Thursday 31 May 2012

How is the NHS performing?

"This fifth report aims to take stock of what has happened over the past year – the first year of the £20 billion productivity challenge for the NHS – and provide an update on how the NHS is coping as it continues to grapple with this challenge and implement the government’s NHS reforms." 

How is the NHS performing? Quarterly monitoring report
The King's Fund
May 2012

Read more here.

Health systems, health, wealth and societal well-being

This book looks at how health systems are part of improving health and achieving better economic growth.

Health systems, health, wealth and societal well-being
Edited by J Figueras, M McKee
May 2012

Read more here.

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Quality, innovation and value in cardiac rehabilitation

"This resource will help to guide commissioners and providers through real examples of what works and to save others from reinventing the wheel."

Quality, innovation and value in cardiac rehabilitation: commissioning for improvement
NHS Improvement
May 2012

Read more here.

Patients' preferences matter

"The silent misdiagnosis is a widespread problem in the NHS. While a preference misdiagnosis may be less obvious than a medical misdiagnosis, the consequences for the patient can be just as severe."

Patients' preferences matter: stop the silent misdiagnosis
A Mulley, C Trimble, G Elwyn
The King's Fund
May 2012

Read more here.

Long term conditions compendium of information

"This is the third compendium of information on long term conditions (LTCs) which aims to provide the most up to date data together with a range of case study examples of excellence and innovation from across the country."

Long term conditions compendium of information: third edition
Department of Health
May 2012

Read more here.

Deciphering harm measurement

"Improvement in health care quality and safety can be notable when measurement criteria are clear, evidence is strong, and policy and interventions are focused."

Deciphering harm measurement
G Parry, A Cline, D Goldmann
Journal of the American Medical Association, 2012, 307(2):2155-2156

Read more here.

Assessing value in health care programs

"Programs designed to improve health and prevent disease should be evaluated based on whether they improve health at a reasonable price, essentially comparing whether improvements in health are achieved for less resources than through alternatives, eg, expenditures on health care services."

Assessing value in health care programs
KG Volpp, G Loewenstein, DA Asch
Journal of the American Medical Association, 2012, 307(2):2153-2154

Read more here.

Using care bundles to improve health care quality

"This white paper describes the history, theory of change, design concepts, and outcomes associated with the development and use of bundles over the past decade."

Using care bundles to improve health care quality
R Resar, FA Griffin, C Haraden, TW Nolan
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
May 2012

Read more here. (Free registration required)

The role of the patient in clinical safety

"Staff have to acknowledge the worth of patients’ safety knowledge, their unique contribution, and, where necessary, the need to respond with action."

The role of the patient in clinical safety
R Lawton, G Armitage
The Health Foundation
May 2012

Read more here.

Proactive approaches to safety management

This paper offers some practical suggestions for proactively managing safety.

Proactive approaches to safety management
E Hollnagel
The Health Foundation
May 2012

Read more here.

Personal accountability in healthcare: searching for the right balance

"In this thought paper, Professor Robert Wachter explores the issue of personal accountability in healthcare and describes how accountability for performance is a key element for a safe system."

Personal accountability in healthcare: searching for the right balance
R Wachter
The Health Foundation
May 2012

Read more here.

How can leaders influence a safety culture?

"The systematic delivery of safe and reliable care requires a safety culture, continuous learning, and improvement."

How can leaders influence a safety culture?
M Leonard, A Frankel
The Health Foundation
May 2012

Read more here.

Reinventing healthcare delivery

"High quality care and great performance involves leaders making problem solving, improvement, and innovation part of the regular routine of daily practice."

Reinventing healthcare delivery
S Spear
The Health Foundation
May 2012

Read more here.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

The management of adult diabetes services in the NHS

"We estimate that through better management of people with diabetes, the NHS could save £170 million a year."

The management of adult diabetes services in the NHS
National Audit Office
Department of Health
May 2012

Read more here.

Alive and clicking: information that benefits all

"This paper looks at the costs and benefits of informing and communicating with patients through web and social media platforms versus the costs of not doing so effectively."

Alive and clicking: information that benefits all
NHS Confederation
May 2012

Read more here.

NICE clinical case scenarios

Clinical case scenarios are an educational resource that can be used for individual or group learning. Each question should be considered by the individual or group before referring to the answers.The resource is available in a PDF document for individual learning or as a power point presentation to help facilitate group learning.

Here is a list of clinical case scenarios that are currently available:

Reforming social care: options for funding

"This paper examines the current level of funding of social care and the Dilnot Commission’s recommendations and suggests ways of funding a fairer, more sustainable system of social care."

Reforming social care: options for funding
A Charlesworth, R Thorlby
May 2012

Read more here.

Monday 28 May 2012

A preliminary guide to measuring 'harm free' care

"This guide is designed to provide support in implementing the NHS Safety Thermometer and achieving the 2012/13 CQUIN. It shares learning about the best ways to use the tool and what support is available. It offers technical support in validating data and enables readers to start to understand their data."

Delivering the NHS Safety Thermometer CQUIN 2012/13: a preliminary guide to measuring 'harm free' care
QIPP Safe Care Team
Department of Health
May 2012

Read more here.

Helping hospitals deliver better care: a new toolkit for quality improvement

"The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) contracted with a team of researchers from RAND and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), a large collection of academic medical centers, to develop a toolkit for hospitals to support their quality improvement efforts based on the AHRQ quality indicators."

Helping hospitals deliver better care: a new toolkit for quality improvement
RAND Health
May 2012

Read more here.

Access the toolkit here.

The economic impact of improvements in primary healthcare performance

"Better health outcomes have a positive impact on employment, productivity and economic growth."

The economic impact of improvements in primary healthcare performance
Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
May 2012

Read more here.

Health system performance comparison

"International health system performance comparisons have the potential to provide a rich source of evidence as well as policy influence."

Policy summary 4: Health system performance comparison: an agenda for policy, information and research
PC Smith, I Papanicolas
World Health Organization
May 2012

Read more here.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

How to maintain quality during the transition

"In producing this guide, our aim is not to increase the bureaucratic burden on our staff, but to provide practical support so that people can continue to deliver on their respective accountabilities for quality as we go through this transition."

How to maintain quality during the transition: preparing for handover
National Quality Board
May 2012

Read more here.

National Diabetes Inpatient Audit 2011

"This year’s audit has demonstrated progress in several areas but also reveals that there is considerably more to be done if the safety and care of people with diabetes in hospital is to be assured."

National Diabetes Inpatient Audit 2011
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, NHS The Information Centre, Diabetes UK
May 2012

Read more here.

Leadership and engagement for improvement in the NHS

"Report from The King's Fund Leadership Review 2012."

Leadership and engagement for improvement in the NHS: together we can
The King's Fund
May 2012

Read more here.

Effectiveness of organizational interventions to reduce emergency department utilization

"The evidence suggests that interventions aimed at increasing primary care accessibility and ED cost-sharing are effective in reducing ED use."

Effectiveness of organizational interventions to reduce emergency department utilization: a systematic review
G Flores-Mateo, C Violan-Fors, P Carrillo-Santisteve, S Peiro, J-M Argimon
PLoS One, 2nd May 2012

Read more here.

Improving general practice by working differently

"The biggest single challenge for general practices, therefore, is the need to shift from treating episodic illness to working in partnership with patients and other providers to improve health, and treat people in the community more cost-effectively."

Primary care: today and tomorrow: improving general practice by working differently
Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
May 2012

Read more here.

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Smart Guides to Engagement - more guides added

Three more guides have been added to the Smart Guides to Engagement series. Visit the original post to access the new guides.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Sharing commissioning experiences

Right Care enables sharing of good practice by compiling local examples of commissioning work, which demonstrate the philosophy behind Right Care or showcases the tools available through the programme.”

Sharing commissioning experiences: The Right Care Casebook Series: Volume 2
NHS Right Care
March 2012

Read more here.

Monday 14 May 2012

Sustainable health and social care

"This briefing provides a summary guide for busy commissioners and health and wellbeing board members."

Sustainable health and social care: a briefing for commissioners and health and wellbeing boards
Social Care Institute for Excellence
May 2012

Read more here.

Improving general practice by working differently

"The focus of this report is on the general practice as a provider of primary care services, and while it is based on the English NHS, many of the solutions could apply equally to general practice in the rest of the United Kingdom."

Primary Care: Today and Tomorrow - Improving general practice by working differently
Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
May 2012

Read more here.

An outcomes strategy for COPD and asthma

"The Outcomes Strategy for COPD and Asthma showed the Government’s commitment to improving services for people with respiratory disease, as well as providing high-quality care that is safe, effective and responsive to the needs of individuals in streamlined services delivered closer to home.
This NHS Companion Document is a key part of the suite of tools and resources planned to help support different parts of the system implement the Outcomes Strategy
."

An outcomes strategy for COPD and asthma: NHS companion document
Department of Health
May 2012

Read the outcomes strategy here and the companion document here.

Friday 11 May 2012

Postmenopausal osteoporosis management

"This report aims to inform the development of quality indicators for postmenopausal osteoporosis management through:
(a) assessing the evidence for screening and diagnosis of osteoporosis and related risk factors, and for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures;
(b) describing current practice for managing postmenopausal osteoporosis in Europe; and
(c) highlighting existing gaps in the evidence base and management practices in Europe."

Postmenopausal osteoporosis management: a review of the evidence to inform the development of quality indicators
A Conklin, O Yaqub, C Celia, E Nolte
RAND Europe
April 2012

Read more here.

Factors that promote and hinder joint and integrated working between health and social care services

"This is an update of a previous systematic review on the factors that promote and hinder joint working between health and social care services."

Factors that promote and hinder joint and integrated working between health and social care services
A Cameron, R Lart, L Bostock, C Coomber
Social Care Institute for Excellence
April 2012

Read more here.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

New intelligence on end of life care in England

"The information contained within this report provides a great opportunity and lever for change and should be used to help identify where to channel our efforts most effectively over the coming years."

What do we know now that we didn't know a year ago? New intelligence on end of life care in England
NHS National End of Life Care Programme
May 2012

Read more here.

What we know so far...the NHS Commissioning Board

"This briefing note describes the new NHS Commissioning Board, identifying uncertainties that remain around implementation and where proposals will be further developed through secondary legislation and guidance."

What we know so far...the NHS Commissioning Board
British Medical Association
April 2012

Read more here.

Sunday 6 May 2012

Effect of Clinical Decision-Support Systems (CDSS)


"Both commercially and locally developed CDSSs are effective at improving health care process measures across diverse settings, but evidence for clinical, economic, workload, and efficiency outcomes remains sparse."

Effect of Clinical Decision-Support Systems: a systematic review
TJ Bright, et al.
Annals of Internal Medicine, 23 April 2012

Read more here.

Friday 4 May 2012

Evaluation of the national Cleanyourhands campaign to reduce infection in hospitals

"The Cleanyourhands campaign was associated with sustained increases in hospital procurement of alcohol rub and soap, which the results suggest has an important role in reducing rates of some healthcare associated infections."

Evaluation of the national Cleanyourhands campaign to reduce Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile infection in hospitals in England and Wales by improved hand hygiene: four year, prospective, ecological, interrupted time series study
SP Stone, C Fuller, J Savage, B Cookson, A Hayward, B Cooper, G Duckworth, S Michie, M Murray, A Jeanes, J Roberts, L Teare, A Charlett
British Medical Journal, 2012, 344:e3005

Read more here.

Commissioning Support Bulletin

The NHS Commissioning Board Authority now produces the Commissioning Support Bulletin, aimed at sharing ideas and information about the development of commissioning support services (CSS) in the Board Authority.

Read the first issue here.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Thinking about rationing

"The aim of this discussion paper is to give the reader an understanding of the issues involved in rationing in the evolving context of the contemporary NHS in England."

Thinking about rationing
R Klein, J Maybin
The King's Fund
May 2012

Read more here.

Investigating the prevalence and causes of prescribing errors in general practice

"Strategies for reducing the prevalence of error should focus on GP training, continuing professional development for GPs, clinical governance, effective use of clinical computer systems, and improving safety systems within general practices and at the interface with secondary care."

Investigating the prevalence and causes of prescribing errors in general practice: the PRACtICe Study (PRevalence And Causes of prescrIbing errors in general practiCe): a report for the GMC
General Medical Council
May 2012

Read more here.

Fulfilling the potential: a better journey for patients and a better deal for the NHS

"The future delivery of medical care will need to focus, not only on the development of innovative treatments, but on reducing the levels of stress associated with the delivery of in-patient care."

Fulfilling the potential: a better journey for patients and a better deal for the NHS
NHS Enhanced Recovery Partnership
NHS Improvement
April 2012

Read more here.

An international comparison of supply, utilization, prices, and quality

"This analysis uses data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and other sources to compare health care spending, supply, utilization, prices, and quality in 13 industrialized countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States."

Explaining high health care spending in the United States: an international comparison of supply, utilization, prices, and quality
DA Squires
Issues in International Health Policy
The Commonwealth Fund
May 2012

Read more here.