Policy

In the 2006 member census, members ranked influencing policy as their top priority for the NHS Confederation.

Our approach

The Confederation's policy work consists of:

• influencing the design of policy and its implementation.
  • upwards (to central government)
  • downwards (to our members)
  • sideways (by connecting members).
    
    
• leading edge policy - trying to define the future agenda and develop our thinking on areas that we identify as up and coming or where there is a gap in current thinking.
  
  
• sector specific issues and cross-cutting/whole system areas.

Why we do it

We apply some key tests before we start a new piece of policy work:

• Are members interested? Is this important to them?
• Do we have or could we develop a coherent policy position - do our members share a common view?
• Are there other stakeholders working on this issue? Would we add value?
• Can we influence government direction?
• Does it strengthen our positioning as leading edge, an independent voice and a representative of the whole NHS family?

How we do it

We work closely with the Department of Health to influence developing policy and get a feel for what's on the horizon whilst also working closely with members to assess their priorities and capture their innovation and best practice.

We hold policy seminars and the mental health policy committee to work through ideas with members, stakeholders and government and form our policy lines.

The team produces the briefings, reports and discussion papers that are circulated to all members and develops conference programmes.

Recent Policy Trends

May to September 2008

This paper explores the top five themes to emerge from our monitoring of policy developments between May 1st and September 30th 2008.

The five themes are:

• Debating the future of the NHS
• Changing patient relationships with the system
• Rationing, fairness and the 'postcode lottery'
• Health Inequalities
• Implementation of Darzi's plans

This was a period dominated firstly by great expectation and speculation about what the Darzi review would bring, followed by analysis and more speculation about whether the NHS could deliver on implementation.

Perhaps prompted by this 'once in a lifetime' review, the past five months have also seen emergence of public debate about the ongoing relevance of the founding principles of the NHS and whether the system is sustainable in its current form. Some of this debate centres on funding mechanisms and in particular variations in funding levels between PCTs (the 'postcode lottery' has featured heavily in the media).

Patients and their changing relationship to the health system have been a persistent theme throughout this period, as has continued agonising about why health inequalities are widening and what the NHS can do about this.

See the link on the right-hand side of this page for the full analysis.