Monday 30 September 2013

Joined-up care: King's Fund integrated care map

The King's Fund has produced a map which pulls together a range of case studies to help showcase integrated care in action.

Access the map here.

Methods for setting prices at national and local levels

"Our research highlights some of the challenges that commissioners face in agreeing local contracts that deliver the best outcomes for patients."

Local price setting and contracting practices for NHS services without a nationally mandated price: A research paper
Monitor
September 2013

Read more here.

Performance-based financing as a health system reform

"The paper lays out a broad framework within which indicators can be prioritised for monitoring and evaluation of performance-based financing or other health system reforms."

Performance-based financing as a health system reform: mapping the key dimensions for monitoring and evaluation
S Witter, J Toonen, B Meessen, J Kagubare, G Fritsche, K Vaughan
BMC Health Services Research 2013, 13:367

Read more here.

Social media and public policy

"This report considers whether social media data can improve the quality and timeliness of the evidence base that informs public policy."

Social media and public policy: What is the evidence?
J Leavey
Alliance for Useful Evidence
September 2013

Read more here.

Thursday 26 September 2013

Health Profiles

"Health Profiles provide summary health information to support local authority members, officers and community partners to lead for health improvement."

Access the Health Profiles here.

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Transforming participation in health and care

"This guide will help clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and other commissioners of health and care services to involve:
  • patients and carers in decisions relating to care and treatment
  • the public in commissioning processes and decisions."
Transforming participation in health and care
NHS England
September 2013

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

Barriers and levers to best hand hygiene practice among healthcare practitioners

"This study has produced encouraging findings suggesting the potential for improved hand hygiene and resulting effects on the human and financial costs of healthcare associated infection."

Development of a theory-based instrument to identify barriers and levers to best hand hygiene practice among healthcare practitioners
J Dyson, R Lawton, C Jackson, F Cheater
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:111

Read more here.

Variation in surgical-readmission rates and quality of hospital care

"Hospitals with high surgical volume and low surgical mortality have lower rates of surgical readmission than other hospitals."

Variation in surgical-readmission rates and quality of hospital care
TC Tsai, KE Joynt, J Orav, AA Gawande, AK Jha
New England Journal of Medicine, 2013, 369:1134-42

Read more here.

Measuring a caring culture in hospitals

"Characteristics of the instruments included in this review could provide useful input for the design of a reliable and valid instrument for measuring a caring culture in hospitals."

Measuring a caring culture in hospitals: a systematic review of instruments
G Hesselink, E Kuis, M Pijnenburg, H Wollersheim
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003416

Read more here.

Cost-effectiveness analysis comparing surgical and endoscopic drainage

"In obstructive chronic pancreatitis, surgical drainage is highly cost-effective compared with endoscopic drainage from a UK NHS perspective."

Trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis comparing surgical and endoscopic drainage in patients with obstructive chronic pancreatitis
P Laramee, D Wonderling, DL Cahen, MG Dijkgraaf, DJ Gouma, MJ Bruno, SP Pereira,
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003676

Read more here.

Comparison of strategies to reduce MRSA rates in surgical patients

"In surgical wards with relatively low MRSA prevalence, a combination of enhanced standard and MRSA-specific infection control approaches was required to reduce MRSA rates."

Comparison of strategies to reduce meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus rates in surgical patients: a controlled multicentre intervention trial
AS Lee, et al.
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003126

Read more here.

Quality of newborn care: adherence to guidelines for parenteral nutrition in preterm infants in four European countries

"The initiation of PN is frequently not compliant with current recommendations, with the main differences being observed during the first days of life."

Quality of newborn care: adherence to guidelines for parenteral nutrition in preterm infants in four European countries
A Lapillonne, VP Carnielli, ND Embleton, W Mihatsch
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003478

Read more here.

Telemonitoring after discharge from hospital with heart failure

"Cost-effectiveness analyses suggest that telemonitoring was an optimal strategy in most scenarios, but there is considerable uncertainty in relation to clear descriptions of the interventions and robust estimation of costs."

Telemonitoring after discharge from hospital with heart failure: cost-effectiveness modelling of alternative service designs
P Thokala, et al.
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003250

Read more here.

Public health matters

This is the official blog of Public Health England, providing expert insight on the organisation's work and all aspects of public health. Read more here.

Securing the future of general practice in London

"Strong primary care is essential in health systems as a means of providing cost effective health care and securing health improvement."

Securing the future of general practice in London
Londonwide LMCs
September 2013

Read more here.

Time to act: severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives

"Better care could lead to savings in 8 Time to act - Severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives terms of reduced length of hospital stay and less intensive care and renal dialysis."

Time to act: severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
September 2013

Read more here.

Commissioning Excellence

Primary Care Commissioning's latest edition of Commissioning Excellence is now available. Read more here.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Quality and safety in the NHS: evaluating progress, problems and promise

"Direction for quality and safety must be set from the top. Clear national-level direction setting is crucial. It must avoid dispersing responsibility and accountability, and avert confusion and misalignments for service providers."

Quality and safety in the NHS: evaluating progress, problems and promise
M West, R Baker, J Dawson, M Dixon Woods, R Lilford, G Martin, L McKee, M Murtagh, P Wilkie
Lancaster University collaboration with other universities and the National Association for Patient Participation
Lancaster University
August 2013

Read more here.

Medicines in Commissioning Toolkit

"This toolkit will help ensure that high quality, cost effective, accessible medicines management services are commissioned and provided within new and redesigned patient services."

Medicines in Commissioning Toolkit
NHS East & South East England Specialist Pharmacy Services
April 2013

Read more here.

Future hospital: caring for medical patients

"Future hospital: caring for medical patients focuses on the care of acutely ill medical patients, the organisation of medical services, and the role of physicians and doctors in training across the medical specialties in England and Wales."

Future hospital: caring for medical patients
Future Hospital Commission
September 2013

Read more here.

Monday 16 September 2013

Quest for integrated health and social care

"Canterbury provides much food for thought for the many clinicians, funders and managers interested in better demand management in primary care, allied to significant improvements in hospital efficiency that in turn have an impact on the use of social care."

Quest for integrated health and social care: a case study in Canterbury, New Zealand
N Timmins, C Ham
The King's Fund
September 2013

Read more here.

Commissioning a good child health service

"Good commissioning – or planning – is the key and this guide will help you commission the right services for your patients. It will help you meet their current and future needs in the most effective and cost-effective way possible."

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

Read more here.

Specialised commissioning: policies and policy statements

In its role as the direct commissioner of specialised services, NHS England has published the 8 clinical commissioning policies and policy statements:

  1. Stereotactic radiosurgery/radiotherapy for glomus tumours
  2. Radiosurgery/radiotherapy for cavernous venous malformations
  3. Stereotactic radiosurgery, radiotherapy for ocular melanoma and pituitary adenoma
  4. Eculizumab for atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome
  5. Rituximab for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus in adults
  6. Use of Plerixafor for stem cell mobilisation
  7. Stereotactic radiosurgery/radiotherapy for meningioma
  8. Stribild for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults


Access them all here.

A realist review of interventions and strategies to promote evidence-informed healthcare

"Though effectiveness evidence is weak, change agent roles are evolving, as is the literature, which requires more detailed description of interventions, outcomes measures, the context, intensity, and levels at which interventions are implemented in order to understand how change agent interventions effect evidence-informed health care."

A realist review of interventions and strategies to promote evidence-informed healthcare: a focus on change agency
B McCormack, J Rycroft-Malone, K DeCorby, AM Hutchinson, T Bucknall, B Kent, A Schultz, E Snelgrove-Clarke, C Stetler, M Titler, L Wallin, V Wilson
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:107

Read more here.

Sustaining and spreading self-management support

"Changing the way healthcare is delivered so that patients are supported to more effectively manage their longterm condition is also hard – it involves redefining the role of professionals and patients and putting in place processes and infrastructure that support new ways of working."

Sustaining and spreading self-management support: lessons from Co-creating Health phase 2
Health Foundation
September 2013

Read more here.

Improving integrated care for people with mental health problems

"This report sets out the findings from the Mental Health Foundation’s Inquiry into integrated health care for people with mental health problems. The Inquiry ran from April 2012 to June 2013. Its aim was to identify good practice, generate discussion, and draw up key messages on integrated healthcare for people with mental health problems."

Crossing boundaries: improving integrated care for people with mental health problems
Mental Health Foundation
September 2013

Read more here.

The role of evidence in policy formation and implementation

"Effective decision-making requires good advice, and that depends on informed use of evidence both in developing policy and in evaluating its effect once implemented."

The role of evidence in policy formation and implementation
Office of the Prime Minister's Science Advisory Committee
September 2013

Read more here.

International trends and initiatives in primary health care

"Evidence is presented from countries perceived as comparable to Australia in terms of the organisation, funding and delivery of primary health care."

International trends and initiatives in primary health care
Research Roundup
Issue 23, August 2012

Read more here.

GPs’ perspectives on the management of patients with multimorbidity

"This systematic review shows that the problem areas for GPs in the management of multimorbidity may be classified into four domains. There will be no ‘one size fits all’ intervention for multimorbidity but these domains may be useful targets to guide the development of interventions that will assist and improve the provision of care to multimorbid patients."

GPs’ perspectives on the management of patients with multimorbidity: systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research
C Sinnott, S McHugh, J Browne, C Bradley
BMJ Open, 2013: e003610

Read more here.

Tuesday 10 September 2013

The work of commissioning: a multisite case study of healthcare commissioning in England's NHS

"Commissioners adopting an incremental approach to service change in defined and manageable areas of work appeared to be more successful in terms of delivering planned changes in service delivery than those attempting to bring about wide-scale change across complex systems."

The work of commissioning: a multisite case study of healthcare commissioning in England's NHS
SE Shaw, JA Smith, A Porter, R Rosen, N Mays
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003341

Read more here.

Friday 6 September 2013

Quality Standard: Headaches in young people and adults

"NICE quality standards describe high-priority areas for quality improvement in a defined care or service area. This quality standard covers the diagnosis and management of the most common primary headache disorders (tension-type headache, migraine and cluster headache) and medication overuse headache in adults and young people aged 12 years and older."

QS 42: Headaches in young people and adults
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
August 2013

Access the quality standard here.

Better procurement, better value, better care

"There is too much variation across the NHS - far too many examples of different solutions to the same problem and wildly different prices being paid for the same product."

Better procurement, better value, better care: a procurement development programme for the NHS
Department of Health
August 2013

Read more here.

Implementing shared decision-making

"Normalizing shared decision making requires intensive work to ensure teams have a shared understanding of the purpose of involving patients in decisions, and undergo the attitudinal shifts that many health professionals feel are required when comprehension goes beyond initial interpretations."

Patchy 'coherence': using normalization process theory to evaluate a multi-faceted shared decision making implementation program (MAGIC)
A Lloyd, N Joseph-Williams, A Edwards, A Rix, G Elwyn
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:102

Read more here.

Building dementia-friendly communities: a priority for everyone

"In order for dementia-friendly communities to succeed, the views and opinions of people with dementia and their carers must be at the heart of any considerations or decisions."

Building dementia-friendly communities: a priority for everyone
Alzheimer's Society
August 2013

Read more here.

Choosing a model to predict hospital admission

"Characteristics of patients identified by the algorithms provide useful information in the design/costing of intervention strategies to improve care coordination/outcomes for these patients."

Choosing a model to predict hospital admission: an observational study of new variants of predictive models for case finding
J Billings, T Georghiou, I Blunt, M Bardsley
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003352

Read more here.

Monday 2 September 2013

Educational interventions to improve prescribing competency

"A review of the educational interventions designed to improve prescribing competencies will help to ensure evidence-based interventions are used to develop competent medical and nonmedical prescribers."

Educational interventions to improve prescribing competency: a systematic review
G Kamarudin, J Penm, B Chaar, R Moles
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003291

Read more here.

Reducing health inequalities: the challenge of public health

"Within local government, public-health teams have been tasked by public health England to achieve the following outcomes: (1) increasing healthy life expectancy and (2) reducing differences between communities in health outcomes."

Reducing health inequalities: the challenge of public health
J Craig
British Council - Innovation Unit
July 2013

Read more here.

Supporting working carers

"This report is a landmark statement from business and Government that more can and should be done to support people who want to combine caring for a family member with working."

Supporting working carers: the benefits to families, business and the economy
HM Government
August 2013

Read more here.

Personal health budgets

"Over the next year, clinical commissioning groups nationally may have to respond to requests for personal health budgets from up to 56,000 people."

Personal health budgets: challenges for commissioners and policy-makers
V Alakeson, B Rumbold
Nuffield Trust
August 2013

Read more here.

Lining up: How do improvement programmes work?

"This is the second report examining aspects of the Health Foundation’s Lining Up project – an investigation into interventions to reduce central line infections."

Lining up: How do improvement programmes work?
The Health Foundation
August 2013

Read more here.

Quality improvement made simple

"This is not a ‘how to’ guide. Instead, it offers a clear explanation of some common approaches used to improve quality, including where they have come from, their underlying principles and their efficacy and applicability within the healthcare arena."

Quality improvement made simple: 2nd ed.
The Health Foundation
August 2013

Read more here.

Networks that work: partnerships for integrated care and services

"This publication shows how third sector organisations can develop and provide services that can help people to get themselves on top of their conditions."

Networks that work: partnerships for integrated care and services
NESTA Innovation Unit
August 2013

Read more here.