New report urges ‘fundamental change’ for UK health and social care

A new report from the King's Fund has called for a "fundamental" change to UK health and social care provision in order to address the needs of the population.

The thinktank's analysis notes that the UK has the second highest rate of mortality resulting from healthcare among 16 high-income countries, with variations in health outcomes between different social groups growing ever wider.

It states that services have failed to keep pace with demographic pressures and changing disease burdens, due to outdated models of care that are too heavily reliant on individual expertise and an overly fragmented structure.

As such, the King's Fund recommends that a more strategic approach needs to be taken to service provision, encouraging a climate of innovation and transformation rather than focusing on short-term fixes.

In particular, it endorses the decommissioning of older care models, embracing new providers as a source of innovation and developing a culture that values peer support for learning and creativity.

Tom Sandford, director of the Royal College of Nursing in England, welcomed the report and said: "If health services are to meet the demands they face, the focus needs to shift to preventing ill health, managing patients with long-term conditions and avoiding expensive hospital admissions."