To mark International Women’s Day, host Helen McKenna speaks with Professor Dame Lesley Regan and Dr Janine Austin Clayton about women’s health journeys from start to finish. They explore why women can struggle to get medical professionals to listen to them and the impact this has on diagnosis and treatment, as well as the mental and physical effects on women themselves. Related resources:

• The Women's Health Strategy: ensuring no women are left behind (blog)
• Health inequalities: our position (The King's Fund's view)
• What is the role of the NHS in tackling health inequalities? (Podcast)

Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, Chief Executive and Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, talks with Helen McKenna about what it takes to cultivate safe, kind and effective care, getting regulation right, and what meaningful co-production with the public looks like.

Related resources:

• The courage of compassion: Supporting nurses and midwives to deliver high-quality care (report)
• Covid-19: why compassionate leadership matters in a crisis (blog)
• How does the health and care system hear from people and communities? (long read)

Please note: in the episode we introduce Andrea Sutcliffe as having been awarded an OBE. Andrea was awarded a CBE for services to adult social care in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List.

Join us as we take a look over the year that was in health and care, 2021. Helen McKenna and Siva Anandaciva, two of The King’s Fund’s leading policy experts, review the key themes of 2021; Covid-19, waiting times and performance, the reform agenda, funding and the workforce.

Related resources

• Our work on the legislative agenda for health and care reform (commentary and analysis)
• Integrated care systems explained: making sense of systems, places and neighbourhoods (explainer)
• The social care White Paper: not wrong, just not moving far enough in the right direction (blog)
• The NHS Staff Survey: working through Covid-19 and beyond (podcast)

The Health and Care Bill could lead to major changes in how health care is organised in England. But what is the Bill ultimately trying to achieve and how will it make a difference to the care we receive? Siva Anandaciva sits down with Richard Murray, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, and Dame Ruth Carnall, former Chief Executive of the NHS in London, to make sense of the Bill, how these changes will be implemented and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Related resources

• The Health and Care Bill: six key questions
• Integrated care systems: how will they work under the Health and Care Bill?
• What does the new Health and Care Bill mean for NHS financial management?

What are the risks of under-valuing unpaid carers? How can the health and care system better support them? Helen McKenna talks with Fatima Khan-Shah about her personal experience as a carer, her leadership journey, and the importance of being your authentic self at work. Fatima is Programme Director for Unpaid Carers and the Personalised Care Programme for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Integrated Care System.

Related resources

• Self care and resilience during Covid-19: Fatima Khan-Shah
• Why leaders need to include others in their decision-making: Fatima Khan-Shah
• An introduction to leading with kindness and compassion in health and social care

The Covid-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the public health system and the people who work in it like never before. Helen McKenna sits down with Matthew Ashton, Director of Public Health in Liverpool and Tracy Daszkiewicz, Deputy Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, to explore what they’ve learnt from their experiences during the pandemic and, at a time of reform for public health and the wider health and care system, what the future holds for public health.

Related resources

• Directors of public health and the Covid-19 pandemic: ‘A year like no other’
• The public health workforce: overdue for attention
• Our work on the legislative agenda for health and care reform

People who identify as LGBTQ+ experience disproportionately worse health outcomes and have poorer experiences when accessing health services. Three years on from the Government’s LGBT action plan, Helen McKenna sat down with Dr Michael Brady, National Advisor for LGBT Health at NHS England, and Michelle Ross, Co-Founder and Director of Holistic Wellbeing services at cliniQ to explore the health inequalities LGBTQ+ people face and what needs to happen to make sure health services are inclusive.

Related resources

• What are health inequalities?
• Supporting LGBTQ+ NHS staff
• LGBT health: reading list
• Transgender health: reading list

Helen McKenna talks with Dr Bola Owolabi, Director of Health Inequalities at NHS England and NHS Improvement, about the NHS's spheres of influence, the power of gathering around a common cause, and whether the experience of the pandemic will lead to a step change in tackling health inequalities.

Related resources

• What are health inequalities?
• Health inequalities: our position
• What is happening to life expectancy in England?

What does the future of care delivery look like? Anna Charles talks with Dr Steven Tierney from Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska, and Dr Henry Chung from Montefiore in New York, to explore how their health systems have transformed to better support local communities, and how to address digital exclusion in an increasingly digital world.

Related resources

• Sign up: our mailing list on integrated care
• Watch: Southcentral Foundation, Alaska: the role of established relationships during Covid-19
• Watch: Montefiore, New York: improving the health of deprived communities

Helen McKenna sits down with Suzie Bailey, Director of Leadership and Organisational Development at The King’s Fund and Professor Michael West to explore the results of the 2020 NHS staff survey and discuss how the NHS can create an inclusive, compassionate, and supportive working environment for staff.

Find out more

• Recovery and then renewal: the innovation imperative for health and care (blog)
• Looking after colleagues during the Covid-19 crisis: Michael West (video)
• Leading through Covid-19 (resources)