Understanding the NHS within the UK Healthcare System

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What is th e NHS?

The NHS stands for the National Health Service. It refers to the Government-funded medical and health care services that everyone living in the UK can use without being asked to pay the full cost of the service. These services include:

What is the difference between the NHS and the NHS?

The NHS used to be a single system covering the whole UK, but following political devolution in 1998 it has been run as four separate health systems. The key organisational difference concerns the so-called internal market, originally introduced to the NHS in 1991 when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.

Why are hospital services a key part of the NHS?

Hospital services remain a key part of the NHS, such as for specialised, surgical or emergency care. Organisations that put patients first, by meeting NHS quality and financial standards, are able to provide NHS funded services. Quality is the overriding priority for the healthcare

How does the NHS work in England?

The diagram below shows the key national, regional and local structures of the NHS in England. Funding flows come from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to NHS England, which allocates funding for the NHS through integrated care boards. NHS providers are accountable to their integrated care board, which is accountable to NHS England.

What is the NHS guidance on digital general practice?

This guidance is part of the NHS organisations with an impact on digital general practice section of the Good practice guidelines for GP electronic patient records. Structures, funding flows and other aspects of the National Health Service (NHS) vary between the UK home countries. This overview looks at the NHS in England only.

How do NHS services share information?

NHS services have historically had numerous ways of sharing, viewing, and moving information around. Sharing information has made use of different technologies, using different operating systems, different languages, system specific standards and confusing acronyms.

What is NHS England?

NHS England is a single regulatory body responsible for overseeing the funding, planning, delivery, transformation, and performance of NHS healthcare in England. The Health and Care Act formalised the mergers of a number of NHS organisations including NHS England, NHS Improvement, Health Education England, and NHS Digital

What Is NHS (as Part Of Healthcare System Discussion)

1. https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/structure-of-the-nhs/
2. https://fullfact.org/health/what-is-the-nhs/
3. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7acf3340f0b66a2fc02f47/9421-2900878-TSO-NHS_Guide_to_Healthcare_WEB.PDF
4. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7206/CBP-7206.pdf
5. https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/reports/nhs-compare-health-care-systems-other-countries
6. https://theconversation.com/britains-national-health-service-one-model-four-systems-81579
7. https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4973
8. https://www.nhsconfed.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/Parliamentary-briefing-NHS-white-paper-2021.pdf
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7406990/

NHS (as Part Of Healthcare System Discussion) Information

1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/putting-data-digital-and-tech-at-the-heart-of-transforming-the-nhs/putting-data-digital-and-tech-at-the-heart-of-transforming-the-nhs
2. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2022-part-1