We have several publications identifying our collective goals, knowledge and recommendations on a range of issues and policy areas.
Priorities for the Plan
Now the NHS has turned 70, and with the Government preparing a long-term plan for the service in England, a broad range of leaders in charities and voice organisations have come together to offer our views on what should happen next to improve health and care – within the NHS and beyond.
Author Leaders from charities and voice organisations
Published July 2018
Destined to 'Sink or Swim Together': NHS, Social Care and Public Health
There are more than 15 million people in England living with a long-term health problem – more than 1 in 4 of our entire population – who need and deserve good quality health and care. As a country, we also have a responsibility to ensure everyone has the opportunity to live as long and healthy a life as possible. Unfortunately, services are under growing financial pressure and increasingly unable to deliver the timely help people require to manage their health and live well. Furthermore, as pressure mounts on the NHS and social care system to meet the most urgent needs, investment in prevention and public health is falling away.So as the NHS approaches its 70th anniversary, we are calling on Government to deliver an ambitious funding package that sets the NHS, social care system and public health on the right path for the future together.
Author The Richmond Group of Charities
Published June 2018
Long Term Conditions and Physical Activity
To help us understand attitudes and behaviours towards physical activity for people with multiple or wide ranging conditions, we commissioned think tank and research agency Britain Thinks to speak to people from across England. To get a different viewpoint they also spoke to carers, families and friends. Through the research they probed the barriers preventing people with long term conditions from being active and tested the impact of some potential messages aimed at encouraging people to move more.
We have been working with opinion research experts Britain Thinks since 2014 to understand what people have been experiencing, thinking and feeling in the health and care landscape. Now, as the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out continues to gather pace and we look to the future, we are publishing the latest output from this collaboration: the second report in a series aiming to understand the impact Covid-19 has had on people with significant health needs, the wider public and frontline professionals. As did the first report in November 2020, this makes sobering reading but also provides important pointers for those developing the new NHS landscape in 2021 and beyond.We have been working with opinion research experts Britain Thinks since 2014 to understand what people have been experiencing, thinking and feeling in the health and care landscape. Now, as the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out continues to gather pace and we look to the future, we are publishing the latest output from this collaboration: the second report in a series aiming to understand the impact Covid-19 has had on people with significant health needs, the wider public and frontline professionals. As did the first report in November 2020, this makes sobering reading but also provides important pointers for those developing the new NHS landscape in 2021 and beyond.
This is a summary of our ‘Agenda for the next government’ setting out the five priorities we believe the next government must work towards to help people with long-term conditions.
In England, there are at least 15 million people living with a long term health problem, more than 1 in 4 of our entire population, and they need and deserve good quality health and care.
The 15 million people we represent are the core user group of health services and major users of social care: only when these services get it right for this group, can they be said to be serving their proper purpose.
Our ‘Agenda for the next government’ sets out the five priorities we believe the next government must work towards to help people with long-term conditions, and outlines why these issues are so important, and our calls to action for tackling them.
In England, there are at least 15 million people living with a long term health problem, more than 1 in 4 of our entire population, and they need and deserve good quality health and care.
The 15 million people we represent are the core user group of health services and major users of social care: only when these services get it right for this group, can they be said to be serving their proper purpose.
We gathered real life case studies from Richmond Group member charities to show why data is so critical for good healthcare and the tangible benefits which can be gained from its use. Our case studies demonstrate how better data sharing empowers patients and their care teams to work collaboratively and make better decisions, whilst better collection and use of data supports system-wide improvements. However, the healthcare system is currently not set up to enable this, and too often good data use is happening in spite of the system, rather than because of it. The report highlights the significant barriers to good data use we face – including technological barriers, uncertainty around information governance, and a lack of public trust – and calls on everyone responsible for healthcare data across the health and care system to help us realise the true potential of this invaluable resource.
In summer 2016, working in collaboration with the British Red Cross and Royal Voluntary Service, we commissioned The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust to undertake a series of interviews with individuals with experience of using social care services. The aim of this work was to complement and add value to a wider piece of research being undertaken by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust to examine the future sustainability of the social care system, Social Care for Older People: Home Truths.
The personal experiences of people needing care and support and their carers outlined in Real Lives powerfully illustrate the key issues and challenges facing local authorities, policymakers and – most of all – those who depend on services.
In January 2015, we commissioned an in-depth research project to try to understand the future trends for the most prevalent long-term health conditions in the UK, specifically how many people are either dying early from these conditions, or living with continued disability and poor health. We also wanted to identify interventions that could prevent or reduce the incidence of these long‑term conditions that could be applied to the whole UK population, focusing on major lifestyle risks which contribute to those conditions. The Living Longer, Living Well overview report summarises the results of this study, which used the ‘25 by 25’ goals from the World Health Organization (WHO) as a benchmark against which to measure UK trends. The full research findings of the longer study are also available on our website under the title 'the PROMISE study.'
In January 2015, we commissioned an in-depth research project to try to understand the future trends for the most prevalent long-term health conditions in the UK; specifically how many people are either dying early from these conditions, or living with continued disability and poor health. This was undertaken by the British Heart Foundation Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention. We also wanted to identify interventions that could prevent or reduce the incidence of these long‑term conditions that could be applied to the whole UK population, focusing on major lifestyle risks which contribute to those conditions. The Living Longer, Living Well overview report also available on our website summarises the results of this study, which used the ‘25 by 25’ goals from the World Health Organization (WHO) as a benchmark against which to measure UK trends, and this document contains the full research findings. The technical appendix is available on request.
This report is intended to offer a clear strategic direction to achieve the transformational change that is so urgently needed. We have worked with The King’s Fund to translate our themes into outcomes for patients and set out the most important priorities for action to achieve these outcomes.
This publication outlines the five key themes we believe the health and social care system must embrace to be sustainable and to ensure quality, based on The King’s Fund’s independent analysis of evidence submitted by each Richmond Group member. These are: co-ordinated care; patients engaged in decisions about their care; supported self management; prevention, early diagnosis and intervention; and emotional, psychological and practical support. The report explores each of these themes in depth, highlighting the constituent elements and also providing case studies where addressing these themes have led to tangible benefits in outcomes and use of resources.
This report brings together the data we all individually hold about how our beneficiaries, the 15 million people in England with long term conditions, experience their use of health and care services. This unique evidence shows that there are some worrying gaps in long term conditions care which lead to many preventable problems. Too often people are not supported to look after themselves, and their emotional and practical needs, and those of their carers, are frequently ignored. This not only leads to distress and complications for people living with long term conditions, but also means that avoidable pressures on the NHS are increasing.
This infographics sheet accompanies the main Vital signs report and summarises some of the key statistics relating to how our beneficiaries currently experience their use of the NHS.
This report outlines our ambition relating to the prevention agenda, setting out what we believe is required from leaders across government and the health and social care system in order to achieve the World Health Organisation’s 25by25 targets. It makes clear that prevention must occur in every part of people’s lives, across the life course and across the disease pathways. It can then reduce the risk of developing an illness in the first place or help manage an ongoing medical condition. This approach will help to minimise the risks of exacerbation or reoccurrence and ensure that a diagnosis of one condition does not unleash a chain of events leading to many others.
