Web site of the month: The NHS if...

www.kingsfund.org.uk/reports/thenhsif/

The NHS if... is a collection of essays from The King's Fund that explores hypothetical scenarios and their likely impact on the future of the NHS and social care.

The aim of the collection is to "encourage new thinking and debate about possible future scenarios that could fundamentally change health and care." Some of the authors are from the King's Fund whilst others are experts in their fields.

The essays are broken down into three broad categories, The NHS and society, Medicine, data and technology and How the NHS works. Within these you will find essays on a broad variety of relevant topics including:

• What if there were community services for older people 24/7?
• What if the antibiotics were to stop working?
• What if people had to pay £10 to see a GP?

The site also allows you sign up by email to get notification whenever a new essay is published.

The NHS if... is a great site for anyone interested in the future of the NHS, the debates around its sustainability and the things that could have a potentially big impact on the way services are delivered.

New social care comparison service launched

Choosing Care

The Government has launched a new service which aims to provide a comprehensive source of information on care services. The site, a part of the NHS Choices service, allows the comparison of residential care homes as well as other care services. It brings together information from a variety of sources including:

• official information from the Care Quality Commission inspection reports on care services
• information from care providers on the specialist services and facilities they offer, with details of staff and other useful information such as sample menus, photos of rooms and gardens
• comments from the public, service users, residents and their families on their own experiences of the care provider, including links to other comment sites
• from next month, the ability for the public to give services star ratings
• official Ofsted-style rating for care services, when they are introduced

Currently there is information on over 8000 providers with more being added.

The site also features information about choosing care services, explanations of different care options and on getting help with the costs of care.

Care and support White Paper published

The Department of Health has published the ‘Caring for our future: reforming care and support’ White Paper, which sets out the vision for a reformed care and support system, with a focus on wellbeing and independent living.

You an also find out more on the Department's Caring for our future web site, including videos featuring ministers, graphics on how the proposed new changes will work, how the bill will affect service users, carers, service providers and professionals, and more.

White paper supporting documentation

• Care and Support Bill factsheets
• Frequently asked questions
• Impact assessment summary
• Impact assessment annex a: reform of adult social care legislation
• Impact assessment annex b: independence, choice and control
• Impact assessment annex c: assessment and eligibility
• Impact assessment annex d: quality providers and workforce
• Equality analysis
• Bringing clarity to quality in care and support
• Government response to the House of Commons Health Committee report on social care
• Reforming the law for adult care and support: the Government's repsonse to Law Commission report 326 on adult social care

Bill supporting documentation

• Q&A on the health-related clauses in the Bill
• Impact assessment - Health Education England
• Impact assessment - Health Research Authority
• Equality analysis - establishing the Health Research Authority as a non-departmental public body
• Equality analysis - establishing Health Education England as a non-departmental public body

Consultations

• Draft Care and Support Bill consultation
• Consultation on new safeguarding powers
• Caring for the future: summary of engagement responses
• Caring for the future: analysis of engagement responses

Responses and reactions

• Age UK
• Alzheimer's Society
• Association of British Insurers
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
• Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
• British Association of Social Workers
• Care and Support Alliance
• The Carers Trust
• Carers UK
• Foundation Trust Network
• Help the Hospices
• Institute of Economic Affairs
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• The King's Fund
• Labour Party
• Law Commission
• Law Society
• Local Government Association
• Macmillan Cancer Support
• Marie Curie Cancer Care
• Mencap
• NHS Confederation
• The Nuffield Trust
• The Patients Association
• PricewaterhouseCooper
• Royal College of Nursing
• Royal National Institute of Blind People
• Social Care Institute for Excellence
• Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers
• Think Local Act Personal
• TUC
• UNISON
• Which?