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Economic and strategic advice you can count on, across a broad range of sectors

Analysing the impact of AI interventions in government

Growth in the capabilities of AI technologies has led to increased interest in the use of AI in Government.

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Our economists use a collective wealth of knowledge and experience to solve clients' issues

The increase in demand for GP services

NHS plans to increase GP numbers alone will not sufficiently close this gap, unless supplemented by other trained staff

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Read our new publications and get the latest insights from our economic experts

The safer bet for UK gambling

Regulators are facing the challenge of keeping players safe against the changing tide of black market gambling.

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Get to know our experts and how we can help you

Tracking net zero financing in the UK economy

Discover our methodology for UK LCF which tests how private and public sector investment can be tracked for climate-related activities.

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Health and Social Care

The great health and social care ask: more and better, for less

Populations are ageing. The demands on health and social care are becoming more complex. And Covid-19 has bought these things into sharper focus. We need to understand what works and what doesn’t, where to prioritise and how to understand the evolving health and care landscape. Different care models and new technology need to be tested and measured, so we get the efficient health and social care we need.

Opportunities in healthcare

The health and social care landscape is changing fast.

Care locations are moving. Mental healthcare is becoming more prevalent and pressing. New treatments are raising issues around the economics of care. Health inequality, access to care and backlogs have been laid bare by Covid-19.

All healthcare bodies need to think about how the sector is going to work over the coming decades. That includes:

  • Transforming services – How can new technology, better understanding of behaviour and new treatments be used to improve care? How can we maintain the speed of innovation adopted during the pandemic?
  • Economic regulation – How can we use economic incentives to achieve better outcomes? How should payment systems be designed? Can we learn from how other sectors are regulated?
  • Policy development – What new policies do we need to support health and care delivery? How do we learn from existing policies?
Transforming services

When it comes to transforming health and care systems, we’re at the forefront of thinking.

We advise trusts, commissions, national bodies and governments.

Our work:

  • Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures
  • Development of policy frameworks
  • Social care reform
  • Developing new care models
  • Integration of services within healthcare, and between health and social care
  • Approaches to population health and the institutional changes required
  • The role of self-care and ‘patient activation’

Successful transformation of services is a combination of economic, institutional, legal and cultural factors. We work with others to build models of health and care delivery that meet the needs of patients and the public.

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Economic regulation

Health and social care outcomes are driven by many factors, not least the dedication of the people who work in the sector. Economic regulation is one tool that can help them deliver better results: to channel money where it’s most needed, to reward high quality and to help make difficult decisions about priorities. 

Health and social care has unique regulatory characteristics, including the complexity of the conditions, treatments and payment systems. Our knowledge of regulatory best practice, both in healthcare and in other sectors, is second to none.

Our work:

  • Developing regulation to be consistent with the strategy for more integrated care
  • Developing frameworks for overseeing social care provision under the new reforms
  • Advising the NHS for over a decade on its pricing strategy
  • Modelling the cost structure of health and care providers
  • Benchmarking and efficiency analysis
  • Interaction between clinical and economic regulation
  • Advising on GP contracting and the economics of GP and dental practices
  • Advising commissioners on pricing and supply

As well as our work in the UK, we’ve worked on healthcare regulation across Europe, most recently for the French healthcare regulator.

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Policy development

We evaluate policies, pilots and trials. With our deep understanding of the health and social care sector, we’re able to deliver thorough and practical advice to government, regulators, independent sector reviewers, commissioners and providers.

Our work:

  • Advising on healthcare services, integration of care and the development of more population-based services
  • Advising on models for integrating health and social care services, to improve the delivery of cancer networks and emergency care
  • Designing frameworks to evaluate health services
  • Providing evidence for senior policy makers on issues of public interest, such as actions to reduce obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption
  • Assessing the impact of alternative approaches to pay for the NHS Staff Council
  • Working with third-sector organisations to understand their impact on well-being, productivity and wider outcomes
  • Developing thinking about how to integrate health and environmental policies

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Making sure the Covid-19 crisis doesn’t go to waste

Making sure the Covid-19 crisis doesn’t go to waste

The Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) and the Beneficial Changes Network (BCN) teams at NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioned Frontier Economics, along with Kaleidoscope Health and Care and Rand Europe, to identify which potentially beneficial interventions, technologies and tools deployed during the pandemic could yield lasting benefits in future.

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    • Supporting the NHS frontline

    Supporting the NHS frontline

    Forecasting demand for A&E

    We looked at the factors driving demand for A&E, from the availability of GPs to the quality of local primary care, to help the NHS better deliver this vital service.

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    • Giving the government a health check

    Giving the government a health check

    Helping the Department of Health with strategic modelling.

    We helped the Department of Health to analyse a wide range of issues to help it better plan reforms, make spending decisions and innovate. This included issues relating to GP contracts, dentistry services, public health issues (such as diabetes, obesity and smoking), and better understanding the financial status of providers.

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    • Related services & sectors