The Health Foundation

UPDATED: Our general practice data dashboard brings together a range of data to provide a picture of the current health of general practice in England. It looks at issues from access and activity to continuity of care and patient experience, including indicators on trends in the average number of patients per GP, appointments per patient and total appointments by staff type. Explore the data ⬇️ https://bit.ly/47wGy6E

ICYMI: A round-up of our latest analysis and insights on health and care. • 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗡𝗛𝗦 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸? – Our new polling explores how NHS staff in England feel about using electronic patient record (EPR) systems, and how to get the most value out of them. Read our analysis ➡️ https://bit.ly/3PBPYYt • 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀? – Allison Catalano from the Scottish Health Equity Research Unit explains what learnings from the recent Scottish Social Attitudes survey could mean for future policies to address health inequalities. Read her blog ➡️ https://bit.ly/4v0VhRh To make sure that you are always up to date with our latest work, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and receive our weekly digest direct to your inbox. 📬 Subscribe now ⬇️ https://bit.ly/3PCJyIC

In this blog, Sharlene McGee shares five takeaways on how to embed health benefits in economic development through local approaches: • Joined-up interventions are a win-win for health and the local economy – evidence and local experience show interventions work best when they are delivered as part of a coherent system rather than as isolated projects. • The benefits of agreeing local frameworks – endorsing a joint approach through formal structures helps attract buy-in and shift how resources are allocated. • Quantifying impact is critical for buy-in – demonstrating impact and value is often decisive in securing support, particularly in tight funding environments. • Central government should break down funding siloes and refocus accountability – despite often strong local commitment to joint action across economic development and health, at a national level, vertical funding streams, narrow KPIs and short-term settlements remain major barriers. • Co-design with communities can help avoid widening inequalities – involving communities from the outset is vital to success. Read more and learn about real-world examples of new practices ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4uioFSM

PODCAST: What could public frustration and the rise of challenger parties mean for the NHS? We explore big trends in UK public opinion and ask what they reveal about attitudes to longstanding institutions, like the NHS. Luke Tryl, UK Executive Director of More in Common UK, joins our Chief Executive, Jennifer Dixon. Listen now 🎧 https://bit.ly/4cg4wX4

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics on young people not in education, employment or training shows the importance of health in shaping whether young people can learn or earn. Our Assistant Director of Health Lives David Finch says access to timely support is essential to prevent early setbacks turning into long term disadvantage ⬇️ https://bit.ly/47lHSt6

Welcome to the next episode of our Leading Improvement in Health and Care podcast. In this episode, we're sharing highlights from NHS IMPACT’s National Improvement Conference – an event which focused on how improvement can be led with purpose and embedded across health and care systems. We learn what it takes to move beyond improving individual services and organisations to drive change across whole systems, and in particular, the importance of leadership and how leaders can model the behaviours that enable all staff to improve the care they deliver. You will hear from several of the speakers: - Adam Sewell-Jones, Chief Executive Officer, East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust - Professor Nicola Burgess, Professor of Operations Management, University of York - Andy Hardy, Chief Executive, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust And for the last session of the day, Penny Pereira, our podcast host, hosted a panel discussion exploring how improvement can move beyond individual projects and begin to reshape whole pathways of care with staff and populations. Joining her were: - Caroline Clarke, NHS London Regional Director - David Fillingham, a Chair in the NHS and Chair of the National Improvement Board - Rich Amos, Patient Partner with NHS England This podcast is part of Learning and Improving Across Systems, a partnership between the Health Foundation, NHS Confederation and The Q community to support health and care systems to learn and improve. Hosted by Penny Pereira, Managing Director of Q, each episode aims to spotlight where improvement is working well, as well as the challenges it faces. Listen now 🎧

New Productivity Puzzles episode: What Does it Take to Improve NHS Productivity? Why does productivity vary so widely across NHS organisations? And can technologies such as AI, remote monitoring and better data systems help redesign care for the long term? In this episode of Productivity Puzzles, host Bart van Ark talks with three leading voices, including those behind The Health Foundation's NHS Productivity Commission’s major new report, From Diagnosis to Delivery: A Framework for Accelerating NHS Productivity Growth: • anita charlesworth – Senior Economic Adviser at The Health Foundation and Co‑Chair of the NHS Productivity Commission • Tera Allas CBE – Honorary Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School and Co‑Chair of the NHS Productivity Commission • Professor Mark Britnell – Professor at the Global Business School for Health, UCL, and Chair of Health Innovation Manchester Together, they explore the Commission’s findings, the root causes of variation across the health service, and the opportunities to improve outcomes through smarter organisation, workforce support and targeted innovation. Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eHaGMfCD #NHS #Productivity #HealthcareInnovation #AIinHealthcare #PublicServices #HealthEconomics #ProductivityPuzzles

Our colleagues at SHERU (Scottish Health Equity Research Unit) funded a set of questions in the latest Scottish Social Attitudes Survey asking how people in Scotland understand health inequalities, what they think about the social and structural conditions that shape health and what they believe should be done to address these issues. In this new blog, Allison Catalano, Economics Fellow at SHERU, shares some of the key results and considers what they might indicate for future policies to address health inequalities. Read Allison's blog ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4c2DQIC

NEW: To explore how staff across the health service feel about using electronic patient record (EPR) systems, we commissioned a survey of 1,725 NHS staff members in England between July and October 2025. Key findings include: • EPRs are in widespread use, with 83% of respondents saying they now use them as part of their job in the NHS. • On balance, the NHS staff we surveyed were positive about the impact of EPRs in several areas and felt the systems are already improving both patient care (75%) and patient safety (73%). • 37% of staff felt EPRs are not currently working well in their organisation, with the survey pointing to a mix of frustrations and barriers to effective use. • Only around half (49%) of survey respondents had received training on how to use the EPR system for their role, and less than a third (28%) on how to fix or troubleshoot problems. Read more in our full analysis ⬇️ https://bit.ly/3PVCx5C