State of Healthcare 2008

On 10 December the Healthcare Commission published its fifth and final report to Parliament on the state of healthcare in England and Wales. Following publication of the report they applauded improvements in the NHS and called for further efforts to enhance the quality of care and make services more patient-centred.

The report found that the NHS has dramatically improved access to services by driving down waiting times. Now it must focus on enhancing the quality of care by doing more to measure outcomes for patients, the experience of patients, and the journey people make through the system of care.

Key points from the report include:

• The NHS has benefited from major increases in funding and now has more resources than at any time in its history
• Demand for care has also risen dramatically
• The health of the nation is improving
• Services are still not always as patient-centred as they should be and there are groups of patients whose needs are still not sufficiently well served
• The safety of care is higher up the NHS agenda but trusts are still not doing enough to monitor and learn from incidents and ensure good practice is followed

Here are the Mental Health and Learning Disability reports:
 

More information on the State of Healthcare report