Wednesday 31 October 2012

PDQ-Evidence for Informed Health Policymaking

PDQ (“pretty darn quick”)-Evidence facilitates rapid access to the best available evidence for decisions about health systems. It includes systematic reviews, overviews of reviews (including evidence-based policy briefs), primary studies included in systematic reviews and structured summaries of that evidence. PDQ-Evidence was developed and is maintained by systematically searching PubMed and other databases for relevant systematic reviews and overviews of reviews.

The database is available here.

Interventions to improve the use of systematic reviews in decision-making by health system managers

"Systematic review evidence may be used in priority setting, policy, planning and purchasing health-care interventions, and clinical decision-making."

Interventions to improve the use of systematic reviews in decision-making by health system managers, policy makers and clinicians
Murthy L, Shepperd S, Clarke MJ, Garner SE, Lavis JN, Perrier L, Roberts NW, Straus SE
Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group
The Cochrane Library
September 2012

Read more here.

Outcomes matter: effective commissioning in domiciliary care

"This report sets out to investigate current practice in commissioning for outcomes in domiciliary care in England."

Outcomes matter: effective commissioning in domiciliary care
L Lucas, J Carr-West
October 2012

Read more here.

Driving improvement in A & E services

"Trusts have reduced reattendance rates by providing comprehensive information and followup advice when patients leave A & E."

Driving improvement in A & E services
Foundation Trust Network
October 2012

Read more here.

Hospital to home resource pack

This Hospital to Home Resource Pack contains essential information for all the professional sectors that have a role in hospital discharge for older people in England. It contains information, suggestions for action, case studies and checklists for considering older patients’ housing situations in hospital discharge and transfer of care and for improving integration of housing and support into the process for discharging older people.

Read more here.

Managing boundaries in primary care service improvement

"The strongest boundaries, however, lay between individual general practices, with inter-organisational knowledge sharing and collaboration between them remaining unequally developed across different areas due to historical factors, competition and strong organisational identification."

Managing boundaries in primary care service improvement: a developmental approach to communities of practice
R Kislov, K Walshe, G Harvey
Implementation Science, 2012, 7:97

Read more here.

Urgent care centres: what works best?

"This paper offers some key thinking points for clinical commissioners to consider as they develop their plans for integrated, 24/7 urgent and emergency care."

Urgent care centres: what works best?
Primary Care Foundation
October 2012

Read more here.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Access all ages: assessing the impact of age on access to surgical treatment

"Where there are allegations of rationing of interventions according to age, as opposed to clinical need and potential benefit, these should be investigated by the commissioners of that service and escalated to the NHS Commissioning Board where appropriate."

Access all ages: assessing the impact of age on access to surgical treatment
Royal College of Surgeons of England
October 2012

Read more here.

First steps to improving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care

"NHS Improvement has over a decade of experience in clinical patient pathway redesign in cancer, diagnostics, heart, lung and stroke and demonstrates some of the most leading edge improvement work in England which supports improved patient experience and outcomes."

First steps to improving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care
NHS Improvement - Lung
October 2012

Read more here.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Commissioning person centred end of life care

"This toolkit identifies the main elements involved in commissioning for person centred end of life care. It explains the commissioning cycle in practical terms and offers a four-stage approach to successful commissioning across all sectors."

Commissioning person centred end of life care: a toolkit for health and social care professionals
National End of Life Care Programme
October 2012

Read more here.

Ten challenges in improving quality in healthcare

"The Health Foundation’s evaluation reports offer a rich resource of learning for those who undertake improvement work in healthcare."

Ten challenges in improving quality in healthcare: lessons from the Health Foundation's programme evaluations and relevant literatureM Dixon-Woods, S McNicol, G Martin
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2012, 21:876-884

Read more here.

Health for the EU in 33 success stories

"Containing 33 selected projects from different health areas, this booklet is intended to present some meaningful results achieved by the European Union’s health programmes."

Health for the EU in 33 success stories: a selection of successful projects funded by the EU Health Programmes
European Commission
September 2012

Read more here.

Standards of evidence for impact investing

"The Standards of Evidence recognise the need to ensure that demand for evidence is appropriate for different stages of product of service development, that it doesn't hamper innovation, and that it is realistic and proportionate."

Standards of evidence for impact investing
R Puttick, J Ludlow
NESTA
October 2012

Read more here.

Implementing evidence-based programmes in children's services

"This report brings together the latest international thinking about the key issues relating to the implementation of evidence-based programmes, utilising both published work and expert opinion."

Implementing evidence-based programmes in children's services: key issues for success
M Wiggins, H Austerberry, H Ward
Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre
Department for Education
October 2012

Read more here.

Writing implementation research grant proposals

"This article identifies ten of the important ingredients in well-crafted implementation proposals; in particular, it addresses how investigators can set the stage for proposed work through pilot data and a well-crafted and rationalized proposed study approach."

Writing implementation research grant proposals: ten key ingredients
EK Proctor, BJ Powell, AA Baumann, AM Hamilton, RL Santens
Implementation Science, 2012, 7:96

Read more here.

Use of NICE appraised medicines in the NHS in England

"As part of the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) agreement which came into operation on 1 January 2009, the Department of Health (DH) and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry agreed that the DH would review the variation in uptake of selected medicines in the NHS in England."

Use of NICE appraised medicines in the NHS in England – 2010 and 2011, experimental statistics
The Information Centre for Health and Social Care
October 2012

Access relevant documents here.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Sessional GPs in commissioning

"This report has been written for Clinical Commissioning Groups, GPs and NHS organisations to help primary care meet its future challenges by harnessing the potential that exists within the GP workforce."

Sessional GPs in commissioning
A Howe, S Stone, P Newman, T Rippon
Royal College of General Practitioners
October 2012

Read more here.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Towards excellence in hospice care

"This publication which draws together the learning of a highly successful programme funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing, overseen by Help the Hospices and evaluated by Cass Business School, with input from over 26 hospices across the UK who have risen to the challenge of opening their doors wider to individuals, groups and communities previously under-represented in their patient profile."

Towards excellence in hospice care
Help the Hospices
October 2012

Read more here.

Understanding patterns of health and social care at the end of life

"Individuals with the highest social care costs had relatively low average hospital costs - this was broadly the case irrespective of age, and suggests that use of social care may prevent the need for hospital care."

Understanding patterns of health and social care at the end of life
T Georghiou, S Davies, A Davies, M Bardsley
Nuffield Institute
October 2012

Read more here.

Joint personal budgets: a new solution to the problem of integrated care?

"This Briefing introduces joint personal budgets for health and social care. It gives the context behind their development, explains how they might work and lists some of the issues that need to be considered before they could be used at scale."

Joint personal budgets: a new solution to the problem of integrated care?
NHS Confederation
October 2012 Issue 251

Read more here.

Improving the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities

"Commissioning services for people with learning disabilities is a substantial test of working together in effective partnerships and, through this, securing better health and support for local people while safeguarding this most vulnerable group of our population."

Improving the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities: an evidence-based commissioning guide for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)
Improving Health and Lives: Learning Disabilities Observatory
October 2012

Read more here.

Saturday 13 October 2012

Service users play vital role in improvements


"Bradford District Care Trust emphasises its vision of The Productive Series as not yet another service improvement project that will run its course, but rather as a way of working which is firmly embedded within the culture."

Service users play vital role in improvements
The Productive Mental Health Ward
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
June 2012

Read more here.

Mental health and the market


"Understanding how the market in mental health works is critical – both for the development of future national policy, as well as for the implementation of existing policy relating to competition and choice."

Mental health and the market
NHS Confederation
October 2012

Read more here.

Monday 8 October 2012

Getting to grips with integrated 24/7 emergency and urgent care

"This report considers the challenges and opportunities facing urgent care commissioners as they strive to develop an integrated 24/7 service while also introducing NHS 111."

Getting to grips with integrated 24/7 emergency and urgent care
NHS Alliance
October 2012

Read more here.

Forgotten conditions: misdiagnosed and unsupported, how patients are being let down

"Rarer conditions are too often neglected by the health service, leading to reduced quality of life for affected individuals and increased costs for the NHS, the benefits system, employers and patients."

Forgotten conditions: misdiagnosed and unsupported, how patients are being let down
M Weston, J Manning
2020Health.org
September 2012

Read more here.

Efficiency and health care in Europe

The latest issue of Eurohealth Observer focuses on the possibilities and challenges of obtaining a workable model of efficiency in health care.

Efficiency and health care
Eurohealth, incorporating Euro Observer
2012, volume 18, number 3

Read more here.

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Cost-effectiveness of compression technologies for evidence-informed care

"We evaluated an evidence-informed leg ulcer care protocol with two frequently used high compression systems: 'four-layer bandage' (4LB) and 'short-stretch bandage' (SSB)."

Cost-effectiveness of compression technologies for evidence-informed care: results from the Canadian Bandaging Trial
B Pham, HB Margaret, MH Chen, ME Carley
BMC Health Services Research, 2012, 12:346

Read more here.

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Reviewing end of life care costing information to inform the QIPP End of Life Care Workstream

"There are potential savings that could be released by shifting care from the acute to the community setting if such is the patient’s wish and if the commensurate disinvestment in acute care systems can be achieved."

Reviewing end of life care costing information to inform the QIPP End of Life Care Workstream
National End of Life Care Programme
September 2012

Read more here.

Evaluating disease management programmes: learning from diverse approaches across Europe

"The project reviewed the policy context for, and approaches to, chronic disease management in 13 European countries, using a structured data collection instrument that organised chronic disease management around four components: active patient involvement, service design, decision support and clinical information systems."

Evaluating disease management programmes: learning from diverse approaches across Europe
E Nolte, et al.
RAND Europe
October 2012

Read more here.

Monday 1 October 2012

Personal health records: putting patients in control?


"Those with complex, chronic conditions, often with more than one long term condition, are most likely to find a personal health record useful and have the most to gain in the first instance."

Personal health records: putting patients in control?
J Cruickshank, C Packman, J Paxman
2020health.org
September 2012

Read more here.

Identifying "value opportunities" in local commissioning


"West Cheshire PCT and CCGs have used Right Care principles to identify “where to look” for service improvements that can generate savings for re-investment and service quality and outcomes improvements."

Identifying "value opportunities" in local commissioning
M Cripps
Right Care Casebook
September 2012

Read more here.


Peer support in long term conditions


"The research found evidence of peer support activity for people with long term conditions across Scotland with positive impact on emotional and physical health, but that access to such services was patchy."

Peer support in long term conditions
Mental Health Foundation
September 2012

Read more here.

Epilepsy12


"The key aims of Epilepsy12 are:

  • To facilitate health providers and commissioners to measure and improve quality of care for children and young people with seizures and epilepsies; and
  • To contribute to the continuing improvement of outcomes for those children, young people and their families."

Epilepsy12
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
September 2012

Read more here.

A clinical commissioner's guide to the voluntary sector


"This guide sets out a vision for the voluntary sector’s role in tackling some of the major challenges commissioners will face."

A clinical commissioner's guide to the voluntary sector
M Girach, H Hardisty, A Massey
NHS Alliance
September 2012

Read more here.

NICE Pathways: guidance at your fingertips


"NICE Pathways is an online tool provides quick and easy access, topic by topic, to the range of guidance from NICE, including quality standards, technology appraisals, clinical and public health guidance and NICE implementation tools."

Access the pathways here.

Takeover: tackling failing NHS hospitals


"Looking at case studies and published research, the authors examine the body of evidence about why past mergers have not worked and identify the key determinants of success."

Takeover: tackling failing NHS hospitals
P Corrigan, J Higton, S Morioka
Reform
September 2012

Read more here.

Primary care for the 21st century


"Although independent practitioner associations in New Zealand have not held budgets on the scale of that planned for clinical commissioning groups in England, they nevertheless demonstrate the significant potential of organised general practice to enable innovation and expansion in the local provision of care."

Primary care for the 21st century
R Thorlby, J Smith, P Barnett, N Mays
Nuffield Trust
September 2012

Read more here.

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with respiratory disease


"The Respiratory Disease Atlas, together with the 2011 Outcomes Strategy for COPD and Asthma and the NHS Companion Document to the Strategy, can be used by healthcare professionals to increase the value of care they offer to people with respiratory disease."

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with respiratory disease
NHS Right Care
September 2012

Access the Atlas here.

National audit of intermediate care


"The audit highlights wide variation in service models being used nationally with differences evident in the extent of multiagency integration, the scale of services provided, and how intermediate care sits within the full range of health and community services, in each local health economy."

National audit of intermediate care report
NHS Benchmarking Network
September 2012

Read more here.