Friday 31 May 2013

Care.data: guide for GP practices

"Care.data will make increased use of information from medical records with the intention of improving healthcare, for example by ensuring that timely and accurate data are made available to NHS commissioners and providers so that they can better design integrated services for patients."

Find out more here.

Hypothetical case scenarios - procurement, patient choice and competition regulations

"These case scenarios are not intended to address all of the issues that might arise under the Regulations, but to highlight some of the core issues that each of the scenarios appear to raise and the key factors that are likely to be relevant to the question of whether or not the conduct is consistent with the Regulations."

Hypothetical case scenarios - procurement, patient choice and competition regulations
Monitor
May 2013

Read more here.

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Patient-centred leadership


"Clinical teams perform best when their leaders value and support staff, enable them to work as a team, ensure that the main focus is on patient care, and create time to care."

Patient-centred leadership: rediscovering our purpose
The King's Fund
May 2013

Read more here.

Guidance on human rights for commissioners of home care


"This guide aims to help local authority elected members and staff who are involved in the commissioning and procurement of home care better understand their obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998."

Guidance on human rights for commissioners of home care
Equality and Human Rights Commission
May 2013

Read more here.

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Evaluation of the theory-based Quality Improvement in Physical Therapy (QUIP) programme


"The QUIP programme has the potential to change physical therapy practice but needs considerable revision to induce the ongoing quality improvement process that is required to optimize overall guideline adherence."

Evaluation of the theory-based Quality Improvement in Physical Therapy (QUIP) programme: a one-group, pre-test post-test pilot study
GM Rutten, J Harting, LK Bartholomew, A Schlief, RAB Oostendorp, NK de Vries
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:194

Read more here.

Value based health care: an introduction


Monitor, in partnership with HFMA, are holding a series of webinars on the theme of value based health care. The first of these, Delivering value based health care - an introduction, took place on Wednesday 1 May 2013. Watch a recording here.

Understanding integrated care


"The presented conceptual framework is a first step to achieve a better understanding of the inter-relationships among the dimensions of integrated care from a primary care perspective."

Understanding integrated care: a comprehensive conceptual framework based on the integrative functions of primary care
PP Valentijn, SM Schepman, W Opheij, MA Bruijnzeels
International Journal of Integrated Care, 2013

Read more here.

Patient and carer experience of obtaining medication for chronic conditions


"This paper presents findings from England of a qualitative study and survey of patients and their carers' experiences of community and primary care based services for physical chronic diseases."

Patient and carer experience of obtaining regular prescribed medication for chronic disease in the English National Health Service: a qualitative study
PM Wilson, N Kataria, E McNeilly
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:192

Read more here.

Health care lessons from Sweden


"The Swedish health care system provides some of the best outcomes when compared with other developed nations that maintain universal approaches to health care insurance."

Lessons from abroad: health care lessons from Sweden
N Esmail
May 2013

Read more here.

Understanding competition and choice in the NHS


"This report examines the changes in the roles of the NHS and the private sector in the funding and provision of two elective in-patient procedures: hip and knee replacements."

Public payment and private provision: the changing landscape of health care in the 2000s
S Arora, A Charlesworth, E Kelly, G Stoye
Nuffield Trust, Institute for Fiscal Studies
May 2013

Read more here.

Clinical engagement in high-value commissioning


"Following concern from the Department of Health and Surgical Specialty Associations that there was unexplained variation in the rates of some elective surgical procedures between Primary Care Trusts and that PCTs were varying in their use of “thresholds” for funding these procedures, an engagement exercise was undertaken to bring together commissioners, surgeons and patient representatives to develop an evidence based approach to identifying variation and setting commissioning guidance which could be used nationally to reduce unexplained variation."

Clinical engagement in high-value commissioning: elective surgical procedures
N Beasley
Right Care Casebook Series
January 2013

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

Support for commissioning: anticoagulation therapy


"This resource supports commissioners, clinicians and managers to commission high-quality evidence-based care for adults across England, and updates and replaces the NICE guide for commissioners on anticoagulation therapy services published in 2007."

Support for commissioning: anticoagulation therapy
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
May 2013

Read more here.

Paying for social care: beyond Dilnot


"Reform has been made harder because of the fragmented way the social care system has evolved, leaving a system that is criss-crossed with fault lines between NHS and local authority social care, private and public funding, and private and public delivery."

Paying for social care: beyond Dilnot
R Humphries
The King's Fund
May 2013

Read more here.

Dental commissioning statistics


These statistics show the volume of units of dental activity (UDAs) commissioned by Primary Care Trusts as at the end of each quarter, for the proceeding 12 months. Access the statistics here.

Measuring patient experiences in primary health care


"A review and classification of items and scales used in publicly-available questionnaires."

Measuring patient experiences in primary health care
UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
May 2013

Read more here.

Cost-effectiveness of adherence therapy versus health education for people with schizophrenia


"Non-adherence to anti-psychotics is common, expensive and affects recovery. We therefore examine the cost-effectiveness of adherence therapy for people with schizophrenia by multi-centre randomised trial in Amsterdam, London, Leipzig and Verona."

Cost-effectiveness of adherence therapy versus health education for people with schizophrenia: randomised controlled trial in four European countries
A Patel, et al.
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, 2013, 11:12

Read more here.

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Quality imaging services for primary care


"This guide has been developed to improve imaging services in the early stages of illness, particularly in primary care, by building strong partnerships between diagnostic imaging departments and primary care providers."

Quality imaging services for primary care: a good practice guide
Royal College of General Practitioners, Society and College of Radiographers, Royal College of Radiologists
May 2013

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

Enabling people to live well


"Fresh thinking about collaborative approaches to care for people with long-term conditions."

Enabling people to live well
V Entwistle, A Cribb
The Health Foundation
May 2013

Read more here.

Monday 20 May 2013

The regulation and oversight of NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts


"This joint policy statement provides further detail on the changes to the regulation and oversight of NHS trusts and NHS foundations trusts proposed in the Government’s initial response to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry and related clauses in Part 2 of the Care Bill."

The regulation and oversight of NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts
Department of Health
May 2013

Read more here.

Tool to link health outcomes and expenditure


"NHS England has commissioned Public Health England to develop a tool which helps commissioners to link health outcomes and expenditure."

Access this tool for commissioners here.

Antibiotic resistance - the case for action


"This publication contains written reports detailing ways in which countries are tackling Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)."

Antibiotic resistance - a threat to global health security and the case for action
Department of Health
May 2013

Read more here.

Saturday 18 May 2013

Inner North West London Integrated Care Pilot


"The North West London Integrated Care Pilot (ICP) is a large-scale innovative programme designed to improve the coordination of care for people over 75 years of age, and adults living with diabetes."

Evaluation of the first year of the Inner North West London Integrated Care Pilot
Nuffield Trust
May 2013

Read more here.

Improving patient safety and health care delivery


"Through a series of projects, APL and Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) have focused on applying a systems approach using engineering principles and best practices to hospital-based care, specifically, care in the ICU."

Systems approach and systems engineering applied to health care: improving patient safety and health care delivery
AD Ravitz, A Sapirstein, JC Pham, PA Doyle
Johns Hopkins APL Techinical Digest, 2013, 31(4) pp354-365

Read more here.

Impact of clinical and health services research projects on decision-making


"Specifically, the relationships between managers and research teams and the mutual knowledge of their activity have shown to be effective in applying research funding to practice and decision-making."

Impact of clinical and health services research projects on decision-making: a qualitative study
M Solans-Domenech, P Adam, I Guillamon, G Permanyer-Miralda, JMV Pons, J Escarrabill,
Health Research Policy and Systems, 2013, 11:15

Read more here.

Creating better access for patients needing scans


"This document has been developed as a good practice guide to developing collaborative practices between diagnostic imaging departments and primary care providers for the benefit of patients, and to support GPs in delivering excellent, timely care."

Creating better access for patients needing scans
Royal College of General Practitioners
May 2013

Read more here.

Elective hospital admissions, waiting times and patient experience


"This Briefing will help non-executive directors (NEDs) better understand NHS data and how it can be used to determine what is going on in their hospital."

The non-executive directors' guide to hospital data: Part two: Elective hospital admissions, waiting times and patient experience
Hospitals Forum briefing
NHS Confederation
May 2013, Issue 263

Read more here.

Integrating human factors with infection prevention and control


"In this thought paper, the authors discuss the application of human factors principles within infection prevention and control activities."

Integrating human factors with infection prevention and control
J Storr, N Wigglesworth, C Kilpatrick
The Health Foundation
May 2013

Read more here.

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Integrated care and support


"Person-centred coordinated care and support is key to improving outcomes for individuals who use health and social care services."

Integrated care and support: our shared commitment
National Collaboration for Integrated Care and Support
May 2013

Read more here.

A narrative for person-centred coordinated care


This narrative has been developed to highlight what matters most to patients and service users.

A narrative for person-centred coordinated care
National Voices
May 2013

Read more here.

Delivering major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015


"The NHS routinely collects data on patients as they receive care, which is a rich source of information about how disease and treatments work. The information collected includes data on biomarkers, diagnosis, treatment and clinical outcomes. This information is vital to understanding how the NHS and Social Care system can improve outcomes for patients, yet it remains a relatively untapped resource."

The Prime Minister's Challenge on dementia: Delivering major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015: annual report of progress
Department of Health
May 2013

Read more here.

Dementia Prevalence Calculator (v2)


"This tool enables health and care communities to:

  • calculate local dementia diagnosis rates
  • forecast local dementia prevalence
  • view trajectories and set ambitions for improvement in diagnosis rates
  • compare diagnosis rates with other localities
  • view and compare diagnosis rates on the Ambition Map
  • link to the Knowledge Portal to access a wealth of resources to improve dementia diagnosis rates, and diagnosis pathways."


Read more here.

Tuesday 14 May 2013

How can the NHS payment system do more for patients?


"Part One of this document gives the context for this discussion and Part Two describes the development of the NHS payment system to date. Some early ideas on how to design a payment system for the longer term are set out in Part Three for discussion with the sector, with a view to publishing a long-term strategy incorporating stakeholders’ contributions by the end of the year."

How can the NHS payment system do more for patients? A discussion paper
Monitor, NHS England
May 2013

Read more here.

The response form for this discussion paper is available here.

Does integrated care deliver the benefits expected?


"A two-year initiative by the Department of Health explored new ways of integrating patient care from different local providers."

Does integrated care deliver the benefits expected? Findings from 16 integrated care pilot initiatives in England
RAND Europe
May 2013

Read more here.

Monday 13 May 2013

Continuous quality improvement


"Shared governance and continuous quality improvement (CQI) are concepts that have been re-introduced into the healthcare sector over recent decades through several iterations for the purpose of empowering point-of-care staff."

Continuous quality improvement: a shared governance model that maximizes agent-specific knowledge
V Burkosi, J Yoon
Nursing Leadership, 26 (Special Issue) May 2013: 7-16

Read more here.

Attempting to govern uncertainty in healthcare management


"The Good Governance Institute (GGI)  supports organisations to enhance their capacity to govern and control, but is increasingly asked what tools or techniques could be deployed to help boards protect their organisations against a broad set of high-consequence risks."

Countering the biggest risk of all: attempting to govern uncertainty in healthcare management
P Moore
Good Governance Institute
May 2013

Read more here.

Impact of clinical and health services research projects on decision-making


"Specifically, the relationships between managers and research teams and the mutual knowledge of their activity have shown to be effective in applying research funding to practice and decision-making."

Impact of clinical and health services research projects on decision-making: a qualitative study
M Solans-Domenech, P Adam, I Guillamon, G Permanyer-Miralda, JMV Pons, J Escarrabill
Health Research Policy and Systems, 2013, 11:15

Read more here.

Supporting structures


Commissioning Support Units have been created to support the work of the Clinical Commissioning Groups. They are run by people from various backgrounds, including physiotherapy, radiology, corporate law, and accountancy.

Find out more about them here.

Protecting healthcare workers from sharps injuries


"Regulations implementing EU law (the“Sharps Directive”– European Council Directive 2010/32/EU) come into force across the UK on 11 May 2013. All NHS employers and employees need to be aware of and act upon the additional requirements (over and above existing health and safety legislation) resulting from the new regulations."

Protecting healthcare workers from sharps injuries
NHS European Office - NHS Employers
May 2013 - Issue 13

Read more here.

Cost effectiveness of the NHS breast screening programme


"... further primary research will be needed for cost effectiveness studies to provide definitive data to inform policy."

Cost effectiveness of the NHS breast screening programme: life table model
PDP Pharoah, B Sewell, D Fitzimmons, HS Bennett, N Pashayan
British Medical Journal, 2013, 346:f2618

Read more here.

NHS England: Improving A&E Performance Gateway ref: 00062


"Working closely with other key stakeholders, and building on the views already shared from CCGs and providers, NHS England will put in place an approach that will support the emergency and urgent care system, reduce pressure and ensure that patients do not have to wait longer than the agreed standards as identified in the NHS constitution and thus meet the national operating target of 95%."

Read more here.


Wednesday 8 May 2013

National Programmes of Care and Clinical Reference Groups


There are 74 Clinical Reference Groups which are clustered around five national Programmes of Care:

  1. Internal medicine
  2. Cancer and blood
  3. Mental health
  4. Trauma
  5. Women and children.

These which bring together services in functional groupings, and more can be found out here.

Patterns of maternity care in English NHS hospitals 2011/12


"The work presented in this report was focused to defining intrapartum care indicators that can be robustly derived at hospital level using Hospital Episode Statistics data. Further work is needed to understand the relationships between the indicators as well as patterns of care that can be observed within hospitals."

Patterns of maternity care in English NHS hospitals
H Knight, et al.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
2013

Read more here.

Guide to the healthcare system in England


This guide has been written to explain about all the different organisations that "play a key role in making the NHS what it is."

Guide to the healthcare system in England
NHS England
May 2013

Read more here.

Improving care for patients with musculoskeletal conditions


"Patients with muscular and joint pain have seen care improve and waiting times cut as part of a pilot saving the NHS tens of thousands of pounds." Improvements introduced include:

  • Call referral management centre to coordinate physiotherapy referrals
  • Physiotherapy available at GP practices
  • Physiotherapy telephone assessment service
  • Orthopaedics, sport and exercise medicine specialists as part of the clinical assessment team

Find out more about this pilot scheme here.

Public Health Outcomes Framework for England, 2013-2016


"The new Public Health Outcomes Framework that has been published is in three parts:
  • Part 1 introduces the overarching vision for public health, the outcomes we want to achieve and the indicators that will help us understand how well we are improving and protecting health.
  • Part 2 specifies all the technical details we can currently supply for each public health indicator and indicates where we will conduct further work to fully specify all indicators.
  • Part 3 consists of the impact assessment and equalities impact assessment."

Public Health Outcomes Framework for England, 2013-2016
Department of Health
January 2012

Read more here.

Tackling teenage pregnancy


"This briefing for councillors and officers explains the challenges facing councils and the opportunities they have to tackle teenage pregnancy and reduce health inequalities in local communities."

Tackling teenage pregnancy: local government's new public health role
Local Government Association
April 2013

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

Monday 6 May 2013

Making the case for information


"The evidence for investing in high quality health information for patients and the public."

Making the case for information
Patient Information Forum
May 2013

Read more here.

Friday 3 May 2013

Commissioning a good child health service


"This guide sets out for these important stakeholders a shared vision developed with GPs, paediatricians and children’s nurses of what a good children’s health service looks like from a primary care perspective."

Commissioning a good child health service
CIRC - Clinical Innovation and Research Centre
Royal College of General Practitioners
April 2013

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

Medicines optimisation: helping patients to make the most of medicines


"Medicines optimisation is about ensuring that the right patients get the right choice of medicine, at the right time."

Medicines optimisation: helping patients to make the most of medicines
Royal Pharmaceutical Society
May 2013

Read more here.

Shared decision making does not influence physicians against clinical practice guidelines


"Intention to adopt shared decision making regarding the use of antibiotics to treat acute respiratory tract infections does not negatively influence physicians’ intention to use clinical practice guideline recommendations in the same clinical context, including after exposure to a training program in shared decision making."

Shared decision making does not influence physicians against clinical practice guidelines
M Guerrier, F Legare, S Turcotte, M Labrecque, LP Rivest
PLoS ONE, 2013, 8(4):e62537

Read more here.

Thursday 2 May 2013

Models of medical leadership and their effectiveness


"There are many barriers to involving doctors effectively in leadership roles, and in most organisations a step change is needed to overcome these barriers."

Are we there yet? Models of medical leadership and their effectiveness: An exploratory study
H Dickinson, C Ham, I Snelling, P Spurgeon
NHS National Institute for Health Research
April 2013

Read more here.

Patient neglect in healthcare institutions


"Patients and their family members are more likely to report neglect than healthcare staff, and nurses are more likely to report on the neglectful behaviours of other nurses than on their own behaviour."

Patient neglect in healthcare institutions: a systematic review and conceptual model
TW Reader, A Gillespie
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:156

Read more here.