Sunday 30 August 2015

Self-assessment toolkit for local Healthwatch and local Healthwatch Commissioners

"This toolkit is not intended to replace any of that advice but sets out some key governance questions for LHW and local commissioners to think about in development discussions and in renegotiating contracts."

Local Healthwatch Governance: a self-assessment toolkit for local Healthwatch and local Healthwatch Commissioners
Local Government Association
July 2015

Read more here.

Impact of referral templates on the quality of referrals

"In this study, the dissemination of referral templates coupled with intermittent surgery visits produced higher quality referrals."

Impact of referral templates on the quality of referrals from primary to secondary care: a cluster randomised trial
H Wahlberg, PC Valle, S Malm, A Ragnhild Broderstad
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:353

Read more here.

Socioeconomic impact of inaccurate tests

"The results of this analysis suggest that incorrect HER2 test results have far-reaching clinical and economic consequences."

Immunohistochemical expression of HER2 in breast cancer: socioeconomic impact of inaccurate tests
M Vyberg, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:352

Read more here.

Neurology services: outpatient analysis

"The resources will help clinicians and commissioners to assess if they comply with recommendations by the Royal College of Physicians that scheduled outpatient care should achieve national access targets and be close to the patient's home to ensure accurate diagnosis of symptoms and long term care for conditions ranging from migraine to motor neuron disease."

Neurology services: outpatient analysis
Public Health England
August 2015

Access the resources here.

Effectiveness of an intermediate care hospital

"Having an ICH in the municipality facilitated shorter length of hospital stay and kept the risk of readmissions, mortality and post-hospitalization care needs at the same level as without an ICH."

Effectiveness of an intermediate care hospital on readmissions, mortality, activities of daily living and use of health care services among hospitalized adults aged 60 years and older—a controlled observational study
U Dahl, A Steinsbekk, R Johnsen
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:351

Read more here.

Informal caregivers of clients with neurological conditions

"Neurological conditions are common among home care clients and a significant proportion of informal caregivers providing care to these clients experience distress. The complexity of clients with neurological conditions suggests the need for multicomponent support strategies for informal caregivers."

Informal caregivers of clients with neurological conditions: profiles, patterns and risk factors for distress from a home care prevalence study
LA Mitchell, J Hirdes, JW Poss, C Slegers-Boyd, H Caldarelli, L Martin
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:350

Read more here.

Integrated collaborative care model vs. a shifted outpatient collaborative care model

"Our findings suggest that shelter-based collaborative mental health care models may be effective for individuals experiencing homelessness and mental illness. Future studies should seek to confirm these findings and examine the cost effectiveness of collaborative care models for this population."

The effectiveness of an integrated collaborative care model vs. a shifted outpatient collaborative care model on community functioning, residential stability, and health service use among homeless adults with mental illness: a quasi-experimental study
V Stergiopoulos, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:348

Read more here.

Global Health Security Agenda pilot assessment of the United Kingdom

"International expert team’s assessment of UK’s health protection services against the standards and targets set out under the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA)."

Global Health Security Agenda: pilot assessment of the UK
Department of Health
August 2015

Read more here.

Accuracy of administrative data for infection surveillance

"If hospitals and policymakers choose to rely on administrative data for HAI surveillance, continued improvements to existing algorithms and their robust validation are imperative."

Accuracy of administrative data for surveillance of healthcare-associated infections: a systematic review
MSM van Mourik, PJ van Duijn, KGM Moons, MJM Bonten, GM Lee
BMJ Open, 2015, 5:e008424

Read more here.

Scotland's telephone advice service (NHS 24) for managing health

"This is the first study to examine how the public uses NHS 24. It has identified the patterns of problems which the service must be equipped to deal with. It has also provided important information about who uses the service and when. This information will help future planning and development of the service."

Examining the role of Scotland's telephone advice service (NHS 24) for managing health in the community: analysis of routinely collected NHS 24 data
AM Elliott, A McAteer, D Heaney, LD Ritchie, PC Hannaford
BMJ Open, 2015, 5:e007293

Read more here.

Patient safety implications of general practice workload

"The paper intends to act as a catalyst for the development of new solutions to both fatigue and workload in general practice. RCGP is asking GPs, patients, other healthcare professionals and policy makers for their views on this paper, and suggestions – at a practice, system, and national level – for how GP workload can be alleviated, therefore reducing the risk of fatigue and burnout."

Patient safety implications of general practice workload
Royal College of General Practitioners
July 2015

Read more here.

Thursday 27 August 2015

Call for papers: Innovations in health care deliver: Call for papers for a year long series

"Articles on devices, information technologies, and other technologies that have effects on care delivery are welcome, as are reports on sociological, managerial, and organizational changes. One area not central to this initiative is innovation in health care payment and finance, which has numerous publication outlets. JAMA will focus on new ways in which care is organized and delivered, not paid for."

Innovations in health care deliver: Call for papers for a yearlong series
D Berwick, H Bauchner, PB Fontanarosa
Journal of the American Medical Association, 2015, 314(7):675-76

Read more here.

Learning about competition from the UK's National Health Service

"Hospital competition is an important and significant driver of quality and outcomes improvement. That’s true both for a nationalized health system like the NHS and the private system in the United States."

Learning about competition from the UK's National Health Service
A Frakt
Journal of the American Medical Association
8th July 2015

Read more here.

Inequalities in life expectancy

"The persistence of low life expectancy in some areas means that the state, centrally and locally, has not tackled inequalities in health adequately. Inequalities in health are not self-correcting, and the role of wider determinants, lifestyles and services need to be addressed together rather than in isolation from – or in opposition to – each other."

Inequalities in life expectancy: Changes over time and implications for policy
D Buck, D Maguire
The King's Fund
August 2015

Read more here.

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Rethinking regulation

"Health and care regulation is incoherent and expensive and there is little evidence for its effectiveness; if it was going to improve care it would have done so by now."

Rethinking regulation
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
August 2015

Read more here.

Research utilisation and knowledge mobilisation and public health

"Not all practitioners have the time, skills or interest to work in cocreation, but when there was collaboration, much was learned."

Research utilisation and knowledge mobilisation in the commissioning and joint planning of public health interventions to reduce alcohol-related harms: a qualitative case design using a cocreation approach
RK Rushmer, et al.
Health Services and Delivery Research, 2015, 3:33

Read more here.

Boards, leadership and the NHS

"There is no legal form, structure or system that can completely inoculate NHS provider organisations against failure because organisations are led by people not systems or methodologies, and as in any industry, success is contingent on the cumulative behaviour of individuals. But good corporate governance provides a vehicle for the provision of sound leadership, clear direction and dynamic accountability."

We need to talk about boards: Boards, leadership and the NHS
NHS Providers
July 2015

Read more here.

Sunday 23 August 2015

Communities of practice for supporting health systems change

"The CoP literature does not provide sufficient guidance about how to use CoPs to influence health systems change. Therefore, more primary studies that evaluate the role and influence of CoPs in system-level change are required."

Communities of practice for supporting health systems change: a missed opportunity
A Kothari, JA Boyko, J Conklin, P Stolee, SL Sibbald
Health Research Policy and Systems, 2015, 13:33

Read more here.

Understanding effective care management implementation in primary care

"Although care management can introduce many new changes into the delivery of primary care clinical practice, implementing it successfully as a new complex intervention is possible."

Understanding effective care management implementation in primary care: a macrocognition perspective analysis
JS Holtrop, G Potworowski, L Fitzpatrick, A Kowalk, LA Green
Implementation Science, 2015, 10:122

Read more here.

The NHS: Busting the myths

"The NHS Confederation is publishing a series of myth busters, which challenge common misconceptions and enrich the debates on topical, sometimes controversial, issues regarding our health and care." These are the first three:

Better Knowledge, Better Care animations

NHS Improving Quality has produced a set of animations to help people understand what is meant to have 'better knowledge' in health care. More details are available here, and the four animations are:

Privacy of health records

"People are often assumed to support either privacy or security, as if the choice is between one or the other. However, RAND Europe has collected evidence as part of the largest ever surveys of citizens’ views across Europe on security, surveillance and privacy issues, and the results point to the general public having a much more nuanced understanding of those issues. This brief presents people’s preferences in the context of storage of electronic health records."

Privacy of health records: Europeans' preferences on electronic health data storage and sharing
S Patil, et al.
RAND Europe
August 2015

Read more here.

The system-wide response to the Independent Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway

"The evidence of progress set out in this report suggests a genuine, sustained commitment across the health and care system to the principles set out in the Priorities for Care. It also bears witness to the practical work being done to deliver genuine improvements to the care dying people and those important to them receive. This includes a commitment to preventing and avoiding repetitions of the poor care identified by the Independent Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway."

One chance to get it right: One year on report: An overview of progress on commitments made in One chance to get it right: the system-wide response to the Independent Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway
Department of Health
July 2015

Read more here.

Evaluation of complex health and care interventions

"As policy-makers, commissioners and providers look to innovate and develop new ways of delivering care, there is increasing recognition at both national and local levels about the importance of understanding what works, why it works, and to demonstrate impact on cost and patient outcomes. One of the recurrent problems when evaluating the impact of new care models on outcomes is how to know ‘what would have happened under a different approach to delivering care’."

Evaluation of complex health and care interventions using retrospective matched control methods: A guide for evaluators
A Davies, C Ariti, T Georghiou, M Bardsley
Nuffield Trust
August 2015

Read more here.

Perceived barriers to reporting adverse drug events in hospitals

"We believe that theoretical domains framework (TDF) is a comprehensive approach that enables us to better understand and classify barriers to behavior change in reporting ADEs. Classification of barriers based on different psychological domains could be effective in mapping suitable interventions to detected barriers."

Perceived barriers to reporting adverse drug events in hospitals: a qualitative study using theoretical domains framework approach
F Mirbaha, G Shalviri, B Yazdizadeh, K Gholami, R Majdzadeh
Implementation Science, 2015, 10:110

Read more here.

Study on the use of contractual mechanisms in commissioning

"Overall, the findings of the study indicate that retaining a national standard contract is advisable, as it can both ensure a degree of uniformity in respect of nationally important issues across the country, and reduce transactions costs involved in contract negotiation at local level."

Study on the use of contractual mechanisms in commissioning: Final report
P Allen, C Petsoulas, B Ritchie
Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System
May 2015

Read more here.

The health of health finances

"It is clear that the NHS faces severe financial challenges. Are the Government’s plans to deal with them adequate? This paper reviews the evidence by looking at recent financial results and forecasts and the pressures they indicate; making comparisons with trends in spending levels; and analysing the specific pressures likely in future years."

The health of health finances: CIPFA Briefing
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy
August 2015

Read more here.

The digital doctor report 2015

"In order to keep abreast of these developments and help our clients better tailor their offerings, Ipsos Healthcare has sought to uncover how Doctors feel about digital health, and how they see its role developing in the future."

The digital doctor report 2015
R Sangar
Ipsos Healthcare
August 2015

Read more here.

Empowering patients through eHealth: a case report of a pan-European project

"This paper crystallises the experience developed by the pan-European PALANTE Consortium in dealing with the generation of relevant evidence from heterogeneous eHealth services for patient empowerment in nine European Regions."

Empowering patients through eHealth: a case report of a pan-European project
E Lettieri, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:309

Read more here.

International public health development and emergency response

"This document outlines our capabilities to support low and middle income countries strengthen their public health capacity and respond to outbreaks and emergencies. It also describes activities of relevance to higher income countries where we may assist on issues of global health security."

International public health development and emergency response: capability statement
Public Health England
July 2015

Read more here.

Sustainable health system route map

"The Route Map is a framework for action to help organisations develop a sustainable health system. 
It will help you to coordinate and take action so your organisation can save money, resources, improve health and make changes future proof. The Route Map is the result of a ground-breaking collaboration between the health system and around 70 partners. The Route Map framework isn't set in stone and will evolve over time as we discuss what needs to be done at an individual or an organisational level to make the health system more sustainable."

Access the route map here.




Wednesday 19 August 2015

Putting the consumer at the heart of UK healthcare

"The responsibility to allocate healthcare funding should be shifted from politicians and health sector bureaucrats to individual patients. Funding should closely follow patients, so that patients would allocate funding through the choices they made."

A patient approach: Putting the consumer at the heart of UK healthcare
K Niemietz
IEA Discussion Paper No. 64
Institute of Economic Affairs
August 2015

Read more here.

Effective strategies for the implementation of care bundles on ICUs

"The three most frequently used strategies were education, reminders and audit and feedback."

What are effective strategies for the implementation of care bundles on ICUs: a systematic review
MJ Borgert, A Goossens, DA Dongelmans
Implementation Science, 2015, 10:119

Read more here.

Using a systematic review in clinical decision making

"Evidence suggests that systematic reviews are used infrequently by physicians in clinical decision-making. One proposed solution is to create filtered resources so that information is validated and refined in order to be read quickly. Two shortened systematic review formats were developed to enhance their use in clinical decision-making."

Using a systematic review in clinical decision making: a pilot parallel, randomized controlled trial
L Perrier, N Persaud, KE Thorpe, SE Straus
Implementation Science, 2015, 10:118

Read more here.

Patients's expectations about primary care physicians' practices

"Patients are generally highly satisfied with their PCP. They have a wide range of expectations which should be taken into account when considering potential improvements."

What are patients' expectations about the organization of their primary care physicians' practices?
P Sebo, FR Herrman, P Bovier, DM Haller
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:328

Read more here.

Understanding nurses’ and physicians’ fear of repercussions for reporting errors

"Although further investigation is needed to examine these and other factors in detail, supportive safety leadership appears to be central to reducing fear of reporting errors for both nurses and physicians."

Understanding nurses’ and physicians’ fear of repercussions for reporting errors: clinician characteristics, organization demographics, or leadership factors?
ES Castel, LR Ginsburg, S Zaheer, H Tamim
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:326

Read more here.

The public's voice about healthcare quality regulation policies

"Our study contributes to the limited knowledge of public opinion on government regulation policies. This knowledge is needed in order to effectively assess different approaches to involve the public in regulation policies."

The public's voice about healthcare quality regulation policies. A population-based survey
R Bouwman, M Bomhoff, JD de Jong, P Robben, R Friele
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:325

Read more here.

Geographic variation in unplanned hospital admission rates and length of stay for ambulatory care sensitive conditions

"Policymakers targeting a reduction in unplanned admissions could introduce initiatives to improve primary care access and quality or develop alternatives to admission."

A systematic review of the magnitude and cause of geographic variation in unplanned hospital admission rates and length of stay for ambulatory care sensitive conditions
J Busby, S Purdy, W Hollingworth
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:324

Read more here.

Coordination of clinical information and management across levels of care

"This set of indicators comprehensively address the different attributes of clinical coordination in main transitions across levels of care."

Development and testing of indicators to measure coordination of clinical information and management across levels of care
MB Aller, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:323

Read more here.

Weekend hospitalization and additional risk of death

"Admission at the weekend is associated with increased risk of subsequent death within 30 days of admission. The likelihood of death actually occurring is less on a weekend day than on a mid-week day."

Weekend hospitalization and additional risk of death: An analysis of inpatient data
N Freemantle, et al.
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2012, 105: 74-84

Read more here.

A priority-setting method for evidence-based service development

"The method recruited and retained people with diverse experience and views within a health community and took account of a full range of evidence. It enabled a diverse group of stakeholders to travel together in a direction that converged with the messages coming out of the research and successfully yielded priorities for service improvement that met competing requirements."

Squaring the circle: a priority-setting method for evidence-based service development, reconciling research with multiple stakeholder views
R Hutten, GD Parry, T Ricketts, J Cooke
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:320

Read more here.

Narrative review of models and success factors for scaling up public health interventions

"Conceptual frameworks can assist both policy makers and researchers to determine the type of research that is most useful at different stages of scaling up processes."

Narrative review of models and success factors for scaling up public health interventions
AJ Milat, A Bauman, S Redman
Implementation Science, 2015, 10:113

Read more here.

Monday 3 August 2015

New organisational models of primary care to meet the future needs of the NHS

"We identified three overlapping categories of models: models that introduce new, or change existing, roles in general practice; models of collaboration among professionals and among sectors (primary care, secondary care and social care); and new organisational forms for general practice."

New organisational models of primary care to meet the future needs of the NHS: a brief overview of recent reports
T Bienkowska-Gibbs, S King, C Saunders, M-L Henham
RAND Europe
June 2015

Read more here.