Health Management and Policy Alert

Health matters: preventing cardiovascular disease

Public Health England (PHE) - 
This guidance aims to support health professionals to improving the detection and treatment of the high-risk conditions atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

• Guidance

The Daffodil standards

Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) - 
GP surgeries will now be able to display a 'daffodil mark' as a sign of commitment to improving end of life care, as part of a new partnership between the Royal College of GPs and the terminal illness charity Marie Curie. The mark, synonymous with the charity, is based on a new set of criteria called the Daffodil Standards – a set of eight quality improvement statements designed to support primary care teams in delivering care to patients living with an advanced, serious illness or at the end of their lives, and their loved ones.

• Standards
• Press release

CLeaR local tobacco control assessment

Public Health England (PHE) - 
This ‘deep dive’ self-assessment tools help local public health bodies take a more in-depth look at important areas of their tobacco control work.

• Guidance

EU exit actions for medical devices and clinical consumables

NHS Improvement - 
This guidance provides information for NHS providers about the extensive planning and contingency measures that have been put in place for the healthcare system nationally and the additional actions that we are asking providers to undertake as a priority as part of the wider preparations for a ‘no deal’ EU exit.

• Guidance

Developing people – improving care: guidance

NHS Improvement - 
In 2016, this framework was introduced to help NHS and social care staff to develop four critical capabilities: systems leadership; established quality improvement methods; inclusive and compassionate leadership; and talent management. The newly published guidance provides further information to those with a deeper interest on these capabilities.

• Guides

Future midwife consultation

Nursing & Midwifery Council - 

The Nursing & Midwifery Council has launched a consultation which proposes to overhaul midwifery education so that the UK is the best and safest place to have a baby. The UK-wide consultation sets out the draft skills and knowledge the next generation midwives will need to learn so they can deliver great care in the years to come. The consultation closes on 9 May 2019.

• Consultation
• Press release

Spending fairly, spending well: time for a radical overhaul of value for money and public audit

The Smith Institute - 

This paper argues for a system-wide review of how public money is planned, spent and monitored. Audit itself needs scrutiny, not least because the audit function in business and the corporate sector has been shown to be unreliable and sometimes seriously deficient. The body responsible, a peculiar hybrid, the Financial Reporting Council has opaque responsibility for public audit and should be abolished.

• Report
• More detail

A critical moment: NHS staffing trends, retention and attrition

The Health Foundation - 

This report highlights that NHS staff numbers are failing to keep pace with demand and that there is ongoing deterioration in workforce numbers in critical areas such as primary and community care, nursing and mental health.

• Report
• Press release

Care and support of people growing older with a learning disability: quality standard consultation

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - 

This draft quality standard covers identifying, assessing and regularly reviewing the care and support needs of people with a learning disability as they grow older. It covers all settings where care and support is provided and describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement. The closing date for responses to the consultation on this draft quality standard is 5pm, Monday 11 March 2019.

• Draft quality standard
• Consultation responses

The Topol Review: preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future

Health Education England - 

The Topol Review, led by cardiologist, geneticist, and digital medicine researcher Dr Eric Topol, explores how to prepare the healthcare workforce, through education and training, to deliver the digital future. This independent report, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, makes recommendations that will enable NHS staff to make the most of innovative technologies such as genomics, digital medicine, artificial intelligence and robotics to improve services.

• Review
• More detail

 

Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust: staff voice at the heart of organisational change

NHS Employers -
This case study explores how Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust has worked to improve its NHS Staff Survey results through a range of staff engagement actions. It demonstrates how the trust focussed on the three areas of staff engagement: advocacy; involvement; and motivation. This work resulted in improved survey response rates and year-on-year improvement to its staff engagement scores.

• Case study
• NHS Employers - news

Improving government planning and spending

Public Accounts Committee -
This report looks at the progress on improving government's planning and spending framework. It concludes that, although some progress has been made since the last report in 2016, this is an ongoing challenge for the Treasury and the Cabinet Office. It finds evidence that departments are not incentivised to plan for the longer-term, and they are repeatedly over-optimistic when planning for what they can deliver, by when and for how much.

• Report
• Public Accounts Committee - news

Local government spending

Public Accounts Committee - 

This report finds that local authority finances continue to deteriorate amid rising demand for vital services. The Public Accounts Committee is dismayed by the government’s view of what it constitutes as sustainability in the sector. It states that short-term cash injections are not good value and government must instead plan for the future.

• Report
• Press release

Age UK’s Personalised Integrated Care Programme: evaluation of impact on hospital activity

Nuffield Trust -
Age UK’s Personalised Integrated Care Programme (PICP) aims to improve the lives of older people through practical support, underpinned by a change in the way that the health and care system works together for these people locally. This report analyses the hospital use of 1,996 older people who had received a service from PICP in eight areas in England, compares their activity to that of a carefully selected control group. The research concludes that it has almost certainly not been able to reduce costs or emergency admissions. However, the results suggest that the scheme may be identifying unmet need in the population, which manifests in greater use of hospital care.

• Report
• Nuffield Trust - publications

Involving NHS staff in research

The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute -
This report highlights the role of NHS staff in research and explores how the full potential of their involvement could be better realised. It describes the ways NHS staff are making their mark on the research process – from designing studies, to collecting data, to disseminating and implementing research findings. It identifies some of the key reasons NHS staff get involved in research and looks at some of the barriers to active involvement.

• Report
• The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute - press release