Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region

"The review has collected new evidence on the magnitude and pathways related to health inequalities in the European Region and the most effective interventions and policy approaches to address them."

Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region: final report
World Health Organization: Regional Office for Europe
UCL Institute of Health Equity
Updated reprint 2014

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Accountable clinicians and informed patients

"A patient’s entire stay in hospital should be coordinated and caring, effective and efficient with an individual named clinician – the Responsible Consultant/Clinician – taking overall responsibility for their care whilst retaining the principles of multidisciplinary team working."

Guidance for taking responsibility: Accountable clinicians and informed patients
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
June 2014

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Facing the future: smaller acute providers

"This review has aimed to evaluate whether non-specialist smaller acute providers in the NHS in England face greater challenges than other providers in delivering quality, sustainable care."

Facing the future: smaller acute providers
Monitor
June 2014

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Accelerating improvement through systems engineering

"Through implementation of these strategies [outlined in the document], systems tools and methods can play a major role in improving the value of the health-care system and improving the health of all Americans."

Better health care and lower costs: Accelerating improvement through systems engineering
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
Executive Office of the President of the United States
May 2014

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Commissioning to meet hearing need and for better access, outcomes, quality and choice

"This evidence-based approach has the potential to bring significant efficiency savings and allow available resources to be redeployed in order to meet growing demand."

Commissioning to meet hearing need and for better access, outcomes, quality and choice: guidance for commissioners and providers
National Community Hearing Association, British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists
June 2014

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The open data era in health and social care

This is "a blueprint for the National Health Service (NHS England) to develop a research and learning programme for the open data era in health and social care."

The open data era in health and social care
S Verhulst, BS Noveck, R Caplan, K Brown, C Paz
NHS England
June 2014

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Key ingredients for effective public involvement in health care improvement and policy decisions

"A number of interacting active ingredients structure and foster the public’s legitimacy, credibility, and power. By paying greater attention to them, policymakers could develop and implement more effective public involvement interventions."

What are the key ingredients for effective public involvement in health care improvement and policy decisions? A randomized trial process evaluation
A Boivin, P Lehoux, J Burgers, R Grol
The Milbank Quarterly, 2014, 92(2):319-350

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Effective public involvement in health care improvement and policy decisions

"A number of interacting active ingredients structure and foster the public’s legitimacy, credibility, and power."

What are the key ingredients for effective public involvement in health care improvement and policy decisions? A randomized trial process evaluation
A Boivin, P Lehoux, J Burgers, R Grol
The Milbank Quarterly, 2014, 92(2):319-350

Read more here.

What is the evidence on the economic impacts of integrated care?

"Failure to better integrate or coordinate services along the care continuum may result in suboptimal outcomes and available evidence of integrated care programmes points to a positive impact on the quality of patient care and improved health or patient satisfaction outcomes."

Policy summary 11: What is the evidence on the economic impacts of integrated care?
E Nolte, E Pitchforth
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
World Health Organization
2014

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Improving cardiovascular disease commissioning

Public Health England’s National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network (NCVIN) has published Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) focus packs as part of Commissioning for Value, a collaborative project between PHE, NHS Right Care and NHS England.

Find out more here.

Use of health and social care by people with cancer

"This report focuses on the two periods when people with cancer make greatest use of hospital care – in the period around and following diagnosis, and at the end of life."

Use of health and social care by people with cancer
X Chitnis, A Steventon, A Glaser, M Bardsley
Nuffield Trust
May 2014

Read the summary here.

Read the full report here.

A brief history of quality improvement

"A persistent reminder of our shared aim in improving health care may catalyze collaboration and understanding across communities, and motivate a welcome acceleration of progress."

A brief history of quality improvement
GJ Parry
Journal of Oncology Practice, 2014, 10(3):196-198

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Right Care reading list: Priority-setting

NHS Right Care regularly publishes reading lists on specific themes relevant to the Right Care programme. The latest one is a reading list providing the best evidence on Priority-setting/Prioritisation.

Access the reading list here.

Improving population health one person at a time?

"This qualitative interview study explored perceptions of the phrases ‘population health’, ‘public health’ and ‘community health’."

Improving population health one person at a time? Accountable care organisations: perceptions of population health—a qualitative interview study
DJ Noble, T Greenhalgh, LP Casalino
BMJ Open, 2014;4:e004665

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Promoting engagement by patients and families to reduce adverse events in acute care settings

"While patient engagement in safety is appealing, there is insufficient high-quality evidence informing real-world implementation."

Promoting engagement by patients and families to reduce adverse events in acute care settings: a systematic review
Z Berger, TE Flickinger, E Pfoh, KA Martinez, SM Dy
BMJ Quality & Safety, 2014;23:548-555

Read more here.

Improving the quality of costing in the NHS

"Having a clear understanding of the cost of running an organisation is crucial to identify and realise long-term, sustainable savings."

Improving the quality of costing in the NHS: Payment by Results data assurance framework
Capita
June 2014

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Key concepts in consumer and community engagement (CCE)

"This study describes CCE-related key concepts and provides new insight into their relationship with different CCE-related terms."

Key concepts in consumer and community engagement: a scoping meta-review
P Sarrami-Foroushani, J Travaglia, D Debono, J Braithwaite
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14:250

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Clinicians in management

"Managers' professional background may be both a resource and constraint, and also determine the influence strategies they use."

Clinicians in management: a qualitative study of managers' use of influence strategies in hospitals
I Spehar, JC Frich, LE Kjekshus
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14:251

Read more here.

Nurses and their work environment affect patient experience

"Nurses must gain autonomy over their own practice in order to improve patient experiences."

How nurses and their work environment affect patient experiences of the quality of care: a qualitative study
RAMM Kieft, BBJM de Brouwer, AL Francke, DMJ Delnoij
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14:249

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Quality improvement financial incentives for general practitioners

"Across all literature in this review, there was a lack of explicit acknowledgement of whether the outcomes measured were absolute or relative improvement."

Quality improvement financial incentives for general practitioners
J Oliver-Baxter, L Brown, M Raven, P Bywood
Primary Health Care Research & Information Service
May 2014

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Reframing professional boundaries in healthcare

"Various (cost-)effectiveness studies demonstrate that nurse practitioners can deliver as high quality care as physicians and can achieve as good outcomes."

Reframing professional boundaries in healthcare: A systematic review of facilitators and barriers to task reallocation from the domain of medicine to the nursing domain
MGH Niezen, JJP Mathijssen
Health Policy, published online 01 May 2014

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Patient Engagement Resource Hub

The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement has created this Hub, which contains a resources and tools to support patient engagement and quality improvement. Find out more here.

Interpersonal communication in the process of knowledge mobilization

"Findings suggest that interpersonal communication is associated with knowledge mobilization and highlight how the network structure could be improved for further dissemination efforts."

The role of interpersonal communication in the process of knowledge mobilization within a community-based organization: a network analysis
HL Gainforth, AE Latimer-Cheung, P Athanasopoulos, S Moore, KAM Ginis,
Implementation Science, 2014, 9:59

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The role of informal networks in creating knowledge among health-care managers

"Managers of health and well-being services develop and maintain knowledge collectively."

The role of informal networks in creating knowledge among health-care managers: a prospective case study
V Ward, R West, S Smith, S McDermott, J Keen, R Pawson, A House
Health Services and Delivery Research, 2014, 2(12)

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Networked innovation in the health sector

"We further highlight the implications of this analysis for policy and practice by discussing how network structures and boundary-spanning roles and activities can be tailored to different KT objectives."

Networked innovation in the health sector: comparative qualitative study of the role of Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) in translating research into practice
H Scarbrough, D D'Andreta, S Evans, M Marabelli, S Newell, J Powell, J Swan
Health Services and Delivery Research, 2014, 2(3)

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Unexpectedly long hospital stays as an indicator of risk of unsafe care

"The unexpectedly long length of stay (UL-LOS) indicator is a useful addition to other patient safety indicators by revealing variation between hospitals and areas of possible patient safety improvement."

Unexpectedly long hospital stays as an indicator of risk of unsafe care: an exploratory study
I Borghans, KD Hekkert, L den Ouden, S Cihangir, J Vesseur, RB Kool, GP Westert
BMJ Open, 2014;4:e004773

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Public sector commissioning of local mental health services from the third sector

"If commissioners are to lead the transformation of mental health services then there needs to be sufficient investment in their capacity and expertise to ensure that they have the tools and time to undertake this role."

Public sector commissioning of local mental health services from the third sector
J Rees, R Miller, H Buckingham
Third Sector Research Centre: working paper 122
May 2014

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Co-production in commissioning decisions

"The research indicated that coproduction may be an important factor for satisfaction with decision-making in the commissioning of healthcare services."

Coproduction in commissioning decisions: is there an association with decision satisfaction for commissioners working in the NHS? A cross-sectional survey 2010/2011
S Taylor-Phillips, et al.
BMJ Open, 2014;4:e004810

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Reforming the NHS from within

"Large-scale structural reforms under successive governments have proved a major distraction and should be avoided in future."

Reforming the NHS from within: beyond hierarchy, inspection and markets
C Ham
The King's Fund
June 2014

Read more here.