Health Management and Policy Alert

The NHS’s recommendations to government and parliament for an NHS bill

NHS England and NHS Improvement - 

The NHS long term plan included suggested changes to the law to help implement the plan. In spring 2019, NHS staff, partner organisations and interested members of the public were invited to give their views on the proposals. This document sets out the NHS response to the views it received during engagement and sets out its recommendations to government and parliament for an NHS bill. This bill could help deliver improved patient care by removing barriers and promoting collaboration between NHS organisations and their partners.

• Recommendations
• Press release

Health matters: rough sleeping

Public Health England - 

This guidance focuses on the scale of rough sleeping in England, the causes and consequences of rough sleeping (including the links with poor physical and mental health, prevention and effective interventions) and relevant calls to action.

• Guidance

Less than full time training: the trainee perspective

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh -
This report is based on the results of a survey of over 600 trainees and highlights the benefits and challenges of working less than full time (LTFT). It found that: doctors who worked LTFT were overburdened by administrative duties, proportionally more than full time colleagues; two thirds of trainees are considering LTFT training in the future; too few trainees are involved in working pattern planning; LTFT training is expensive; and there is not enough information about working LTFT.

• Report
• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh - press release

Exiting the EU: supplying the health and social care sectors

National Audit Office -
This report reviews the Department for Health & Social Care’s (DHSC’s) preparations to make sure the UK has a steady flow of supplies for the health and social care sector when it leaves the EU. It finds that of the 12,300 medicines used in the UK, DHSC estimates that around 7,000 come from or via the EU. The report examines the progress made – working with other government departments, NHS and social care providers, and with private sector suppliers – in implementing the Continuity of Supply Programme. It sets out the DHSC’s plan and records the progress made.

• Report
• National Audit Office - press release

Using online consultations in primary care: implementation toolkit

NHS England -
This online consultation toolkit is an interactive document that provides a range of ideas and options for different professionals, including clinicians, at different points in their implementation journey.

• Implementation toolkit
• NHS England - related documents

 

NICEimpact: maternity and neonatal care

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) -
This report focuses on how NICE’s evidence-based guidance contributes to improvements in maternity and neonatal care. It finds that if all maternity units applied NICE’s recommendations on twin and triplet pregnancies, such as labelling the fetuses during scans so they can be told apart and monitored closely for complications, it could lead to 634 fewer emergency caesarean sections and 1,308 fewer neonatal admissions in England, per year. This could mean preventing around one in ten neonatal admissions of babies from multiple births in the UK each year.

• Report
• NICE - news

A new approach to complex needs: Primary Care Psychological Medicine - first year evaluation

Centre for Mental Health -
The Primary Care Psychological Medicine service offers psychological interventions to people who have high levels of unexplained or persistent physical symptoms of illness. This report finds that the service has reduced the use of GP, outpatient and emergency department services in one year by more than its own staff costs. The report concludes that Primary Care Networks could benefit from setting up similar services in local areas across the country so that fewer people miss out on the support they need close to home.

• Report
• Centre for Mental Health - news

The Early Notification scheme progress report: collaboration and improved experience for families

NHS Resolution -
This report provides an overview of the first year of the Early Notification scheme to drive improvements in maternity and neonatal services and to ensure better support for families whose babies suffer rare, avoidable brain injuries at birth. The report makes six recommendations to support the clinical issues identified in the research, covering topics such as the response to families when there is a poor outcome at birth and monitoring the fetal heart rate in labour.

• Report
• NHS Resolution - news

Delivering same-sex accommodation

NHS England -
This guidance has been updated to reflect current patient pathways, including further definition of what is and is not a mixed-sex accommodation breach and circumstances in which mixing may be justified and therefore not constitute a breach.

• Guidance
• NHS England - publications

Creating healthy places: perspectives from NHS England’s Healthy New Towns programme

The King's Fund - 
These essays highlight a number of themes, including the value of taking a place-based approach to population health, the need for specific action on health inequalities, the importance of working closely with communities and the potential to use new places as a test bed for integrated care. The report concludes that there is significant potential to improve population health through place-making and community development. It also stresses the need for the NHS to be closely involved in major housing developments and regeneration programmes in order to improve health and care outcomes.

• Read it now