Health Management and Policy Alert

16/12/05 - Health survey for England 2004

The Health Survey for England is a series of annual surveys designed to measure health and health related behaviours in adults and children living in private households in England. The figures show a continuing rise in adult obesity but a reduction in the number of people smoking. The survey also shows that young adults are more likely to exceed the recommended units for alcohol consumption. However the numbers of people eating fruit and vegetables and taking exercise has increased.

(Health and Social Care Information Centre - press release)

16/12/05 - Half-yearly update on NHS foundation trusts

Monitor has published a half-year update on the 32 NHS foundation trusts. The update from 1 April 2005 to 30th September 2005 shows that NHS foundation trusts incurred a net deficit of £2m during the first half of the year. The 32 NHS foundation trusts have a combined annual turnover of £6.6bn. (Monitor - press release)

15/12/05 - National framework for human resources directors

A national framework to support local workforce development: a guide for HR directors in the NHS and social care has been developed by the Department of Health together with stakeholder organisations such as Sector Skills Councils, NHS Employers, the Local Government Association and a range of local and national stakeholders. The document suggests a framework within which governing bodies and boards supported by HR directors and managers across health and social care can develop their local strategies. For NHS organisations, it aims to complement A workforce response to local delivery plans published in August 2005. For social care organisations, this framework aims to provide a useful, stand-alone guide which can help develop thinking at a local level by highlighting some of the important issues which might feature in localised strategies. (DH - publications)

15/12/05 - Independent inspections of hospital cleanliness

The Healthcare Commission has published A snapshot of hospital cleanliness in England, the findings of the first independent inspections of hospital cleanliness in England. Inspectors visited, unannounced, 99 NHS and private hospitals between July and September 2005. They found a third of the hospitals visited achieving the highest standards in cleanliness across the board. But two-thirds were not, with mental health hospitals performing particularly poorly out of those in the sample. Dividing the hospitals into four bands, the Commission found:

• High standards of cleanliness were being achieved in a significant proportion of organisations with 33 hospitals in band one.
• Too many hospitals failed to perform as well as they could with 44 being in band two, indicating they have room for improvement.
• There was evidence of systemic problems in the 23 hospitals that were in bands three and four, indicating that cleanliness was unsatisfactory for an environment in which clinical care is being provided.
• Standards were markedly poorer in NHS mental heath hospitals visited.  These made up all six hospitals in band four, indicating serious and widespread problems, plus 18 of the 22 hospitals in bands three and four.

  The Commission will use the results in its more detailed longer-term study of healthcare associated infection that it will undertake early in 2006.

  (Healthcare Commission - press release)

14/12/05 - Ambulance trust reorganisation: consultation

The Department of Health has published a consultation document that sets out proposals for reducing the number of ambulance trusts in England from 31 to 11. It has been proposed that the benefits of these organisational changes will include:

• More investment in front-line services as trusts make savings in ‘back-room’ functions;
• Improved patient care by providing an opportunity to raise the standards of service provided by all trusts to the level of the best;
• Better emergency planning with greater capacity and capability to respond to major incidents of all kinds;
• More integrated services and better career opportunities for staff

There will be no consultation on ambulance trust organisation in London because there are no proposed changes, nor in Avon, Gloucestershire and Wltshire because of an earlier consultation. The consultation period ends on the 22nd March 2006. (DH - press release)

14/12/05 - Management of controlled drugs (CDs) in primary care

Published by the National Prescribing Centre (NPC), A guide to good practice in the management of controlled drugs in primary care (England) aims to identify robust systems for obtaining, storing, supplying, recording, monitoring and disposing safely of CDs, whilst at the same time helping to ensure appropriate and convenient access for those patients that require them. It does not advise on the clinical choice and application of CDs — the focus being directed towards defining processes for their appropriate and safe use once selected. This guide is primarily aimed at developing good practice for the management of CDs in primary care in England, but also encompasses issues raised at the interfaces between primary, secondary and social care. Although this document does not focus strongly on hospital activity, much of the content will have relevance to the management of CDs across all NHS and non-NHS settings. (NPC - publications)

14/12/05 - Improving patients' emotional experience

This guidance provides examples of good practice showing how the NHS is improving the patient's emotional experience. It also outlines the policy context and explains why improving the emotional experience of patients matters. (DH - publications)

13/12/05 - The Whole Health Community Diagnostic Programme

The diagnostic exercise consists of tools and methodologies to help an NHS trust identify the key areas it can and should address to have the opportunity to apply for NHS foundation trust (NHSFT) status. The first part of this programme is being rolled out nationally, and will focus on NHS acute trusts and their development towards NHSFT status. The second part of the Whole Health Community Programme, to follow in 2006, will focus on primary care trusts and their commissioning capability.
(DH - publications)

13/12/05 - Next steps for NHS reform

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has set out the two-year programme for the next stages of NHS reform. The Health Secretary was giving the London School of Economics Annual Health and Social Care Lecture entitled Investment and reform: transforming health and healthcare. Ms Hewitt also launched the publication of Health reform in England: update and next steps, a handbook for the local NHS on how to deliver the reforms. It sets out the framework for the reforms of the NHS.  It is the first in a series of publications building on the commitment in Creating a patient-led NHS to explain how the whole reform programme fits together. The handbook explains how the reforms are mutually reinforcing and sets out a programme of further work for 2006/07. (DH - press release)

13/12/05 - Phase 2 IS Diagnostics Procurement Programme: guidance

Issued by Commercial Directorate, this guidance advises all NHS commissioning and providing organisations on handling conflicts of interest, share dealings and whistle-blowing. It includes a code of conduct and stresses the need for confidentiality and probity. (DH - publications)