Journal of health services research & policy
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J Health Serv Res Policy · Oct 2013
Choosing health: qualitative evidence from the experiences of personal health budget holders.
Personal health budgets were piloted in the English National Health Service between 2009 and 2012. Semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of early budget holders aimed to explore their experiences of receiving and using a budget. ⋯ Patients' experiences offer valuable insights for the roll-out of personal health budgets beyond the pilot phase. Flexibility in how budgets are used may allow maximum benefits to be derived. Clear information about what budgets can and cannot be used for, with suggestions offered, will be useful. People with newly diagnosed or recent sudden onset conditions may need more help to plan their support, but all budget holders are likely to benefit from regular contact with staff for reassurance and continued motivation.
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J Health Serv Res Policy · Oct 2013
Impact of deprivation on occurrence, outcomes and health care costs of people with multiple morbidity.
This study aimed to estimate the impact of deprivation on the occurrence, health outcomes and health care costs of people with multiple morbidity in England. ⋯ The higher incidence of disease, associated with deprivation, channels deprived populations into categories of multiple morbidity with a greater prevalence of depression, higher mortality and higher costs. This has implications for the way that resources are allocated in England's National Health Service.
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J Health Serv Res Policy · Oct 2013
EditorialEvaluating the Labour Government's English NHS health system reforms: the 2008 Darzi reforms.
Starting in 2002, the UK Labour Government of 1997-2010 introduced a series of changes to the National Health Service (NHS) in England designed to increase patients' choices of the place of elective hospital care and encourage competition among public and private providers of elective hospital services for NHS-funded patients. In 2006, the Department of Health initiated the Health Reform Evaluation Programme (HREP) to assess the impact of the changes. In June 2008, the White Paper, High quality care for all, was published. ⋯ For the rest of the changes, impacts ranged from little or none (CQUIN and care planning for people with chronic conditions) to patchy and highly variable (instilling a culture of quality in acute hospitals) in the three years following the publication of the White Paper. On the other hand, each of the studies identifies important insights relevant to modifying and improving the policies. These findings have continuing relevance since both the 2008 White Paper's policies, and the issues they were focused on remedying, remain central to the current Coalition Government's reform agenda.