Health Management and Policy Alert

A window of opportunity for public health

NHS Providers -
This briefing explores the risks and opportunities which arise from the dissolution of Public Health England (PHE) and the creation of the National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP) – a new national body responsible for protecting the nation's health from external threats, incorporating NHS Test and Trace, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and PHE's infectious disease unit. It also explores questions which might be addressed in the coming months, including about the future of PHE's other vital roles surrounding the broader determinants of health, the need to put health inequalities at the heart of any reform to public health, and recovery from Covid-19.

• Briefing
• NHS Providers - news

Workforce Race Equality Standard: 2020 data analysis report for NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups

NHS England -
This report enables organisations to compare their performance with others in their region and those providing similar services, with the aim of encouraging improvement by learning and sharing good practice. The report hopes to provide a national picture of WRES in practice, to colleagues, organisations and the public on the developments in the workforce race equality agenda.

• Report
• NHS England - publications

Rapid evaluation of health and care services - planning a sustainable solution for the post-Covid reset

The AHSN Network -
In the first wave of Covid-19, health and care services innovated and adapted at unprecedented speed to provide care and protect staff and patients during a rapidly developing global pandemic. This paper explores the barriers and facilitators to performing timely, rigorous and effective evaluations of these changes.

• Report
• The AHSN Network - publications

Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England

Department of Health and Social Care -
This code of practice aims to promote high standards of ethical practice in the international recruitment and employment of health and social care personnel. It also sets out the UK’s approach to supporting health and social care systems and workforce, alongside safeguards on active recruitment from countries with the most pressing universal health coverage related health and social care workforce needs. It is aimed at all health or social care organisations or recruitment agencies undertaking international recruitment.

• Guidance
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

In the wake of the pandemic: preparing for long Covid

World Health Organization Europe -
This policy brief highlights areas where policy-makers can take action to meet the challenge of post-Covid conditions based on what is currently known. It addresses the need for multidisciplinary, multispecialty approaches to assessment and management; development of new care pathways and contextually appropriate guidelines for health professionals; and the creation of appropriate services, including rehabilitation and online support tools.

• Policy brief
• World Health Organization Europe - news

Understanding clinical decision-making at the interface of the Mental Health Act (1983) and the Mental Capacity Act (2005)

Partnership for Responsive Policy Analysis and Research (PREPARE) -
The Mental Health Act (1983) (MHA) and the Mental Capacity Act (2005) (MCA) both provide a legal means by which people can be deprived of their liberty and admitted to hospital on a formal basis when they lack capacity to consent to their admission and treatment. A key interface of the MHA and the MCA arises where an individual lacks the capacity to decide whether to be admitted to hospital to receive care and treatment, and are not objecting to admission or treatment, then the decision of which Act to use for these purposes is that of professionals involved. This report looks at that decision-making process.

• Report
• PREPARE - publications

The Conservative Governments’ record on social policy from May 2015 to pre-Covid 2020: policies, spending and outcomes

London School of Economics -
This overview report provides an assessment of social policy developments under the three Conservative Governments that were in power between May 2015 and the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. The report provides an examination of developments in ten major areas of social policy (social security; employment; early childhood; compulsory school age education; higher education; health; social care; physical safety and security; homelessness / complex needs; and social mobility) over this period.

• Report
• London School of Economics - publications

Cost of living and the impact on nursing labour outcomes in NHS acute trusts

Institute for Fiscal Studies - 
This report examines the effect that variation in the cost of living has on the labour supply of existing nurses in NHS acute trusts. The report focuses on Band 5 and 6 nurses which accounted for 23 per cent of the workforce in NHS acute trusts in 2018. It uses administrative payroll data to examine how trusts and nurses react to changes in the local cost of living, and the impact these changes have on the amount of labour supplied by existing nurses.

• Report
• Institute for Fiscal Studies - publications

A good practice guide to support implementation of trauma-informed care in the perinatal period

Centre for Early Child Development - 

This guide aims to help staff and services understand the impact of psychological trauma on women in the perinatal period and respond in a sensitive and compassionate way. It aims to support staff to ensure they ‘do no harm’ through care delivery that, without thought or intention, could retraumatise individuals.

• Guide
• More detail

Realising the value of vaccines in the UK: ready for prime time?

Office of Health Economics - 

Health technology assessment approaches in the UK (as well as some other countries) limit themselves to evaluating health benefits that accrue to treated individuals and resource use within the healthcare system. As a result, vaccines and other technologies that generate broader benefits – such as maintaining healthcare capacity or labour productivity – may be undervalued and underused. This report on the broader value of vaccines (commissioned by the ABPI Vaccines Group) sets out actionable short and long term recommendations on how to drive change towards recognising and rewarding the broader value of vaccines in the UK.

• Report
• More detail