The state of health and care 2022

Article

England has a number of new health and care leaders, who stand at a defining crossroads.

The pandemic has rapidly accelerated an existing trend of decline in access and outcomes. This is creating the conditions for an ‘opt-out’ by those who have the means – embedding a two-tier system.

There is near-universal public support for retaining a universal, free, comprehensive and tax-funded NHS. Our polling shows a consensus in public support for the basic principles of the NHS as a system that universalises the benefits of the best healthcare and shares the cost across the population.

We propose policies designed to better live with Covid-19, to help build back better and to help prepare for the future. Our proposals are based on three aims: recovery, building back better and increased sustainability facing an uncertain future.

Related items

  1. Regional economies: The role of industrial strategy as a pathway to greener growth

    Regions like the North should have a key role to play in the development of a green industrial strategy.

  2. Achieving the 2030 child poverty target: The distance left to travel

    On 27 March, the Scottish government will announce whether Scotland’s 2023 child poverty target – no more than 18 per cent of children in poverty – was achieved. 

  3. Spring statement: A changed world calls for a changed course

    If there are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen, the last few weeks feel seismic.  The prime minister was right to say the world has changed. Donald Trump’s re-election in November has unleashed a wave…