Healthcare in Thoughts from the Centre
Dry January: Is it time to reset your relationship with alcohol?
By Dr Mark Steedman, PhD, Manager, Centre for Health Solutions
Happy 2020 everyone! The New Year and new resolutions often go hand in hand. A new year brings an opportunity for a fresh start, to transform bad habits into good habits or to start something entirely new. For many, this means exercising more, eating healthier foods, spending more time with family or going to sleep earlier, to name only a few common New Year’s resolutions. Increasingly in the UK, people are starting month-long challenges during January to kick-start their resolutions and attempt to create better long-term habits. Dry January is one of these challenges.
Insights from our State of the State 2019-20 report: How health sector leaders and citizens view the outlook for NHS and social care services
By Karen Taylor, Director, Centre for Health Solutions
So the results of the election are now in, and the Conservatives have won a large majority, giving them a mandate to get on with implementing their manifesto promises. During their electioneering, all parties put the NHS and social care at centre stage, with the only differences being how much additional funding and new staff they would provide to tackle the acknowledged decline in performance. In October 2019, my public sector colleagues, together with the think tank Reform, published their eighth annual report, The State of the State 2019-20 the view from citizens, leaders and frontline public services.1 Friday the 13th, the morning after the election, seems like a good time to remind the new Government and those charged with implementing their policies of the 2019 report findings, particularly their findings on the NHS and social care.
2019 Global Survey of health care consumers: United Kingdom cut
By Karen Taylor and Krissie Ferris, Centre for Health Solutions
Since 2008, the Deloitte US Center for Health Solutions has polled a nationally representative sample of US adults (18 and older) about their experiences and attitudes related to their health, health insurance, and health care.1 Earlier this year we helped the US Center design a global survey to help understand what consumers value most about healthcare, and their appetite for digital innovations, including their willingness to share their personal health data. The US Center collected primary data through an online survey, fielded between May and June 2019, in seven countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands Singapore and the UK). It then compared their responses to responses from the US consumer survey conducted in 2018. The US Centre launched their report on the survey last week.2 This week’s blog is our take on the key findings for the UK.
Facts about ‘Flu’ and the chances of a significant outbreak in the UK this winter
By Andrew Bryan, Deloitte Financial Advisory
This summer’s high profile coverage of the ‘Aussie flu’ outbreak Down Under, got me thinking about how much of the coverage is media hype, and whether there is any available data to support the fears about flu outbreaks in the Northern hemisphere. With the UK now entering the flu season, this week’s blog explores my analysis and key findings.
Movember: an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health
By Dr Mark Steedman, PhD, Manager, Centre for Health Solutions
The moustache has a fascinating history – popular at times, eschewed at others, but always competing in the popularity stakes against the beard. From a fashion symbol popularised by monarchs of the past, to practical restrictions on beards but not moustaches because of press articles linking germs with beards and rules preventing bearded men from handling food. As a result, the popularity of the beard versus the moustache has ebbed and flowed.1 I’ve seen this even in my own lifetime. While there were a few famous moustaches that adorned the faces of Hollywood stars and musicians, for the most part, the 1990s saw the moustache fall seriously out of fashion.
Shaping the future of UK healthcare: Closing the digital gap
By Karen Taylor, Director, Centre for Health Solutions
Last month I participated in a panel discussion at the Technology Services Association International Technology-Enabled Care Conference on the subject of Citizen Powered Technological Enablement.1 In anticipation of the panel discussion, I agreed to write a blog on our July 2019 research report Closing the digital gap: Shaping the future of UK healthcare.2 This week, I thought I’d repurpose this blog as a Centre blog, to highlight some the challenges currently being faced in delivering a digital first NHS. Next month we will return to this issue with a focus on primary care.
Will you take on Cancer Research UK’s Veg Pledge challenge this November?
By Krissie Ferris, Research Analyst, Centre for Health Solutions
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is encouraging the nation to take the ‘Veg Pledge’ this November and go vegetarian or vegan for one month.1 Those taking part can obtain plenty of tips, recipes and fundraising ideas from CRUK to help them through their challenge. Being vegan myself, and having just completed my first week at Deloitte, it was great to see so many plant-based offerings on the menu at our snazzy 1 New Street Square canteen. Providing more plant-based options is the main way employers are responding to the cultural shift that is turning more and more people towards plant-based diets (see Deloitte’s 2019 article ‘Plant-based alternatives, Driving industry M&A’).2 However, there are many other approaches that leading companies like Deloitte can take to encourage and inspire plant-based eating in the workplace. This blog explores those opportunities and the benefits of plant-based eating.
Steering the ship – Governance for a new world
By Mark Green, Director Board Advisory
The NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) and the development of STPs, ICSs, ICPs and now PCNs (see Figure 1), not only makes for a mouthful of acronyms, but also raises the prospect of a governance headache. While the LTP requires every NHS organisation and their local partners to become part of a geographically-based ICS by April 2021, and recognises that it’s possible to implement the necessary changes without primary legislation, it also acknowledges that legislative change could make implementation easier and faster.1 However, there are currently limited signs of any primary legislation being introduced in the short to medium term to support and guide the shift in health and care policy.
Can objective knowledge on GM foods change public opinion?
By Elliot Birtwhistle, Deloitte Consulting
Genetic modification (GM) is the process of altering the genes of a living organism. The words invoke images of secret government labs and scientists in white hazmat suits that inject rodents with glowing liquid. The reality is somewhat more nuanced. Genetic modification either inserts a gene, or a small number of genes into a plant or animal – or ‘silences’ an existing gene(s) to produce a genetically modified organism. The applications are widespread and include medicines, consumer products and commercial agriculture. This week’s blog explores some of the issues surrounding GM foods.
The cost-effectiveness of biosimilars: Delivering value for money from pharma spending
By Karen Taylor and Pratik Avhad, Centre for Health Solutions
Two months ago, I participated in a Westminster Health Forum panel discussing Biologics and Biosimilars. My remit was to discuss the cost effectiveness of biosimilars and their contribution to value for money in pharma spending. This week’s blog shares the findings from the research we did for the presentation.