Population health systems: Going beyond integrated care

"Making the shift from integrated care to population health in England requires NHS organisations to work much more closely with local authorities, third sector organisations and the private sector."

Population health systems: Going beyond integrated care
H Alderwick, C Ham, D Buck
The King's Fund
February 2015

Read more here.

Staff engagement

"Research from health care and other sectors shows that leaders who help their organisations to develop a clear vision and a compelling narrative about mission and priorities achieve higher levels of staff engagement."

Staff engagement: six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff
The King's Fund
February 2015

Read more here.

Leadership and development in health care

"The summary describes key messages from the review in relation to leadership at different levels of analysis: it includes a description of the leadership task and the most effective leadership behaviours at individual, team, board and national levels."

Leadership and development in health care: the evidence base
M West, K Armit, L Loewenthal, R Eckert, T West, A Lee
The King's Fund, Faculty of Medical Leadership, Center for Creative Leadership
February 2015

Read more here.

Unwarranted variations in health care performance across Europe

This special supplement contains articles about the ECHO project, which looks at variations in health care delivery with the European Union.

Unwarranted variations in health care performance across Europe: Lessons from the ECHO Project
European Journal of Public Health, 2015, 25, supp 1

Access the articles here.

Rationing in the NHS

"This is the second in a series of policy briefings on the issues and challenges we believe are critical to the longer‑term success of the health and social care system, and which any new administration following the election will need to prioritise."

Rationing in the NHS
N Edwards, H Crump, M Dayan
Nuffield Trust
February 2015

Read more here.

Factors to consider before implementing consumer e-health innovations

"The aim of this research is to study the factors influencing patients’ acceptance and usage of consumer e-health innovations."

Using diffusion of innovation theory to understand the factors impacting patient acceptance and use of consumer e-health innovations: a case study in a primary care clinic
X Zhang, P Yu, J Yan, ITAM Spil
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:71

Read more here.

Effects of librarian-provided services in healthcare settings

"Two studies indicated patient length of stay was reduced when clinicians requested literature searches related to a patient's case."

Effects of librarian-provided services in healthcare settings: a systematic review
L Perrier, et al.
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2014, 21(6):1118-1124

Read more here.

Intra-Action Report: A dynamic tool for emergency managers and policymakers

"In contrast to an After-Action Report, which focuses on recently completed response and recovery for application to a future incident, the IAR is intended for dynamic use to inform and guide ongoing response and recovery efforts, capturing experiences and learning and applying lessons during an emergency that unfolds over a protracted time frame (that is, the IAR is not applicable to an incident for which response requires only hours or days)."

Intra-Action Report: A dynamic tool for emergency managers and policymakers: A proof of concept and illustrative application to the 2014-2015 Ebola Crisis
M Chamberlin, A Okunogbe, M Moore, M Abir
RAND Corporation
February 2015

Read more here.

Using technology to transform local public services

"This report seeks to highlight examples where councils have used technology and digital tools and approaches in ways that clearly demonstrate an impact both in terms of improved outcomes for citizens and financial savings."

Transforming local public services: Using technology and digital tools and approaches
Local Government Association
February 2015

Read more here.

Case studies available here.

The Forward View into action: Planning for 2015/16

"This document describes the approach for national and local organisations to make a start in 2015/16 towards fulfilling the vision set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View, whilst at the same time delivering the high quality, timely care that the people of England expect today."

The Forward View into action: Planning for 2015/16
NHS England
December 2014

Read more here.

Funding overview: NHS finances

"While administration costs are falling, investment in management is crucial for an organisation of the size of the NHS. It more difficult to implement and embed new ways of working, and to achieve ongoing productivity savings, in an under-managed system."

Funding overview: NHS finances
T Lloyd, B Gershlick, S Lafond, A Roberts
The Health Foundation
January 2015

Read more here.

Right Care reading list: Outcomes-based commissioning

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 Outcomes-based commissioning.

Access the reading list here.

NHS finances: The challenge all political parties need to face

In this briefing we set out our analysis of the funding issues facing the NHS. The briefing covers:

• UK health funding in the context of past trends and international comparisons of health service spending
• English NHS finances over the current parliament
• The outlook for NHS finances over the next parliament and beyond.

NHS finances: The challenge all political parties need to face
A Charlesworth
The Health Foundation
January 2015

Read more here.

‘Cosmetic boob jobs’ or evidence-based breast surgery

"The purpose of this study was to explore the work practices of ‘individual funding request’ (IFR) panels, as they considered ‘one-off’ funding requests for breast surgery; examine how the notion of ‘value’ is dialogically constructed, and how decisions about who is deserving of NHS funding and who is not are accomplished in practice."

‘Cosmetic boob jobs’ or evidence-based breast surgery: an interpretive policy analysis of the rationing of ‘low value’ treatments in the English National Health Service
J Russell, D Swinglehurst, T Greenhalgh
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14:413

Read more here.

Three tests for a credible health policy

"In order to meet this enormous challenge, there is consensus that over the next five years the NHS in England needs to focus on three aims:

1. maintaining and improving care quality now
2. transforming the way care is delivered for the future
3. achieving financial balance."

Three tests for a credible health policy
The Health Foundation
February 2015

Read more here.

Focus on: Hospital admissions from care homes

"In this report, we explore whether routinely collected information on hospitalisations from care homes could be used to enhance the understanding of hospital use by care home residents, and thus target areas for shared learning, improvements or regulatory activity."

Quality Watch: Focus on: Hospital admissions from care homes
P Smith, C Sherlaw-Johnson, C Ariti, M Bardsley
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
January 2015

Read more here.

ECHO (European Collaboration for Healthcare Optimization) Atlas

"ECHO performance Atlases report unwarranted differences in health systems performance across ECHO countries. Atlas reports on cardiovascular care, lower value care and potentially avoidable admissions have been yielded. These reports feature international and in-country variations in performance, its evolution over-time, the effect of socioeconomic gradient, and provide some policy messages derived from the results."

Find out more here.

Risk or reward? The changing role of CCGs in general practice

"This report outlines five key areas of work that CCGs and NHS England must focus on in order to ensure that the current model of commissioning is sustainable and maximises the benefits of new co-commissioning arrangements."

Risk or reward? The changing role of CCGs in general practice
H Holder, R Robertson, S Ross, L Bennett, J Gosling, N Curry
The King's Fund, Nuffield Trust
January 2015

Read more here.

Click here to read a summary from The Commissioning Elf.

Part of the National Elf Service

Commissioning support services

"The framework has been developed with local clinical commissioners who asked for a simpler and less costly process for choosing the support they need."

Commissioning support services: Getting the best from the new commissioning support Lead Provider Framework
NHS England
February 2015

Find out more here.

MyNHS - greater transparency for better health and care

"The MyNHS site is a single place where health and care organisations, as well as the public, can compare the performance of services over a range of measures, at both local and national level."

MyNHS - greater transparency for better health and care: MyNHS planning 2015-2017
Department of Health, Public Health England, NHS England
February 2015

Read more here.

Spotlight on patient centred care

"This spotlight series of articles on patient centred care explores how doctors and patients can work collaboratively to improve the way healthcare is designed and delivered so that it better meets the needs and priorities of patients."

Spotlight on patient centred care
British Medical Journal
February 2015

Read more here.

Guide to community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing

"Communities that are involved in decision-making about their area and the services within it, that are well networked and supportive and where neighbours look out for each other, all have a positive impact on people’s health and wellbeing."

A guide to community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing: Full report
Public Health England, NHS England
February 2015

Read more here.

Care services for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour

"This report examines the challenge faced in delivering key commitments in the Winterbourne View Concordat, the extent to which these have been achieved, and the barriers to transforming care services for people with learning disabilities."

Care services for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour
National Audit Office
February 2015

Read more here.

Call for applicants: NHS Innovation Accelerator

"The NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) programme invites leading healthcare pioneers from around the world to bring their tried and tested innovations to the NHS. The programme aims to select a broad range of innovations – products, processes and technologies – to be more rapidly developed and scaled across the health service, to improve patient care, and reduce costs."

Find out more here.

System-wide approach to turn around a struggling health economy

"Faced with a growing older population, one struggling health economy created a strategy and a no blame culture to improve their services."

The system-wide approach to turn around a struggling health economy
J Inglesfield, J McEvoy
Health Service Journal
February 2015

Read more here.

Transfer of 0 to 5 children’s public health commissioning to local authorities

"Planning and paying for public health services for 0 to 5 year olds, including health visiting, transfers from the NHS to local authorities in October 2015."

Find out more here.

A simple approach to assessing potential health emergency interventions

"Using Ebola as an illustrative example, RAND has developed a simple, practical, proof-of-concept policy analysis tool that aims to fill gaps in a decision-maker's ability to systematically assess proposed interventions in a public health emergency, whether for planning and preparedness purposes or for decision-making during an ongoing response."

A simple approach to assessing potential health emergency interventions: a proof of concept and illustrative application to the 2014-2015 Ebola crisis
M Chamberlin, S Efron, M Moore
RAND Corporation
February 2015

Read more here.

Moving services out of hospital

"‘Scaling up’ primary and community services in order to provide more care outside hospitals will require general practices and their community service colleagues to work together in new ways."

Moving services out of hospital: Joining up general practice and community services?
D Bramwell, K Checkland, P Allen, S Peckham
Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System, Department of Health
August 2014

Read more here.

Public consultation: NHS Bodies and Local Authorities Partnership Arrangements (Amendment) Regulations 2015

"The proposed change will make it possible for pooled budgets to include funding for primary medical care. This will encourage greater integration across community health, social care and primary care."

This consultation closes at 8 March 2015 11:45pm.

Read more here.

The value of health information technology

"Healthcare organizations all over the United States are adopting health information technology (HIT), yet recent studies of HIT are often unhelpful to these organizations or to those making policy decisions. Most studies fail to use adequate measures of value or to report key contextual and implementation characteristics. In this commentary, we:

• Demonstrate the problem in a sampling of published articles.
• Propose a conceptual framework and principles for measuring value in HIT.
• Present a checklist of key study characteristics."

The value of health information technology: Filling the knowledge gap
RS Rudin, SS Jones, P Shekelle, RJ Hillestad, EB Keeler
American Journal of Managed Care,
January 2015

Read more here.

Parliamentary briefing: Building sustainable GP services

"Some key points on English GP funding, workforce, satisfaction and reform."

Parliamentary briefing: Building sustainable GP services
Nuffield Trust
February 2015

Read more here.

Read the related paper, "Is general practice in crisis?" here.