NHS services in the face of increasing demand - what does it mean for patients?

The NHS currently faces unprecedented financial and operational pressures, with commissioners and NHS providers facing significant challenges to providing high quality services to patients with limited resources. This event is the first in a series of events taking place over the next year that will present new IFS research on how the NHS has responded to increases in patient demand in recent years, and what this means for patient health. 

At this event we will present our work on how NHS services respond to unexpected increases in demand. The morning will start with an overview of the challenges and trade-offs faced by the NHS from Paul Johnson (IFS) and Richard Murray (The King's Fund).

This will be followed by sessions focusing on three different NHS hospital services:

• Trauma and Orthopaedics: are NHS hospitals overcrowded?
• Maternity care: temporary closures, and impacts of peaks in admissions on patients.
• Accident and Emergency: what does the 4 hour waiting time target mean for patients? 

After presentations by IFS researchers, there will be a response from key stakeholders and a discussion of broader issues faced by the NHS. There will be time at the end of each session for questions and discussions.

Registration and refreshments will be from 08:30, with the presentations starting at 09:00.  Lunch will be provided for delegates from 12:20 - 13:00.

We are grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council for funding this event through the Impact Acceleration Account held at the IFS.