Wednesday 29 February 2012

Rationing health care

"The report therefore makes a number of recommendations for changes that could be made to improve the way the NHS benefits package is shaped, without going as far as specifying a national set of NHS-funded services."

Rationing health care
B Rumbold, V Alakeson, PC Smith
Nuffield Trust
February 2012

Read more here.

Use of decision technologies in health care

These two audio slideshows are produced by the Nuffield Trust. They explain how decision technologies can be used in the NHS to help patients, clinicians, managers and commissioners make more informed decisions, and explore some of the existing applications of decision technologies in the health service.

Some thoughts on the field of Knowledge Transfer and Exchange (KTE)

"This paper offers a practice-oriented critical analysis of the scientific literature on knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) derived from the results of a large-scale systematic review of knowledge exchange at the organizational and policy levels."

Some Thoughts on the Field of KTE
D Contandriopoulos
Healthcare Policy, 2012, 7(3):29-37

Read more here.

Nurturing collaborative practice

"Interprofessional collaborative practice has been seen as an enabler for improving patient care and meeting the current demands on the healthcare system."

South Eastern Interprofessional Collaborative Learning Environment (SEIPCLE): nurturing collaborative practiceV Byrnes, A O'Riordan, C Schroder, C Chapman, J Medves, M Paterson, R Grigg
Journal of Research in Interprofessional Practice and Education, 2012, 2.2

Read more here.

Leading the way to shared decision making

"The critical steps for the NHS Commissioning Board to make 'no decision about me, without me' a reality."

Leading the way to shared decision making: summit report
The Health Foundation
February 2012

Read more here.

How does lean work in emergency care?

"Improvements in waiting and lead times (19-24%) were achieved and sustained in the two years following lean-inspired changes to employee roles, staffing and scheduling, communication and coordination, expertise, workspace layout, and problem solving."

How does lean work in emergency care? A case study of a lean-inspired intervention at the Astrid Lindgren
Children's Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
P Mazzocato, RJ Holden, M Brommels, H Aronsson, U Backman, M Elg, J Thor
BMC Health Services Research, 2012, 12:28

Read more here.

Critical success factors that enable individuals to die in their preferred place of death

"The main aim of this work was to try to identify the factors that influenced increases in numbers of people being able to die in their preferred place of death, which can largely be assumed to be outside of acute hospital settings, but is not always."

Critical success factors that enable individuals to die in their preferred place of death
National End of Life Care Programme
February 2012

Read more here.

Quality standard for patient experience in adult NHS services

"The aim of this quality standard is to provide the NHS with clear commissioning guidance on the components of a good patient experience."

Quality standard for patient experience in adult NHS services
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
February 2012

Read more here.

Delivering the NHS Foundation Trust pipeline: single operating model

"This document describes the first element of the Single Operating Model (SOM) that the four Strategic Health Authority (SHA) Clusters will adopt from early 2012."

Delivering the NHS Foundation Trust pipeline: single operating model: Part 1: SHA development and FT assurance
Department of Health
February 2012

Read more here.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Delivering the Information Revolution

"A framework for delivering the Information Revolution."

Delivering the Information Revolution: from vision to reality
SK Patel, S Ash
Public Sector Research Centre
Price Waterhouse Coopers
November 2011

Read more here.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Does competition improve public hospitals' efficiency?

"Our results suggest that competition between public providers prompted public hospitals to improve their productivity by decreasing their pre-surgery, overall and post-surgery length of stay."

Does competition improve public hospitals' efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-experiment in the English National Health Service
Z Cooper, S Gibbons, S Jones, A McGuire
Centre for Economic Performance
February 2012

Read more here.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

New organisational models for delivering health and social care

"This briefing paper pulls together information on the development of employee ownership and social enterprises in health and social care and has been produced as part of the Health and Social Care Partnership South East’s work programme."

New organisational models for delivering health and social care: briefing paper
Health and Social Care Partnership South East
February 2012

Read more here.

The cost of satisfaction

"In a nationally representative sample, higher patient satisfaction was associated with less emergency department use but with greater inpatient use, higher overall health care and prescription drug expenditures, and increased mortality."

The cost of satisfaction: a national study of patient satisfaction, health care utilization, expenditures, and mortality
JJ Fenton, AF Jerant, KD Bertakis, P Franks
Archives of Internal Medicine, Online First, 13th February 2012

Read more here.

Effectiveness and safety of emergency department short stay units

"Limited evidence from 1 systematic review indicates that SSUs may lead to improved patient satisfaction in specific clinical contexts."

The effectiveness and safety of emergency department short stay units: a rapid review
KJ Konnyu, E Kwok, B Skidmore, D Moher
Open Medicine, 2012, 6(1):e10

Read more here.

Friday 17 February 2012

Health and Social Care Bill for England explained

The Department of Health has published a series of factsheets on the Health and Social Care Bill to explain particular topics contained in the Bill, including its key themes.

Access the factsheets here.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Guide to commissioning for maximum value

"This guide is for people involved at all stages in commissioning public services in all public bodies."

Guide to commissioning for maximum value
Local Government Association
January 2012

Read more here.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Health IT and patient safety

"Health IT is playing an ever-larger role in the care of patients, and some components of health IT have significantly improved the quality of health care and reduced medical errors."

Health IT and patient safety: building safer systems for better care
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
National Academies Press
February 2012

Read more here - free registration required to download the PDF version of this document.

Monday 13 February 2012

Safeguarding and quality in commissioning care homes

"The government have identified six guiding principles on safeguarding which seek to increase the protection for those most at risk in society."

Safeguarding and quality in commissioning care homes
Social Care Institute for Excellence
February 2012

Read more here.

Transforming patient experience

"This guide is for anyone with designated responsibility for improving patient experience – either as a provider of services, or as a commissioner."

Transforming patient experience: the essential guide
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
February 2012

Read more here.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Cost of co-morbidities

"Developing more integrated support for people with mental and physical health problems could improve outcomes and play a significant part in helping the NHS meet the QIPP challenge."

Long-term conditions and mental health: the cost of co-morbidities
C Naylor, M Parsonage, D McDaid, M Knapp, M Fossey, A Galea
The King's Fund
February 2012

Read more here.

Deprivation and death: variation in place and cause of death

"The report adds to the evidence base for commissioners and providers of end of life care to use in planning services and tackling inequalities."

Deprivation and death: variation in place and cause of death
National End of Life Care Programme
February 2012

Read more here.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Guidance for commissioners of primary mental health care services

"Mental health problems should be managed mainly in primary care by the primary health care team working collaboratively with other services, with access to specialist expertise and to a range of secondary care services as required."

Guidance for commissioners of primary mental health care services: volume 2: practical mental health commissioning
Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health
February 2012

Read more here.

Guidance for commissioners of liaison mental health services to acute hospitals

"Commissioning of acute liaison services should be universally included in contracts for the provision of acute hospital services and concord to standards set by professional and regulatory authorities."


Guidance for commissioners of liaison mental health services to acute hospitals: volume 2: practical mental health commissioning
Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health
February 2012

Read more here.



Guidance for commissioners of dementia service

"Specialist dementia services support people during particular phases of their illness, including at diagnosis, during a stay in an acute general hospital, or when they are experiencing behavioural or psychosocial problems that require expertise beyond that normally provided by the primary care team."

Guidance for commissioners of dementia service: volume 2: practical mental health commissioning
Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health
February 2012

Read more here.

Guidance for commissioners of mental health services for young people making the transition from child and adolescent to adult services

"Commissioners must work with public health colleagues to ensure that the needs of young people with mental health problems, including those young people whose needs are primarily met within education, social care and nonstatutory agencies and young people in contact with the criminal justice system, are identified in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)."


Guidance for commissioners of mental health services for young people making the transition from child and adolescent to adult services: volume 2: practical mental health commissioning
Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health
February 2012

Read more here.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

National Inquiry into Organisational Ethical Decision Making in the NHS

"This report identifies, and seeks to begin to address, a need for greater attention to be paid to ethical decision-making in NHS trusts."

National Inquiry into Organisational Ethical Decision Making in the NHS
Centre for Innovation in Health Management, University of Leeds
February 2012

Read more here.

Paying for quality

"Commissioners and providers should use CQUINs to prioritise improvements in care for conditions with rapidly increasing prevalence and cost such as dementia."

Paying for quality: an analysis of the impact of the 2010/11 Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme in London
MHP Health Mandate
February 2012

Read more here.

Monday 6 February 2012

Better value for money in healthcare

"The United Kingdom appears to have controlled healthcare costs much more effectively than Canada, without significantly reducing the quality of care."

Better value for money in healthcare: European lessons for Canada
A Blomqvist, C Busby
C.D. Howe Institute
January 2012

Read more here.

Friday 3 February 2012

Webinar: The social imperative to demonstrate that better care = lower costs

9th February 2012 - 7pm-8pm GMT (2pm-3pm Eastern Time USA) - PLEASE CONFIRM TIME

Speakers:
  • Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, Former Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Former President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
  • Gerard M. Shea, Assistant to the President for External Affairs, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

This webinar is provided by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in America. Find out more and register here.

Improving health and social care in London

"A strong emphasis of the government’s health and social care reforms has been on supporting integration across health, public health, social care and other support."

Improving health and social care in London: supporting integrated commissioning
London Councils
January 2012

Read more here.

Personal health budgets and NHS continuing healthcare

"A personal health budget is an amount of money that is allocated to an individual to allow them to meet their health and wellbeing needs in a way that best suits them."

Personal health budgets and NHS continuing healthcare
Department of Health
January 2012

Read more here.

Competition in the NHS

"The NHS is far from being a competition-free zone, but the extent of competition remains confined to a minority of the services provided to NHS patients."

Competition in the NHS
Office of Health Economics Commission
January 2012

Read more here.

Emergency day surgery: Improving productivity and reducing bed days

"QIPP Evidence provides users with practical case studies that address the quality and productivity challenge in health and social care."

Emergency day surgery: Improving productivity and reducing bed days
NHS Evidence - Quality and Productivity: proposed case study
Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
January 2012

Read more here.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Cost reduction in central government

"Despite the short timescale, departments successfully managed within their reduced spending allocations for 2010-11."

Cost reduction in central government: summary of progress
Cabinet Office and HM Treasury
February 2012

Read more here.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

How does lean work in emergency care?

"Improvements in waiting and lead times (19-24%) were achieved and sustained in the two years following lean-inspired changes to employee roles, staffing and scheduling, communication and coordination, expertise, workspace layout, and problem solving."

How does lean work in emergency care? A case study of a lean-inspired intervention at the Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
P Mazzocato, RJ Holden, M Brommels, H Aronsson, U Backman, M Elg, J Thor
BMC Health Services Research, 2012, 12:28

Read more here.