Health Management and Policy Alert

UKCRC Public Health Research Centres of Excellence: final report 2018

Medical Research Council -
This report demonstrates how the legacy of a UK-wide network of centres of excellence has helped fuel future public health and prevention research. The report also shows how ten years of collaborative work by these centres – based in Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, Nottingham, Cambridge and Cardiff – has exceeded expectations of what was thought possible in 2008.

• Report
• Medical Research Council - news

NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard: technical guidance

NHS England -
The NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard is designed to improve workplace experience and career opportunities for disabled people working, or seeking employment, in the NHS. Organisations will be encouraged to introduce new measures and practices which positively support disability equality in the workplace and further the involvement and engagement of disabled communities more widely in the work and aims of the NHS. This techncial guidance provides detailed information and guidance to support the Standard that will apply to all NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts from 1 April 2019.

• Technical guidance
• NHS England - publications

The future of global health procurement: issues around pricing transparency

Office of Health Economics -
This research paper focuses on the role that price transparency may play in the efficient and effective procurement of medicines by Middle and Low Income Countries. It discusses whether making prices publicly available make procurement more efficient and cost-effective medicines more accessible. The paper concludes that transparency of the procurement process significantly lowers costs by encouraging bidders.

• Report
• Office of Health Economics - press release

Fracture Liaison Service Database: commissioner's report 2019

Royal College of Physicians -
This report provides CCGs with a summary of the audit’s national key findings, recommendations and results for fracture liaison services (FLSs) within their locality. The report also explains what an FLS is and how FLSs could help CCGs not only to reduce the number and cost of unplanned admissions but make a significant reduction in morbidity and mortality for older people. It finds that there are significantly fewer FLSs available for older patients in some parts of England and Wales than others, with 54,000 preventable life-altering fractures estimated to occur over the course of the next five years as a result.

• Report
• Royal College of Physicians - news

The state of care in independent doctor and clinic services providing primary medical care: findings from CQC’s programme of comprehensive inspections in England

Care Quality Commission -
This report gives an overview of care from inspection findings for doctors and clinics that provide primary medical services in the independent or private sector – that is those not provided by NHS organisations. It found that many services were responding to the needs of their patients, delivering caring services tailored to people’s requirements and needs. However, a number were not meeting the necessary regulations and not delivering safe and effective care.

• Report
• Care Quality Commission - press release

Prevention before cure: prioritising population health

British Medical Association -
This policy paper contains a suggested framework for a cross-government approach to prioritising population health. The framework outlines four areas to consider: addressing the social determinants that influence health; increased and sustained funding for public health; prioritising prevention through the health service; and effective regulation to tackle key drivers of ill-health.

• Policy paper
• British Medical Association - publications

Implementing handovers and huddles: a framework for practice in maternity units

NHS Improvement -
This framework aims to provide a structure for maternity units to create and develop their own approach to effectively communicating clinical data and transferring key safety information. It describes the difference between handovers and huddles, the benefits of effective clinical handovers and the role of huddles in promoting safety. It is intended as a good practice guide for healthcare professionals involved in the care of pregnant women and their infants, regardless of the nature of the unit they work in or whether it is in the community or a hospital.

• Framework
• NHS Improvement - publications

Outcomes for mental health services: what really matters?

The King's Fund -
Through a series of over 100 conversations with people actively involved in mental health services in England including current and former service users, the report highlights how frameworks for measuring outcomes are often too narrowly focused on clinical outcomes. Whilst recovery-based frameworks are trying to widen this, neither fully captures what really matters to people. The report challenges those in mental health to find a consensus on the outcomes that matter to people with mental health problems.

• Report
• Guest blog
• The King's Fund - publications

National Child Measurement Programme: a conversation framework for talking to parents

Public Health England -
This document provides guidance and resources for school nurses, their teams and other professionals running the National Child Measurement Programme.

• Guidance
• Public Health England - publications

Learning from invited reviews: 2019 full report

Royal College of Surgeons - 

This report finds that where rare problems occur in surgical practice, poor team working between surgeons is often a major factor.  Analysis of one hundred surgical reviews over ten years conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) identifies poor teamwork as an issue leading to problems in surgical practice in over three quarters (76 per cent) of the reviews. In more than two thirds (68 per cent) of the RCS reviews, timely recognition and resolution of concerns was an issue. Alongside the report, the RCS has developed an interactive web resource to help hospital teams improve the quality of discussions about surgical practice and the action that takes place in response to it.

• Report
• Web resource
• Press release