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.

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.

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.

Right Care Essential Reading: Unwarranted variation - update

Essential Reading is a series of reading lists on specific themes relevant to our Right Care programme themes. This reading list is an update (search dates Jan 2011 to Nov 2013) on the theme of Unwarranted Variation.

Read the update here.

Adopt, improve or defend - an AID for QIPP

"Commissioners in Wigan have embedded a systematic approach to achieve challenging QIPP targets by identifying and addressing variations in local healthcare."

Adopt, improve or defend - an AID for QIPP
C Melling, W Sanders, M Cripps
RightCare Casebook
September 2013

Read more here.

Programmed for improvement

"Analysing programme spend alongside outcomes could be the starting point for clinical commissioning groups keen to get the most out of investments."

Programmed for improvement
S Brown
Healthcare Finance
June 2013

Read more here.

Anatomy of health spending 2011/12

"This report presents findings of new analysis of the financial performance of the NHS in England and the Department of Health between 2003/04 and 2011/12. It examines recent changes in the labour productivity of acute hospitals (both NHS and foundation trusts), identifies the factors associated with variations in labour productivity and develops a new measure of labour productivity."

The anatomy of health spending 2011/12
NM Jones, A Charlesworth
Nuffield Trust
March 2013

Read more here.

Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2012

"Trusts that provide cost effective care by reducing the length of stay in hospital, avoiding emergency readmissions and using resources effectively can also achieve good outcomes."

Fit for the future: Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2012
Dr Foster Intelligence
December 2012

Read more here.

Access all ages: assessing the impact of age on access to surgical treatment

"Where there are allegations of rationing of interventions according to age, as opposed to clinical need and potential benefit, these should be investigated by the commissioners of that service and escalated to the NHS Commissioning Board where appropriate."

Access all ages: assessing the impact of age on access to surgical treatment
Royal College of Surgeons of England
October 2012

Read more here.

Reforming payment for health care in Europe to achieve better value

"This report examines trends in payment reform in selected European countries to help policy-makers, providers and payers understand developments and prepare for the future."

Reforming payment for health care in Europe to achieve better value
A Charlesworth, A Davies, J Dixon
The Nuffield Trust
August 2012

Read more here.

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with kidney disease

"The aims in publishing the NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for People with Kidney Disease are twofold.

1. To identify variation not only in the quality of kidney care but also in the availability of certain treatments across England
2. To suggest reasons for variation and the ways in which that variation could be addressed to increase value."

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with kidney disease
NHS Right Care
June 2012

Read more here.

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with diabetes

"The aim of the Diabetes Atlas is to identify and quantify the extent of ‘unwarranted’ variation that may be due to unjustified geographical differences in medical practice and/or patients not gaining access to the appropriate level of intervention for their need."

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with diabetes
NHS Right Care
June 2012

Read more here.

Atlas of variations in social care

"The atlas examines initiatives to improve care services including additional funds for social care from the NHS and how this resource is being spent."

An atlas of variations in social care: an analysis of the quality of social care services in England
MHP Health Mandate
June 2012

Read more here.

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for Children and Young Adults

"For the first time, variations across the breadth of child health services provided by NHS England are presented together to allow clinicians, commissioners and service users to identify priority areas for improving outcome, quality and productivity."

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for Children and Young Adults
Right Care Programme, in collaboration with the Child and Maternal Health Observatory
March 2012

Find out more here.

Access the online version here.