NHS Groupthink

NHS reorganisation

Dr David Oliver’s ten examples of solutions to the NHS’s problems which are widely accepted but backed by little or no evidence. More details in his  Health Service Journal article.

1. We have too many hospital beds and the very existence of these beds drives activity into hospitals

2. The tariff drives hospitals to admit too many patients in order to guarantee income stream

3. Because bed audits show that 30 per cent of adults in acute beds could be in alternative care settings, we could close the capacity quickly

4. Delivering new models of care in community settings will save money and enable hospitals to close or downsize

5. Emergency admission of someone with frailty or long term conditions can become a ‘never’ event

6. Acute admission rates can be reduced at pace and scale

7. No one ever wants to come to hospital or be in a hospital bed

8. Or be admitted to a nursing home

9. New technologies will solve the problems in our unaffordable system

10. We can’t deliver innovation in community services without letting the market in