The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health care and adult social care services in England. This report describes the state of health care and adult social care services in England in 2011/12. The report has two main sections, dealing with the shape of care provision and the quality and safety of services. Each section looks at the different care sectors in turn: NHS healthcare, independent healthcare, dental care and adult social care. Overall the Care Quality Commission found that the increasing complexity of conditions and greater co-morbidities experienced by people are impacting on the ability of care providers to deliver person-centred care that meets individuals needs. It is also seeing increasing pressures on staff, both in terms of the skills required to care for people with more complex conditions and in terms of staff numbers.

This is the Care Quality Commission's first yearly report to Parliament on the state of health care and adult social care in England. It covers the services that the Commission regulates which include: adult social care services (care homes and home care agencies); NHS and independent health care services; and primary care trusts (PCTs) and councils, which provide and purchase health care and adult social care services for their community. Whilst great improvements have been made over recent years there remains unacceptable variation, and a small number of services or organisations do not meet minimum standards of safety and quality. The future presents a major challenge. The Government expects that, in 20 years' time, 1.7 million more adults in England will have a care and support need. At the same time, we are entering a period when public finances will be stretched and expectations of choice and control are increasing. To help meet these challenges, there needs to be real acceleration in joining up health and social care and centring it on people's needs

This book reflects on theoretical developments in the political theory of care and new applications of care ethics in different contexts. The chapters provide original and fresh perspectives on the seminal notions and topics of a politically formulated ethics of care. It covers concepts such as democratic citizenship, social and political participation, moral and political deliberation, solidarity and situated attentive knowledge. It engages with current debates on marketizing and privatizing care, and deals with issues of state care provision and democratic caring institutions. It speaks to the current political and societal challenges, including the crisis of Western democracy related to the rise of populism and identity politics worldwide. The book brings together perspectives of care theorists from three different continents and ten different countries and gives voice to their unique local insights from various socio-political and cultural contexts. Chapter 11 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

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.

What are public health services? Countries across Europe understand what they are or what they should include differently. This study describes the experiences of nine countries detailing the ways they have opted to organize and finance public health services and train and employ their public health workforce. It covers England France Germany Italy the Netherlands Slovenia Sweden Poland and the Republic of Moldova and aims to give insights into current practice that will support decision-makers in their efforts to strengthen public health capacities and services. Each country chapter captures the historical background of public health services and the context in which they operate; sets out the main organizational structures; assesses the sources of public health financing and how it is allocated; explains the training and employment of the public health workforce; and analyses existing frameworks for quality and performance assessment. The study reveals a wide range of experience and variation across Europe and clearly illustrates two fundamentally different approaches to public health services: integration with curative health services (as in Slovenia or Sweden) or organization and provision through a separate parallel structure (Republic of Moldova). The case studies explore the context that explain this divergence and its implications. This study is the result of close collaboration between the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe Division of Health Systems and Public Health. It accompanies two other Observatory publications Organization and financing of public health services in Europe and The role of public health organizations in addressing public health problems in Europe: the case of obesity alcohol and antimicrobial resistance (both forthcoming).

Between April 2012-March 2013, the Commission carried out 35,000 inspections of health and social care services in England. The State of Care report brings together their findings about the quality of these services and also takes a special look at the pressures on accident and emergency. It covers quality of the NHS; independent healthcare; adult social care and primary dental care. Some key findings included that 1 in 5 nursing home inspections revealed safety concerns; 47% of problems uncovered in the NHS were judged to have 'major' or 'moderate' impact on patients; 1 in 10 independent healthcare inspections were not meeting standards of safeguarding and safety; and 7% of dental care inspections raised concerns relating to safeguarding and safety

Adult social care was the first major social policy domain in England to be transferred from the state to the market. There is now a forty-year period to look back at to consider the thinking behind the strategy, the impacts on commissioners and providers of care, on the care workforce and on those who use care and support services. In this book, Bob Hudson meticulously charts these shifts. He challenges the dominant market paradigm, explores alternative models for a post-Covid-19 future and locates the debate within the wider literature on political thinking and policy change.