Decisions about how to allocate resources in health care are as much about social value judgements as they are about getting the medical facts right. In this context, it is important to compare the social preferences of members of the general public with those of National Health Service (NHS) staff involved in service delivery. A questionnaire eliciting peoples' preferences over maximising life...

INTRODUCTION NHS Direct, a leading telephone healthcare provider worldwide, provided 24/7 health care advice and information to the public in England and Wales (1998-2014). The fundamental aim of this service was to increase accessibility, however, research has suggested a disparity in the utilisation of this service related to ethnicity. This research presents the first national study to deter...

As the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) enters its 67th year and a new parliamentary term, eyes are drawn tow ards its future. The health service has made important strides in the past 15 years—public satisfaction in the NHS has almost doubled, cancer survival is at its highest ever, and the service was ranked the highest performing health system by the Commonwealth Fund. Simultaneously, the ...

When the National Health Service (NHS) was founded in 1948, the consultants–medical and surgical specialists–could only be persuaded to come on board by giving them contracts which allowed them to pursue private practice outside the time they devoted to their NHS work. Nye Bevan, the health minister at the time, was accused of " stuffing their mouths with gold, " and many felt the NHS practice ...

INTRODUCTION Timely access to the right kind of support for people experiencing a mental health crisis can be problematic. The voluntary sector (VS) plays a key role in providing support and enabling access, but there is a knowledge gap concerning its contribution and interface with public services in mental health crisis care. This study aims to address this. METHODS AND ANALYSIS The study h...

BACKGROUND Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), in its most severe clinical presentation, can result in patients becoming housebound and bedbound so unable to access most available specialist services. This presents particular clinical risks and treatment needs for which the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advises specialist medical care and moni...

While static microsimulation models of the tax-transfer system are now available throughout the developed world, health microsimulation models are much rarer. This is, at least in part, due to the difficulties in creating adequate base micro-datasets upon which the microsimulation models can be constructed. In sharp contrast to tax-transfer modelling, no readily available microdata set typicall...

BACKGROUND Providers of bariatric surgery within the National Health Service (NHS) are required to provide psychological assessment and intervention, yet operational definitions regarding the purpose and scope of this input are lacking. This has led to significant variation in the provision of psychology, with some providing an assessment-only service and others providing a more comprehensive p...

When the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), or the National Institute for Clinical Excellence as it was then known, was first established in 1999 its responsibilities were twofold. It was charged with providing guidance to the National Health Service (NHS) on the use of (mainly new) health technologies (so-called technology appraisals) on the basis of their clinical a...