Health Management and Policy Alert

Social prescribing: reference guide and technical annex for primary care networks

NHS England -
This guide provides additional information to help primary care networks introduce the social prescribing link worker role into their multi-disciplinary teams as part of the expansion of the primary care workforce introduced through the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES) 22/23 Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. It also provides information to deliver the proactive social prescribing element of the Network Contract DES Personalised Care service specification.

• Guidance
• NHS England - publications

Early evaluation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Trailblazer programme: a rapid mixed-methods study

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) - 

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Trailblazer programme is funding the creation of new mental health support teams (MHSTs) to work in schools and further education colleges. MHSTs directly support children and young people with ‘mild to moderate’ mental health problems and work with school and college staff to promote wellbeing for all. A new workforce of education mental health practitioners (EMHPs) is being trained for the teams. This early evaluation of the Trailblazer programme examines the development, implementation and early progress of MHSTs in the programme’s first 25 ‘Trailblazer’ sites.

• Report
• More detail

Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services

Department of Health and Social Care - 

To support recovery, this plan sets out a number of ambitions, including: patients being seen more quickly in emergency departments, with the ambition to improve to 76 per cent of patients being admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours by March 2024, with further improvement in 2024/25; and ambulances getting to patients quicker: with improved ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average over 2023/24, with further improvement in 2024/25 towards pre-pandemic levels.

• Plan
• Press release

Specialised services and system working

NHS Providers - 

This briefing outlines NHS England’s changes to specialised commissioning, beginning April 2023, as well as NHS Providers analysis of the benefits and risks that come with greater system leadership.

• Briefing
• More detail

Who cares? The experience of social care workers, and the enforcement of employment rights in the sector

Resolution Foundation - 

This report finds that social care workers have higher levels of job satisfaction and stronger job attachment than those in other low-paying sectors, but many have to contend with unsafe working conditions and unlawful under-payment of the minimum wage. This report combines new statistical analysis with findings from a series of focus groups with frontline social care workers, to shine a light on the nature of the jobs they do, the challenges they face, and the priorities for improvement.

• Report
• Press release

Basis of negotiation: recommendations to improve the NHS pay review process

Nuffield Trust - 

With the NHS pay review process recently coming in for criticism, this long read presents an eleven-point plan to help make it more fit for purpose. It sets out practical recommendations – for the UK governments, pay review bodies and unions – to improve the current pay review arrangements.

• Long read

Clinical academics in the NHS inquiry

House of Lords Science and Technology Committee -
Clinical academics are qualified doctors who combine working as a specialist doctor with research and/or teaching responsibilities. The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee have concluded an inquiry into clinical academics in the NHS. This letter to Steve Barclay MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, sets out their findings as well as their conclusions and recommendations. The overarching conclusion is that, rather than an additional pressure on the resources of the NHS, engagement with research can help to mitigate workforce challenges and improve patient outcomes. However, they also conclude that the clinical research environment in the NHS is on a precipice and without action these benefits could be lost.

• Letter
• House of Lords Science and Technology Committee - news

Department of Health and Social Care annual report and accounts: 2021-22

Department of Health and Social Care -
The annual report and accounts gives an overview of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) resources and how it has used them to fulfil its statutory functions during the financial year 2021 to 2022. The report describes DHSC’s performance against objectives and includes the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s annual report on the performance of the NHS in England.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

UK poverty 2023: the essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK

Joseph Rowntree Foundation -
This report sets out recent trends in poverty across the UK and how levels of poverty differ between groups of people and regions. It also describes the impact it has on people’s lives, including physical and mental health.

• Report
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation - publications

Independent health care and the NHS

The King's Fund - 
This briefing sets out some of the trends in public and private spending on independent sector health care providers. We consider what factors may be driving these trends, look at the impact this has on household spending among different groups, and consider some of the implications for the public and the NHS.

• Briefing
• The King's Fund - publications

 

Home is at the heart of inclusion health – here's why

The King's Fund - 

In this King's Fund blog, Jackie Stevens, Associate Director of strategic work programmes at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System, writes about work to make home the heart of inclusion health in one integrated care system.

• Blog

The future of pharmacy: manifesto report

All-Party Pharmacy Group - 

This report calls for urgent action to deliver on the potential of pharmacy teams and relieve significant funding and workforce pressures. It highlights the need for a new “strategic vision” for pharmacy and highlights opportunities for the pharmacy network to be empowered to deliver even more for patients. However, the manifesto also underlines the very real risk that this opportunity may be lost if significant and ongoing pressures are not addressed.

• Report
• Press release

Workforce development framework: social prescribing link workers

NHS England - 

This framework focuses on the core functions, skills and competencies of the social prescribing link worker (SPLW) role, alongside the professional support and development SPLWs need to enable them to practice safely, work effectively, and support improved outcomes for people and communities.

• Framework
• More detail

Can mental health services afford the cost-of-living crisis?

NHS Confederation - 

While the recent extra funding to mental health crisis services is welcomed to help mental health services address the immense pressures the cost-of-living crisis is having on the mental health of England's population, this is short-term thinking. The mental health sector need governmental support to move to preventative approaches.

• Long read

Care and support reimagined: a national care covenant for England

Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care - 

This report sets out three actions to realise a new vision for care and support: rethinking attitudes to care and support; rebalancing roles and responsibilities; and redesigning the social care system. The Commission, which was launched by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in April 2021, calls for a National Care Covenant, developed through national dialogue, which sets out the roles and responsibilities of government, communities, families and individuals. Key elements of the covenant proposed by the Commission are: investment in communities; a stronger role for the state; a new deal for unpaid carers; and a commitment to our responsibilities as actively engaged citizens.

• Report
• Press release