All articles by Anita Charlesworth
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CommentHow much should NHS staff be paid?
With the 2025-26 pay review body report imminent, Anita Charlesworth analyses different data comparing NHS pay and its implications for policymakers
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CommentInvestment in technology and prevention has to be at the heart of the Budget
The upcoming budget will shape NHS funding for 2025-26, balancing immediate health needs with long-term investment in technology, prevention, and a healthier future economy, writes Anita Charlesworth
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CommentThe next government’s stark choice: increase funding or see care decline
Anita Charlesworth describes the tough choices the new government will face as it tries to balance its ambitions to improve care with fiscal realities.
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CommentSustaining the, apparently, unsustainable
Anita Charlesworth and Malte Gerhold explore the impact of last week’s budget on the NHS.
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CommentThe point of economic growth is to meet increasing healthcare demand
As the demand for healthcare continues to grow amidst an ageing population, new research from the Health Foundation and the University of Liverpool sheds light on the scale of the challenges ahead. While living longer is a cause for celebration, it will require significant adjustments to meet the rising demand ...
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CommentDivide and rule on NHS pay would be disastrous
The government’s proposed settlement to resolve the current wave of industrial action sows the seeds of some incredibly difficult and possibly decisive changes to NHS pay in the future, write Anita Charlesworth and James Buchan
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CommentHunt has averted a crisis - but for how long?
An additional £3.3bn per year for NHS England in both 2023-24 and 2024-25 was a better outcome than most people probably expected. But how far will this additional funding go toward meeting the challenges that services face? writes, Anita Charlesworth
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CommentThe challenge facing Johnson's successor
Even as political winds shift, it’s imperative that future public and political debate on taxes and public spending on NHS is rooted in a clear understanding of the nature and scale of the challenges facing the NHS, writes Anita Charlesworth
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CommentNext week’s budget will offer little for the NHS
The Spring Statement comes just a few weeks before the NHS and social care levy is due to be introduced. Anita Charlesworth explores its possible impacts on finance and workforce
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CommentHow the new payment system for the NHS could succeed or fail
The direction of travel for NHS payments, away from payment by results, towards a blended system, remains the right approach, write Matthew Bell, Anita Charlesworth and Richard Lewis
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CommentThe new NHS Bill is an ideal opportunity to improve workforce planning
Over the next decade the NHS will need a funding settlement that reflects the challenge of recruiting and retaining enough staff, catering to the quality of workforce planning, writes Anita Charlesworth.
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CommentThe chancellor’s spending squeeze signals a long period of austerity
While the chancellor is going big on the rescue phase of covid, the Budget was silent on how to recover health and social care after the pandemic, writes Anita Charlesworth
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CommentThe government's grasp of the NHS's recovery challenge is questionable
The spending review raises real concerns about whether the government fully grasps the scale of the recovery challenge, writes Anita Charlesworth
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CommentIt is policy not demographics that drives NHS funding choices
One of the big short-term decisions with very long-term consequences is the capital allocation for the NHS in this autumn’s spending review and prioritising backlog of elective care, writes Anita Charlesworth
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CommentHealth and care workforce being hollowed out
For the foreseeable future the NHS and social care system will be very reliant on international workers to prevent staffing shortages from impacting on patient care and acting as a brake on ambitions to improve quality, writes Anita Charlesworth
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CommentSpending round leaves questions about health and social care’s future unresolved
The chancellor’s announcement signalled the worst of austerity may be over, but that doesn’t mean we now have a clear plan for future public spending and reform. By Anita Charlesworth
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CommentThe NHS must focus on becoming a better employer
Anita Charlesworth, Candace Imison and Richard Murray look in detail at solutions across the different policy levers for workforce, including training, pay, staff retention and skill mix
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CommentWorkforce shortages are a greater challenge to the NHS than funding
Lack of skilled staff is already impacting access and quality of care, and without a shift in workforce policy the situation will worsen over the next decade, warn Anita Charlesworth, Candace Imison and Richard Murray
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CommentThe chancellor got lucky this Budget but can that luck hold?
Anita Charlesworth notes that the chancellor narrowly avoided the impossible political choice of making good on the extra £20.5bn promised for the NHS with tax increases but the underlying reality remains unchanged
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CommentRunning to stand still
In light of the extra £20.5bn NHS funding, Anita Charlesworth outlines the various cost pressures that will likely consume most of the extra funding before improvements in quality and access can materialise