and various health care systems.

The independent Commission on Funding of Care and Support, set up by the Government last July, was asked to recommend a fair and sustainable funding system for adult social care in England. This report is the presentation of their findings. Recommendations put forward include: Individuals' lifetime contributions towards their social care costs - which are currently potentially unlimited - should be capped. After the cap is reached, individuals would be eligible for full state support. This cap should be between £25,000 and £50,000. The Commission considers that £35,000 is the most appropriate and fair figure; The means-tested threshold, above which people are liable for their full care costs, should be increased from £23,250 to £100,000; National eligibility criteria and portable assessments should be introduced to ensure greater consistency; and all those who enter adulthood with a care and support need should be eligible for free state support immediately rather than being subjected to a means test. The Commission estimates that its proposals - based on a cap of £35,000 - would cost the State around £1.7billion

The National Health Service remains the sacred cow of British politics – any criticism is considered beyond the pale, guaranteed to trigger angry responses and accusations of bad faith. This book argues that the NHS should not be insulated from reasoned debate. In terms of health outcomes, it is one of the worst systems in the developed world, well behind those of other high-income countries. The NHS does achieve universal access to healthcare, but so do the health systems in every other developed country (with the exception of the US). Britain is far from being the only country where access to healthcare does not depend on an individual’s ability to pay. Author Kristian Niemietz draws on a wealth of international evidence to develop a vision for a universal healthcare system based on consumer sovereignty, freedom of choice, competition and pluralism. His roadmap for reform charts a path from the status quo to a more desirable and effective alternative.

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.