Health Management and Policy Alert

East and North Hertfordshire diabetic eye screening programme: quality assurance visit report

Public Health England (PHE) - 
This executive summary report sets out observations and recommendations from a quality assurance visit to East and North Hertfordshire to assess the diabetic eye screening programme.

• Report
• PHE publications

Trust-level 30-day mortality after systemic anticancer treatment for breast and lung cancer in England: companion report

Public Health England (PHE) - 
This report, co-authored by PHE's National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service and Cancer Research UK, is the first major report using systemic anticancer treatment data. This data gives trust-level insights about real-world chemotherapy treatment of patients in the NHS in England which was previously only available from clinical trials. The report shows that age, general wellbeing and other factors can affect 30-day mortality following chemotherapy for breast and lung cancer. This report is a companion to an open-access study paper published in The Lancet Oncology.

• Report
• The Lancet Oncology study
• Press release

Consultation on revised guidance on returning to practice

Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) - 
This consultation seeks views and comments on draft revised guidance on returning to practice for professions who are currently not practising or considering a break in their practice. The proposed changes include a restructure of the guidance to provide additional clarity on what is meant by 'practising your profession' as well as certain aspects of the requirements. The consultation runs until 7 October 2016 and the updated guidance is expected to be launched in 2017.

• Consultation
• Draft guidance
• Further information

Promoting staff benefits through events

NHS Employers - 
This case study examines how Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust raised awareness of staff benefits through a series of interactive roadshows. The roadshows helped the trust to communicate to staff across a large geographical area and also helped the trust to increase the trust bank and therefore reduce agency spending.

• Case study
• NHS Employers news

Community pharmacy: good practice examples

Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) - 
These examples of good practice aim to illustrate how community pharmacy can be integrated in the wider primary care and community health system. The examples outlined in this briefing provide an insight into how commissioning pharmacy services outside of the core NHS contractual framework can transform the provision of care in local areas.

• Briefing
• Press release

Community pharmacy forward view

Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) - 
Written jointly with Pharmacy Voice, this document sets out the ambitions for community pharmacies to enhance and expand personalised care, support  and wellbeing services offered by the sector. The paper also argues for fuller integration with other local health and care services and highlights the role of the community pharmacy in being the facilitator of personalised care for patients with long-term conditions and in being a neighbourhood health and wellbeing hub.

• Report
• Summary
• Press release

STPs - early areas of action

38 Degrees - 
38 Degrees commissioned Incisive Health to review all publicly available documents on sustainability and transformation plans (STPs). This report brings together all the available information and identifies key emerging themes in the plans. It identifies the NHS deficit as a key driver of some of the measures outlined within STP footprint plans, alongside service transformation to support quality improvement. 

• Report
• Data
• Press release

New joints: private providers and rising demand in the English National Health Service

Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) - 
This paper explores how NHS reforms to allow for entry of private providers has affected demand for elective surgical procedures. The study found that for elective hip replacements, at least seven per cent of publicly-funded procedures were conducted by private hospitals. Using clinical audit data, the report finds that these additional procedures are not substitutions from privately-funded procedures but that they represent new surgeries.

• Report
• IFS publication

Safe working in general practice

British Medical Association (BMA) - 
This report discusses measures which could help to manage the rising workload of GPs and help to calculate sustainable and safe working levels within the specialty. It outlines proposals for GP appointments to be lengthened to 15 minutes and consultations to be limited to a target of 25 a day. It also considers the potential impact of locality hubs - a central facility where demand, patient lists and safe working limits would be managed for a number of local practices and suggests that GPs could benefit from the integration, collaboration and flexible employment patterns potentially on offer. 

• Report
• Press release

Health system performance for the high-need patient: a look at access to care and patient care experiences

The Commonwealth Fund - 
This report compared the health care experience of U.S. patients with co-morbidities and a functional limitation in the ability to care for themselves to those with multiple conditions but no functional limitations. It found that patients with higher levels of need were more likely to report having unmet medical needs and less likely to report experiences of good patient-provider communication. The findings of this study highlights the importance of tailoring interventions to meet the needs of the highest-need, most complex patients.

• Report
• Associated documentation
• Press release