Making sense of evidence in management decisions

"Local processes and professional and microsystem considerations played a significant role in adoption and implementation."

Making sense of evidence in management decisions: the role of research-based knowledge on innovation adoption and implementation in health care
Y Kyratsis, R Ahmad, K Hatzaras, M Iwami, A Holmes
HS&DR, 2014, 6(2)

Read more here.

Combating inflation - guidance

"The purpose of this guidance is to provide a toolkit that will enable a consistent approach, to be adopted across the NHS, for combating inflationary pressures."

Combating inflation - guidance
Department of Health
February 2014

Read more here.

Skilled for improvement?

"Part of the reason why quality improvement is so hard to achieve may be that those involved in leading QI programmes need to deploy three different but interrelated types of improvement skills: technical, soft and learning skills."

Skilled for improvement?
The Health Foundation
March 2014

Read more here.

Focus on: social care for older people

"This report describes the scale and nature of reductions in publicly funded social care budgets and services for older adults in England between 2010/11 and 2012/13."

Focus on: social care for older people
S Ismail, R Thorlby, H Holder
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
March 2014

Read more here.

Evidence-practice gaps in cancer care

"While the number of publications investigating evidence-practice gaps in cancer care increased over a ten-year period, most studies continued to describe gaps between best evidence and clinical practice, rather than rigorously testing interventions to reduce the gap."

Examining and addressing evidence-practice gaps in cancer care: a systematic review
J Bryant, A Boyes, K Jones, R Sanson-Fisher, M Carey, R Fry
Implementation Science, 2014, 9:37

Read more here.

Minimising excess mortality associated with weekend admission

"Recognising these different patterns should help identify at-risk diagnoses where quality of care can be improved in order to minimise the excess mortality associated with weekend admission."

Do variations in hospital mortality patterns after weekend admission reflect reduced quality of care or different patient cohorts? A population-based study
O Perez Concha, B Gallego, K Hillman, GP Delaney, E Coiera,
BMJ Quality & Safety, 2014, 23:215-222

Read more here.

Commissioning guide: weight assessment and management clinics

"This Tier 3 guidance describes the role of the referring GP, what should be achieved in the clinics and who should be referred for bariatric surgery."

Commissioning guide: weight assessment and management clinics (tier 3)
Royal College of Surgeons (England)
March 2014

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

Financial mechanisms for integrating funds for health and social care

"Although some schemes succeeded in shifting care closer to home, and some achieved short term reductions in acute care utilisation, no scheme demonstrated a sustained and long term reduction in hospital use."

Financial mechanisms for integrating funds for health and social care: an evidence review: CHE Research Paper 97
A Mason, M Goddard, H Weatherly
Economics of Social and Health Care Research Unit
The University of York
March 2014

Read more here.

The future of public health

"This work was intended to help inform thinking at the strategic level within Public Health England (PHE), firstly in relation to the wider vision of the Agency (which was only established in April 2013) and, secondly, in relation to the proposals for the creation of an integrated public health science hub within a network of facilities across the country."

The future of public health: a horizon scan
M Morgan Jones, A Hall, D Brooker, S Castle-Clarke, E Winpenny, D Jahagirdar, J Exley, J Chataway
RAND Europe
March 2014

Read more here.

Disparities in selective referral for cancer surgeries

"Efforts should be made to directly reduce such disparities and ensure equal healthcare delivery."

Disparities in selective referral for cancer surgeries: implications for the current healthcare delivery system
M Sun, PI Karakiewicz, JD Sammon, S Sukumar, MK Gervais, PL Nguyen, TK Choueiri, M Menon, QD Trinh
BMJ Open, 2014:e003921

Read more here.

Accountable care organisations in the United States and England

"Cost pressures associated with ageing populations and an increase in the numbers of people with chronic illness in both the United States and England create a need for more accountable and 
integrated forms of delivering health services."

Accountable care organisations in the United States and England
S Shortell, R Addicott, N Walsh, C Ham
The King's Fund
March 2014

Read more here.

Joined up clinical pathways for obesity

“The working group expressed their view that NHS England should in the medium term prioritise early consideration of the transfer of the majority of adult bariatric surgery to local commissioning, through CCGs, once they have been shown to be functioning well with sufficent volume of patients to justify de-specialising the service.”

Report of the working group into: Joined up clinical pathways for obesity
J Blackshaw, S Montel, S King, A Jarvis, J Valabhji
NHS England
March 2014

Read more here.

Early benefits and impact of medical revalidation

"Our research shows there is strong support, particularly among responsible officers and appraisers, 
for the principles and value of revalidation and its ability to improve safety, quality and effective delivery of care for patients."

The early benefits and impact of medical revalidation: report on research findings in year one
Revalidation Support Team
NHS England
March 2014

Read more here.

Bite-size guides to support patient and public participation

NHS England has developed the following bite-size guides, to support patient and public participation in the NHS:

1. Principles for participation in commissioning 
2. Governance for participation 
3. Planning for participation 
4. Budgeting for participation 

These guides are linked to the Transforming participation in health and social care guidance (September 2013).

How does money influence health?

“Improving the income of the poorest members of society is often proposed as a way of improving their health, and hence reducing health inequalities.”

How does money influence health?
M Benzeval, L Bond, M Campbell, M Egan, T Lorenc, M Petticrew, F Popham
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
March 2014

Read more here.

More than just a number

“This briefing confirms that in recent years there has been a significant dilution of skill mix across the country and across all settings, with a considerable loss and devaluation of senior skills and experience.”

Frontline First: More than just a number
Royal College of Nursing
March 2014

Read more here.

Improving general practice: a call to action

“This report focuses on general practice and the central role we want it to play in wider local systems of primary care.”

Improving general practice: a call to action: Phase 1 report
B Dyson
NHS England
March 2014
Read more here.

Care in crisis: what’s next for social care?

“Recent cuts to local authority budgets have had a huge impact on the care system, and we are now witnessing the devastating effect of this ever growing funding gap.”

Care in crisis: what’s next for social care?
Age UK
January 2014

Read more here.

Whole-system solutions for urgent and emergency care

“This follow-up report acts as a roadmap to the fundamental changes required to create a sustainable and high-quality urgent and emergency care system that can meet the needs of patients now and in the future.”

Ripping off the sticking plaster: whole-system solutions for urgent and emergency care
NHS Confederation
March 2014

Read more here.

Commissioning Excellence

The latest issue of the Primary Care Commissioning newsletter is now available. Read it here.

Examining variations in hospital productivity in the English NHS

“We find substantial variation in productivity among English hospitals, suggesting scope for  productivity improvement.”

Examining variations in hospital productivity in the English NHS
A Castelli, A Street, R Verzulli, P Ward
European Journal of Health Economics, 25th February 2014

Read more here.

A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD

“Consistent with the gray literature, there were large variations across regions, hospitals and physician practices for almost every condition and procedure studied.”

A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD
AN Corallo, R Croxford, DC Goodman, EL Bryan, D Srivastava, TA Stukel
Health Policy, 2014, 114:5-14

Read more here.

Importance of multimorbidity in explaining utilisation and costs

“The more co-morbidities that a person has, the more likely they are to require care across diverse settings, and the higher their costs.”

Importance of multmorbidity in explaining utilisation and costs across health and social care settings: Evidence from South Somerset’s Symphony Project
CHE Research Paper 96
P Kasteridis, A Street, M Dolman, L Gallier, K Hudson, J Martin, I Wyer
Centre for Health Economics
The University of York
February 2014

Read more here.

How collaborative are quality improvement collaborative

“Individual organizations should assess the costs and benefits of collaboration as a means of attaining quality improvement.”

How collaborative are quality improvement collaborative: a qualitative study in stroke care
P Carter, P Ozieranski, S McNicol. M Power, M Dixon-Woods
Implementation Science, 2014, 9:32

Read more here.

The role of context in successful quality improvement

“There is a growing body of evidence that an intervention that was successful in one location 
doesn’t deliver the same results elsewhere.”

Perspectives on context
P Bate, G Robert, N Fulop, J Ovretveit, M Dixon-Woods,
The Health Foundation
March 2014

Read more here.

Prevalence of adverse drug events in hospitals

“Routine data primarily recorded for reimbursement purposes are increasingly being used on a national level both in pharmacoepidemiological studies and in trigger tools. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence rates of coded ADEs in hospitals on a transnational level.”

International prevalence of adverse drug events in hospitals: an analysis of routine data from England, Germany, and the USA
J Stausberg
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14:125

Read more here.

Medical revalidation: from compliance to commitment

“Encourage a learning culture where high quality is recognised and mistakes are learned from.”

Medical revalidation: from compliance to commitment
V Nath, B Seale, M Kaur
The King’s Fund
March 2014

Read more here.

From structure to function: the impact of change

“The original overarching aim of this five year project was to investigate how three hospitals redesigned their services to meet the changing health needs of the people they serve.”

From structure to function: the impact of change
University of Birmingham, National Institute for Health Research
March 2014

Read more here.

Making our health and care systems fit for an ageing population

"Improving services for older people requires us to consider each component of care, since many older people use multiple services, and the quality, capacity and responsiveness of any one component will affect others."

Making our health and care systems fit for an ageing population
D Oliver, C Foot, R Humphries
The King's Fund
March 2014

Read more here.

Measuring success in health care value-based purchasing programs

"Based on the findings from the environmental scan, literature review, and technical expert panels discussions, we provide a set of recommendations for consideration that could serve to advance the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of value based purchasing programs to generate critically needed knowledge to guide policymaking."

Measuring success in health care value-based purchasing programs
CL Damberg, ME Sorbero, SL Lovejoy, G Martsolf, L Raaen, D Mandel
RAND Corporation
2014

Read the summary here.

Read the findings here.

Integrating behavioral health across the continuum of care

"The Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence guide offers several frameworks and models to use for behavioral health integration and provides a list of strategic questions for hospital and care system leaders to begin integrating behavioral health or to enhance current efforts."

Integrating behavioral health across the continuum of care
Hospitals in pursuit of excellence
February 2014

Read more here.

Commissioning the conditions for safer surgery

"The taskforce concluded that to achieve a continual reduction in harm, we must reduce variation in practice, promote learning from our mistakes and from improvement activities, and continue to promote organisational and professional responsibility."

Standardise, educate, harmonise: commissioning the conditions for safer surgery
NHS England Never Events Taskforce
February 2014

Commissioning primary care

"Medical training needs to break down the rigid barriers between hospital doctors and those working in the community."

Commissioning primary care: transforming healthcare in the community
NHS Clinical Commissioners
February 2014

Read the briefing here.

An evidence-based framework to measure quality of allied health care

"This paper outlines a framework for a standard approach to evaluate the quality of allied health therapy services."

An evidence-based framework to measure quality of allied health care
K Grimmer, L Lizarondo, S Kumar, E Bell, M Buist, P Weinstein
Health Research Policy and Systems, 2014, 12:10

Read more here.

Effective networks for improvement

"Research has suggested [networks] contribute to healthcare improvement by providing a forum for experimentation and creating knowledge, exchanging information and spreading good practice."

Effective networks for improvement
The Health Foundation
March 2014

Read more here.

Helping measure person-centred care

"This rapid review signposts to research about commonly used approaches and tools to help measure person-centred care. It aims to showcase the many tools available for those working in policy and practice."

Helping measure person-centred care
D de Silva
The Health Foundation
March 2014

Read more here.

Access the measurement tools here.

What can the UK learn from healthcare innovation in India?

"Each health centre had a strong understanding of the role that clinical indicators play in performance monitoring and improvement, with the information genuinely owned by the clinicians."

What can the UK learn from healthcare innovation in India?
The Health Foundation
February 2014

Read more here.

Closing the NHS funding gap

"So, can the £30bn a year gap be closed through efficiency savings by 2021? The general consensus at the roundtable was probably not, given the current pressures on the health system and the impact of funding cuts on other public services. However, participants did recognise that significant improvements in efficiency could be made..."

Closing the NHS funding gap: Can it be done through greater efficiency
E Churchill, J Dixon
The Health Foundation
February 2014

Read more here.

Interventions to improve cultural competency in healthcare

"This review of reviews indicates that there is some evidence that interventions to improve cultural competency can improve patient/client health outcomes."

Interventions to improve cultural competency in healthcare: a systematic review of reviews
M Truong, Y Paradies, N Priest
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14:99

Read more here.

Shared decision-making behaviours in health professionals

"'Sharing knowledge and making recommendations' was the element of shared decision-making most often observed, followed by 'clarifying the patient's values and preferences' and 'presenting evidence.'""

Shared decision-making behaviours in health professionals: a systematic review of studies based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour
P Thompson-Leduc, ML Clayman, S Turcotte, F Legare
Health Expectations: first published online 16 Feb 2014

Read more here.