Health Management and Policy Alert

Government response to the House of Lords European Union Committee report on increasing the supply of donor organs within the European Union, 17th Report of Session 2007/8

This document sets out the Government's response to the House of Lords European Union Committee report which provided a body of evidence as work towards a European Directive in the area of organ donation proceeds. It also provides support for the implementation of the Organ Donation Taskforce Report recommendations published in January 2008. (DH - publications)

Consultation on public, patients' and other interested parties' views on additional uses of patient data

NHS Connecting for Health is gathering people's views to help them make important decisions about the ways the NHS can use information it collects about patients. Such patient data is mainly used to provide care and treatment but can also have additional uses such as research, auditing the quality and safety of care and management planning. (DH - publications)

NHS Choices update edition 3

NHS Choices is being updated with new features, expanded content, and enhanced navigation. This newsletter provides information on the updated features on NHS Choices. (DH - publications)

HIV post-exposure prophylaxis: guidance from the UK Chief Medical Officers' Expert Advisory Group on AIDS

This document provides updated guidance on occupational HIV post-exposure prophylaxis issued in February 2004 and the interim update following the withdrawal of Viracept (nelfinavir) published in July 2007. (DH - publications)

Safer Practice Notice on NHS number

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has issued a Safer Practice Notice (SPN) to all NHS organisations in England and Wales recommending that they use the NHS number as the national unique patient identifier. This follows reports to the NPSA of incidents arising from reliance on local hospital numbering systems which demonstrate a danger to patients. (NPSA - news)

Performance measurement practice: the use of sanctions and rewards in the public sector

This report is a review of the use of sanctions and rewards based on academic research and a National Audit Office (NAO) survey of their use in central government. The purpose of the report is to bring together the evidence on the effectiveness of sanctions and rewards, summarise the results of the survey on their use in central government, and to provide a practical guide on how to use them well. (NAO - news)

Calculating a fair market price for care: a toolkit for residential and nursing homes

The demands resulting from an ageing population means that more care homes will be needed in the future. However, most public sector funding agencies do not currently offer fees that are sufficient to encourage care home operators to invest in new capacity for state-funded clients. Calculating a fair market price for care offers a transparent and evidence-based mechanism for working out what such fees should be, based on the costs borne by care homes in the financial year 2008/9. This may be useful for NHS commissioners of care services. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation - press releases)

Launch of the National Library for Health's Commissioning Specialist Library

The pilot Commissioning Specialist Library (CSL) went live on 15 September 2008.  The CSL is free, and aims to be a one-stop shop providing timely and efficient access to high quality information resources for all those involved in commissioning for health and wellbeing. It endeavours to include the best available evidence, examples of good practice, policy and data to support world class commissioning.

 

The CSL is one of over 30 specialist libraries from the National Library for Health (NLH) and is managed by the King's Fund Information and Library Service. It will be officially launched at the King's Fund Annual Conference in November 2008.

 

Feedback or comments are welcomed, and contact details can be found on the CSL homepage.

 

The King's Fund Information and Library Service also manages the NLH Health Management and Patient and Public Involvement Specialist Libraries, and will be developing an Innovation and Improvement Specialist Library.

Guidance issued to improve nutrition and hydration standards in all healthcare settings

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has launched the next four in a series of ten factsheets for all healthcare staff and care caterers to support the 10 key characteristics of good nutritional care. The factsheets have been developed to improve the nutritional screening of patients and service users when they enter a care setting. This ensures people have access to food and beverages whenever they need them and improves nutritional planning for all patients. (NPSA - news)

Model core constitution

The model core constitution was updated this month. To assist NHS trusts in their application for foundation trust status and to facilitate Monitor's scrutiny of those applications and examination of draft constitutions, Monitor requires that all applicant trusts prepare their constitutions on the basis of this model core constitution. A version with tracked changes is also available. (Monitor - publications)