Health and social care after the election: what issues still need attention?

Health and social care after the election: what issues still need attention? The political tumult of recent weeks seems to be subsiding. The Queen’s Speech set out plans for a longer (two-year) parliamentary session, and the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party have reached a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement that gives the government a small majority in parliament. A second snap election appears less likely – for now. So, what might the new political environment mean for health and social care?

Writing in the BMJ before the Queen’s Speech, Chris Ham, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said that NHS England will ‘continue to promote evolutionary changes to the organisation of the NHS, including collaboration and in some cases mergers’. Niall Dickson, chief executive of NHS Confederation, suggested that ‘political uncertainty’ may impede service change. The King's Fund