Health Management and Policy Alert

Brexit: risk register and mitigation plan for social care providers

Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) - 
This briefing outlines the key risks presented by Brexit that are likely to impact on social care providers and it suggests possible actions to mitigate them. The briefing focuses on the impact of Brexit on the social care workforce, funding and commissioning, and equality impact.

• Briefing
• Press release

The impact of housing problems on mental health

Shelter - 
This report, conducted with ComRes, reveals that over the last five years one in five adults suffer mental health problems due to housing pressures. The research also surveyed the experiences of 20 GPs who highlighted the number of patients diagnosed with anxiety or depression directly due to housing issues and that GPs required greater help to support patients with housing problems.

• Report
• Press release

The future of HIV services in England: shaping the response to changing needs

The King's Fund - 
This report argues that the complexity of the health system in England is holding back progress in meeting the needs of people with HIV. The report highlights how improvements in treatment mean that, 30 years on from being seen as a death sentence, people with HIV are able to live longer, healthier lives. It argues that because of this, health services need to focus on quality of life rather than just on suppressing the virus, and also need to co-ordinate care with that for other long-term conditions common in older people.

• Report
• Summary
• Press release

General practice forward view - one year on

British Medical Association (BMA) - 
This report presents an evaluation of the progress so far on the GPFV, one year on from its launch and it calls for urgent implementation of its promised extra funding after a mixed picture within the first twelve months of delivery.

• Report
• Press release

Focus on: emergency hospital care for children and young people: what has changed in the past 10 years?

QualityWatch - 
This report draws on emergency hospital admissions data and finds that the number of babies and young children admitted to hospital in an emergency has grown by almost a third over the past decade. The analysis reveals that many children are being admitted to hospital for conditions like asthma and tonsillitis – admissions that could potentially have been avoided with better care and support out of hospital. The report raises questions about where children and young people can access high quality treatment outside of the hospital emergency care setting.

• Report
• Summary
• Press release

Information about how the CMA processes hospital episodes statistics data

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) - 
This document sets out how the CMA acquires, uses and protects hospital episode statistics data, which is provided by NHS Digital, in order to fulfil its statutory duties in merger control, and to undertake research to help fulfil its merger control functions.

• Briefing
• CMA publications

Health care costs in the English NHS

Centre for Health Economics (CHE) - 
This paper describes how to calculate average health care costs broken down by age, sex and neighbourhood deprivation quintile group using the distribution of health care spending by the English NHS in the financial year 2011/12.

• Report
• CHE news

Consultant job planning: a best practice guide

NHS Improvement - 
This guidance provides advice for trusts to ensure that their approach to consultant job planning is consistent with best practice. It recommends that annual job planning meetings for all consultants are used to review consultants' time and that there are adequate electronic data systems in place to record consultant job plans.

• Guidance
• NHS Improvement publications

Public health ethics in practice

Public Health England (PHE) - 
This document provides an overview of public health ethics for the UK Public Health Skills and Knowledge Framework. It explains public health ethics in relation to bioethics and the links between ethics in theory and practice.

• Guidance
• PHE publications

Upgrading emergency service communications - recall

House of Commons Public Accounts Committee - 
This report highlights new and serious concerns about the provision of emergency service communications in Great Britain. It raises concerns around a lack of contingency planning for delays to the implementation of a new communications system resulting in a potential six-month gap in communication systems for emergency services. The report calls for urgent action by the Home Office in realistically re-evaluating the implementation timescale for the programme and to fully explore the options for resolving the gaps in service.

• Report
• Press release