Health Management and Policy Alert

Consultation on public register of payments made to healthcare professionals by commercial organisations

This consultation on the introduction of a system of public disclosure of payments across Europe by 2016 is open to all healthcare organisations, commercial companies and individual healthcare professionals. Comments are invited over the next three months.

• Online survey
• ESHLSG - news

Information sharing to tackle violence: audit of progress on delivering the Coalition Commitment 2012

This audit report, produced on behalf of the Department of Health, assesses national progress on information sharing to tackle violence and provides a rating for every local area in the country.

• Report
• CPI - publications

Advance decisions to refuse treatment: a guide for health and social care professionals

This guide is designed to help health and social care professionals understand and implement the law relating to advance decisions to refuse treatment (ADRT) contained in the Mental Capacity Act (2005). This version replaces that published in September 2008 and covers: how to make an advance decision to refuse treatment; who can make an advance decision; when a decision should be reviewed; and how it can changed or withdrawn.

• Report
• NHS National End of Life Care Programme - publications

Study of the use of contractual mechanisms in commissioning

This interim report presents findings from research into how commissioners negotiate, specify, monitor, and manage contractual mechanisms to improve services and allocate financial risk in their local health economies, looking at both acute services and community health care.

• Report
• PRUComm - publications

Monitoring the mental Health Act in 2011/12

This report reveals that 15 per cent of people receiving care under the Mental Health Act are not being involved in the decisions made about their care. In addition, some patients did not have any information about being discharged from hospital, including what they had to do to prove they could be discharged. It also outlines examples of hospitals that provide good care and treatment to patients who are detained under the Act.

• Report
• CQC - publications

Improving personal budgets for older people: a research overview

This report reviews the evidence from key pieces of UK research between 2007 and 2012, which focused on the implementation and uptake of personal budgets and direct payments for older people (including those with dementia) in England. It aims to give an overview of the main themes which help to identify the challenges and solutions to improving choice and control for older people through the use of personal budgets and direct payments.

• Report
• SCIE - publications

Complaint handling in NHS Trusts

This report outlines the results of an analysis which shows substantial variations in the way in which hospitals display information about how to make a complaint. It also suggests that support to patients is incomplete and unclear, with 35% of staff citing insufficient training in complaints handling as an issue. Key recommendations from the report include:  accessible information on how to make a complaint on Trusts’ websites, as well as on leaflets and posters throughout NHS hospital ward; complaints being regarded as a learning opportunity to avoid creating a culture of blame; and specific provisions for complaint-related staff training and support.

• Report
• The Patient's Association - publications

Service improvement in blood sciences: how to improve quality, delivery and efficiency for laboratory providers and their customers

Working in partnership with the Department of Health Pathology Programme, NHS Improvement has supported a number of blood sciences teams to learn how Lean methodology can enable the service to achieve improvements to support the QIPP transformation programme. This report outlines how multidisciplinary teams worked collaboratively to test and implement changes that deliver improvements for patients, staff and users of the service.

• Report
• NHS Improvement - publications

Stronger together: how health and wellbeing boards can work effectively with local providers

This report was developed as part of the National Learning Network for health and wellbeing boards to share learning and support the establishment of well functioning boards.

• Report
• NHS Confederation - publications

Gaining ground: care management programs to reduce hospital admissions and readmissions among chronically ill and vulnerable patients

These three case studies from the USA illustrate the potential of care management programs in addressing preventable hospital admissions and readmissions by improving care coordination and transitions among high-risk patients. Study sites included two academic medical centers and a managed care organisation owned by a home health agency. The sites employed bundles of interventions involving multidisciplinary teams to improve provider communication, patient and family education, care transitions from the hospital, and follow-up ambulatory care.

• Report
• The Commonwealth Fund - publications