This report from UK think tank the Institute for Economic Affairs critiques the generational tobacco ban. The UK government is proposing a generational ban on tobacco sales to anyone born after 2008, overturning the fundamental principle that adults should have autonomy over their own bodies. The generational ban will create absurd situations, such as a...

This report from UK think tank The King's Fund looks at the experiences of hospital discharge funds during winter 2022-2023. Delayed discharges from hospital are a widespread and longstanding problem that can have a significant impact on both patients’ recovery and the efficiency and effectiveness of health and care services. In England, it has become...

This report from UK think tank Reform looks harnessing technology in the fight against AMR. The UK has been a world-leader in the fight against AMR, but further action is needed if we are to slow its spread. One of the key levers in tackling the growth of AMR lies in prescribing: antibiotics are often...

This report from UK think tank Green Alliance looks at how an integrated approach can galvanise better outcomes. How an integrated approach to both the climate crisis and public health can galvanise better outcomes on both fronts. Climate change is here and now, impacting nearly all aspects of human health, despite progress to reduce fossil...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at public services as the UK approaches a general election. The annual Institute for Government/Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) public services stocktake reveals that the government’s spending plans from April 2025 onwards – which Labour have also committed to – will...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at how the government can keep workers in the NHS, schools and police. Public services are responsible for keeping the public safe, healthy and well educated. This relies on the work of millions of people across the country. But that workforce is not a...

This report from UK think tank the Centre for Social Justice looks at the Government's Get Active Strategy. We welcome the ambitions set out in the Government’s recently published Get Active Strategy. However, we now need a clear, strategic national plan delivering on those ambitions—especially for disadvantaged children and young people. This report sets out...

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at reforming health and social care. People are spending more years in sickness than ever before. The number of deaths that could have been avoided with timely healthcare or public health interventions is much higher in the UK than in all other comparable European nations. This is...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation explores the political constraints on public health policies. This is the second of three SMF papers exploring tobacco, alcohol, obesity and gambling policy. It explores the political opportunities and constraints around action on these issues, based on a review of polling evidence and interviews with...

This report from UK think tank Reform presents five major policy ideas for UKHSA. This report from UK think tank Reform sets out some of the key flaws in England’s public health response to COVID-19 and the lessons that should learnt to build greater resilience to future health threats. The English response to COVID-19 was...

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs looks at the empirical evidence of alcohol advertising. The economics literature shows that advertising can increase the sale of individual brands but, in mature markets, does not increase aggregate sales of the type of product being advertised. Public health campaigners claim that a ban...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at whether governments can do without public health regulation. This is the first of three papers from the Social Market Foundation exploring tobacco, alcohol, obesity and gambling policy. It compares different types of policy approach, and concludes that more ‘interventionist’ and apparently politically challenging...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation provides a reality check and new priorities for the NHS on its anniversary. The NHS’ long anticipated workforce plan is finally here, but it won’t be enough to reverse the health spiral of decline. This pamphlet, authored by Lord Norman Warner, outlines ways of trying...

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at how the nature of our health and healthcare has changed profoundly. Since the NHS’ first day in 1948, the nature of our health has changed profoundly. Infectious diseases are less prominent. Median survival following a cancer diagnosis has increased 600 per cent. Long-term conditions like dementia...

This report from UK think the Social Market Foundation examines the state of leadership and management in healthcare. The UK’s healthcare system lags behind those of many comparable countries, despite signs of slow improvement in some areas in the years before the pandemic. In this report, we examine the role that better leadership and management...