Nuffield Trust

The Nuffield Trust is a charitable trust based in London, whose aim is to produce authoritative and independent evidence-based research and healthcare policy policy analysis for improving health care in the UK.

Its principal activities include:

Conducting cutting edge research and influential policy analysis
Informing and generating high-level debate through seminars and conferences
Supporting the clinical and managerial leaders of tomorrow, for example the Nuffield Trust co-sponsors the UK Harkness Fellowships in Healthcare Policy & Practice
Examining international best practice

History

The Nuffield Trust was established as the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust in 1940 by Viscount Nuffield (William Morris), the founder of Morris Motors.

In 1998 the Trust adopted the name The Nuffield Trust for Research and Policy Studies in Health Services, retaining "The Nuffield Trust" as its working name.

Nuffield Trust is a charitable trust, registered with the Charity Commission as charity number 209169, and a company limited by guarantee registered in England with company number 00382452. The patron is Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal.

The Chief Executive of the Trust is Nigel Edwards , expert advisor with KPMG’s Global Centre of Excellence for Health and Life Sciences and a Senior Fellow at the King's Fund; and the Chair of the Board is Professor Dame Carol Black .

Areas of work

Commissioning

The Trust is examining reforms to commissioning and how this vital function can be strengthened to improve patient care.

Competition

The Government has paved the way for a significant extension of competition and market mechanisms in health care. The Trust’s experts are helping to build up the evidence base by examining whether competition helps improve quality and efficiency.

Efficiency & productivity

The National Health Service (NHS) is facing an unprecedented financial challenge, with efficiency savings of four per cent per year required. The Trust’s experts are examining how the NHS can meet the financial challenge by improving productivity and delivering more for less.

Evaluation

The Trust employs evaluations of interventions that aim to reduce health care costs and demand. The Trust is exploring new evaluation methods that make the most of the information on patients that is available in the NHS and social care.

Integrated care

As the pressure increases to improve efficiency and enhance quality, the NHS is looking at new ways of organising and delivering care. The Trust is examining the potential of new forms of care that are intended to benefit patients and taxpayers.

NHS reform

Health and social care services are undergoing a period of substantial reform. The Trust’s experts are examining the reforms in detail and producing research, analysis and commentary on the fundamental changes to the way care is organised and delivered.

Predictive risk

The Trust employs the application of predictive risk modelling techniques, including work on the development of case finding tools; person-based resource allocation; and national evaluations of interventions to reduce hospital use.

Quality of care

The quality of patient care is a central concern for health systems, especially in an era of unprecedented financial challenge and rising demand. The Trust aims to support the delivery of high quality care through quantitative and qualitative research programmes and other activities.

Research methods & information tools

The Trust employs a range of innovative qualitative and quantitative methodologies and tools to conduct its work, whether it is evaluating high-profile interventions; supporting practitioners through action research; or exploiting existing data on care to inform health policy.

Social care

There is almost universal agreement that the social care system needs urgent and fundamental reform. The Trust is active in the debate about how to finance and deliver good quality, accessible social care.

UK & international comparisons

By examining established practice overseas, the Trust aims to bring the benefits of international experience to inform policy-making and practice in the UK. As part of this, the Trust's work focuses on the comparative performance of the four health systems of the UK.