Health Management and Policy Alert

Workforce briefing - winter 2018

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health -
This briefing reveals that patient demand is strongly outstripping the supply of doctors as the usual seasonal increase combined with a rise in children’s emergency admissions is placing unprecedented demand on services. It highlights some of the key findings from the College's Workforce census 2017 and provides recommendations for the future of the paediatric and child health workforce.

• Briefing
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health - news

Public health ring-fenced grant 2019/20 circular

Department of Health and Social Care -
In the financial year ending 2020, local authorities will receive a £3.134 billion public health grant for their public health duties for all ages. This local authority circular sets out the allocations and conditions for using the grant.

• Circular
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Annual report of the Chief Medical Officer, 2018: health 2040 - better health within reach

Department of Health and Social Care -
Professor Dame Sally Davies's tenth report as Chief Medical Officer considers what the state of the public’s health in England in 2040 could look like. The report discusses: health as the nation’s primary asset; the health environment we live in and build together; using emerging technologies to improve health for everyone; and effective planning for the future. It concludes that there are reasons to be optimistic but that greater effort to improve the health environment is required.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

How is the NHS performing? December 2018 quarterly monitoring report

The King's Fund -
Eight out of ten NHS trust finance directors say that funding pressures have led to longer waiting times for people who need mental health treatment, finds our latest quarterly monitoring report. This report once more finds that patients are waiting too long for care and NHS trusts and CCGs remain under tremendous financial pressure. Midway through 2018/19 we are seeing waits for routine and emergency care that have not been seen for a decade, and half of NHS providers are forecasting a financial deficit.

• Report
• The King's Fund - press release

Legal barriers to the better use of health data to deliver pharmaceutical innovation

Office of Health Economics - 

This report summarise research evaluating the main legal barriers to the better use of health data for pharmaceutical innovation. Issues are evaluated according to barriers arising in utilising data to support six key activities across the lifecycle of a medicine: epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology: identifying unmet need; pharmacogenetics; interventional studies; non-interventional studies; pharmacovigilance; and managed entry agreements. 

• Report
• More detail

What is the status of women’s health and health care in the U.S. compared to ten other countries?

The Commonwealth Fund -
This briefing compares women’s health status, affordability of health plans, and ability to access and utilise care in the United States with women in ten other high-income countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, by using international data.

• Briefing
• The Commonwealth Fund - publications

Blowing the whistle: an investigation into the Care Quality Commission’s regulation of the Fit and Proper Persons Requirement

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman -
The Ombudsman carried out an independent investigation into a whistle-blower’s complaint about the Care Quality Commission’s oversight of the appointment of a Chief Executive to an NHS trust. It found that, in this case, record-keeping was poor and it did not adequately weigh up the evidence. The report concludes that the Care Quality Commission lacked rigour in its regulation of the appointment of NHS directors and had failed to take a transparent and proportionate approach.

• Report
• Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman - news

Department of Health and Social Care accounts

Public Accounts Committee - 

Key recommendations of this report are: the Department of Health and Social Care should provide an assessment of the impact of regional variations on patient care; urgent action is needed on risks Brexit poses to recruitment and the supply of medical equipment; and the NHS 10-year plan must explain how the service will address the many challenges it faces.

• Report
• Press release

Primary Dental Services Statements of Financial Entitlements (Amendment) Directions 2018

Department of Health and Social Care -
These directions implement changes to the payments made by NHS England to contractors under a dental service contract with effect from 1 April 2018. The changes relate to: implementation of the 2018 to 2019 pay and expenses and training allowances settlement for dentists; insertion of the applicable up-to-date statutory maternity allowance rate; and NHS England flexibility payments to dental contractors.

• Directions
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Opening the door to change: NHS safety culture and the need for transformation

Care Quality Commission -
This review was carried out at the request of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and sought to help understand the barriers to delivering safe care and to identify learning that can be applied to improve patient safety. It examines the issues that contribute to the occurrence of never events and wider patient safety incidents in NHS trusts in England. The report found that too many people are being injured or suffering unnecessary harm because NHS staff are not supported by sufficient training, and because the complexity of the current patient safety system makes it difficult for staff to ensure that safety is an integral part of everything they do.

• Report
• Care Quality Commission - press release