Senior stakeholder views on policies to foster a culture of openness in the English National Health Service: a qualitative interview study.

Objectives: To examine the experiences of clinical and managerial leaders in the English healthcare system charged with implementing policy goals of openness, particularly in relation to improving employee voice.

Design: Semi-structured qualitative interviews.

Setting: National Health Service, regulatory and third-sector organisations in England.

Diversity in intermediate care.

This paper discusses the evolution of intermediate care (IC) and presents interim observations from a survey of providers in England being conducted as part of a national evaluation. Telephone interviews covering various issues concerning the level of provision and style of delivery have been conducted with 70 services to date. Data from these are used to discuss the progress, range and nature of IC in relation to clinician viewpoints and academic and official literature on the subject.