Nuffield Trust


The Nuffield Trust, formerly the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, is a charitable trust with the mission of improving health care in the UK through evidence and analysis.
The Nuffield Trust is registered with the Charity Commission as charity number 209169, and is a company limited by guarantee registered in England with company number 00382452. The patron is Anne, 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 Andy McKeon.

History

The Nuffield Trust was established in December 1939 as the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust by Viscount Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors. It was set up to coordinate the activities of all hospitals operating outside London and helped inspire the creation of the National Health Service. Indeed, one of its first tasks was a complete survey of hospitals, which was used as a key reference document in the establishment of the NHS.
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.

Areas of work

Since its foundation the Nuffield Trust has commissioned a wide range of research on how to improve the health system in the UK, for instance by a Rock Carling Fellowship.
In 1971, the epidemiologist Archie Cochrane received a Rock Carling Fellowship to write '. He argued for greater use of randomised control trials in assessing medical evidence and led to the creation of Cochrane.
In 1976, the British public health scientist and health care critic, Thomas McKeown, MD, received the Rock Carling Fellowship, which allowed him to write . Therein he summarized facts and arguments that supported what became known as the McKeown's thesis, i.e. that the growth of population can be attributed to a decline in mortality from infectious diseases, primarily thanks to better nutrition, later also to better hygiene, and only marginally and late to medical interventions such as antibiotics and vaccins. McKeown was heavily criticized for his controversial ideas, but is nowadays remembered as '''the founder of social medicine.
On 21 October 2015, the Trust launched a new five-year strategic plan, which outlines as priority areas of work: