Funding news and events from July 2022 

Events 

Webinar: How to talk about the building blocks of health 

If we want to change how the public understands health inequalities and to change policy, we need to change how we communicate about the wider determinants of health. Join us on Thursday 15 September, when we will look at how we can make that change. We’ll delve into our new communicators’ toolkit, developed with FrameWorks UK. Sign up now.

Webinar: What does the future look like for the general practice workforce? 

Catch up with our latest webinar from 20 July, joined by Anita Charlesworth, Dr Jennifer Dixon and Rebecca Fisher where they explore what the future looks like for the general practice workforce. Watch the webinar recording.

ITT 

Creative campaign partner for Health Equals 

We are looking to commission a supplier to develop the first public engagement tactic (or tactics) for Health Equals. Health Equals, formally known as the Collaboration for Wellbeing and Health, is a 5-year campaigning initiative developed as part of the Health Foundation’s aim to improve health and reduce inequalities. Apply by midday on Wednesday 10 August. 

Publications

NHS workforce projections 2022 

Government’s 50k nursing target could still leave NHS short of nearly 40k nurses by the next election. New REAL Centre analysis highlights the scale of the long-term workforce challenges facing government. Read the report.

How many hospital beds will the NHS need over the coming decade? 

The NHS has fewer beds per 100,000 population and shorter hospital stays compared to other health systems in comparable countries. While this is a sign of efficiency, increasing demand is now causing critical pressures in hospitals. Read the report.

Projections: General practice workforce in England 

We summarise key findings of our analysis on workforce supply and demand in general practice in England up to 2030/31, focusing on patient care staff (GPs, general practice nurses and other patient care staff).​ Read the report.

Improving children and young people’s mental health services 

Across the UK, children’s and young people’s mental health has been getting worse. New Networked Data lab analysis of local data has identified three key issues for further investigation nationally and locally. Read the briefing.

Blogs and long reads 

What do the public think about taking action to improve health inequalities in Scotland? 

The extent and persistence of health inequalities in Scotland are well known. What do the public think about health inequalities in Scotland? David Finch looks at public attitudes and why they matter. Read his blog.

The capacity challenge: workforce, funding and beds 

Anita Charlesworth rounds up the REAL Centre’s recent work looking at the capacity challenges in the NHS and social care. Read her blog.

Building a healthy society: the role of local government 

Health inequalities exist between and within every local authority in the UK. Alexander Allen and Louise Marshall discuss with local government leaders to identify six key elements to building a whole-council approach to improving health. Read the blog.

The Plan for Digital Health and Social Care: what will be needed to deliver on its ambitions? 

Better use of tech and data offers significant potential to drive faster improvement in health and care. Will the Government’s Plan for Digital Health and Social Care deliver its ambition to modernise the NHS? Read the blog.

News 

Eighteen European health leaders selected for Sciana Network’s fifth cohort 

Congratulations to the 18 new health leaders that have been selected for the fifth cohort of the Sciana Network. Supported by the Health Foundation, Robert Bosch Stiftung and Careum. Find out more.

Unfunded NHS staff pay increase could leave big hole in severely stretched NHS budget 

The pay offer to NHS staff of almost 5% in 2022/23 is more generous than the 3% proposed in the autumn. However, with no new money announced, the increase could leave a big hole in severely stretched NHS budgets. Read more.

Efforts to improve decision making in mental and community health wins Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Healthcare Data Analytics 

A huge congratulations to the Visual Analytics Team at East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT), the winner of the Royal Statistical Society Florence Nightingale Award 2022 for their apps improving patient outcomes across mental and community health. Read more.

Latest NHS data shows severe pressures across health and care system 

The NHS is under severe and unrelenting pressures, with no sign of the respite that used to come in the summer months, says Tim Gardener. Read more.

New analysis reveals future NHS beds shortage 

The NHS has fewer beds per 100,000 population and shorter hospital stays compared to other health systems in comparable countries. While this is a sign of efficiency, increasing demand is now causing critical pressures in hospitals. Read more.

Four UK professionals selected to be Harkness Fellows 2022–23 

A huge congratulations to our four UK Harkness Fellows: Rebecca Fisher, Zainab Garba-Sani, Aoife McDermott and Emmert Roberts, selected by the Commonwealth Fund for their 2022–23 Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice. Read more.

Nick Bateson appointed as Chief Operating Officer at the Health Foundation 

We're delighted to announce that Nick Bateson has been appointed as our new Chief Operating Officer. Nick is currently Director of Finance, Planning and Performance at Office for National Statistic (ONS) and will be starting with us in October. Read more.

A quarter of GP and general practice nursing posts could be vacant in 10 years 

Our latest REAL Centre shows that the NHS in England could face a shortfall of around 38,000 full time equivalent (FTE) registered nurses by 2023/24 relative to the numbers needed to deliver pre-pandemic levels of care. This is despite the expectation that the government could meet its own target of recruiting an additional 50,000 FTE registered NHS nurses by the end of the parliament. Read more.

Plan for Digital Health and Social Care contains important ambitions, but tackling workforce and capacity pressures will be the key to realising the vision 

Responding to the publication of the government’s Plan for Digital Health and Social Care, Dr Malte Gerhold, Director of Innovation and Improvement, said ‘This Plan is a welcome consolidation of the myriad of workstreams on tech and digital going on across the NHS and social care’. Read more.

Podcast

A tale of two hospitals: the pandemic and its aftermath in Berlin and London – with Professor Heyo Kroemer and Professor Tim Orchard

In this episode we look up close at the experience of two large academic teaching hospitals embedded in two different health care systems – the Charité in Berlin, Germany’s largest teaching hospital, and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, one of the UK’s largest. Explore the latest episode.

This content originally featured in our email newsletter, which explores perspectives and expert opinion on a different health or health care topic each month.