Health Management and Policy Alert

Patient safety in healthcare products and services

NHS Confederation - 

Shared learning on patient safety and how collaborative working is enabling better assurance and safety for health care products and services. This briefing (produced by NHS Supply Chain) aims to showcase examples of learning related to patient safety, highlighting the role of NHS Supply Chain and other national bodies. It outlines the impact of collaborative working across healthcare systems to contribute to assurance and patient safety in relation to health care products and services.

• Briefing

Redesigning orthopaedic outpatient assessments

NHS Confederation - 

To support orthopaedic patients waiting for elective care, Dorset County Hospital redesigned its outpatient clinic assessments, opening a new assessment clinic in just five weeks. By doing so, the hospital has shortened waiting times, increased capacity and improved patient experience.

• Case study

Running hot: the impact of the pandemic on mental health services

NHS Confederation - 

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on people’s mental health, and the knock-on effect is putting services and partner organisations under considerable pressure. NHS Confederation members report a steep post-pandemic increase in the severity of the mental health needs of the people presenting to their services, especially in children and young people. This briefing outlines the current context, the case for change in mental health support, and calls for actin from the government including a comprehensive plan to respond to the growing demand for mental health care in England.

• Briefing

Growing problems, in depth: the impact of Covid-19 on health care for children and young people in England

QualityWatch - 

This analysis from QualityWatch (a Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation programme) shows that the pandemic has led to an unprecedented increase in demand for mental health services for children and young people. Despite children and young people being ten times less likely to be hospitalised with Covid, the period has had a heavy toll on them. The briefing explains the findings and discusses the potental implications for the younger generation.

• Briefing
• More detail

The case for a men’s health strategy

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Issues Affecting Men and Boys - 

Presented with expert views, this report found that a holistic, evidence-based, positive and gender-informed approach to men’s health is far more effective than the government’s current disease/condition approach on men’s health. The APPG notes that this is not consistent with the government’s approach on women’s health as outlined in its recent vision statement (which the APPG supports). It also notes that the government has produced no evidence that its current approach to men’s health is working.

• Report
• More detail

The government response to the Health and Social Care Committee report on workforce burnout and resilience in the NHS and social care

Department of Health and Social Care -
In June 2021, the Health and Social Care Select Committee published its report ‘workforce burnout and resilience in the NHS and Social Care’. The report explored several key issues, including: the scale and impact of workforce burnout and its contributing factors; the impact of workplace culture on burnout and the further work needed to create an inclusive and compassionate working environment; the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the workforce; and how more comprehensive workforce planning is necessary. This response makes several recommendations against these issues.

• Report
• Original report, June 2021
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Policy for managing applications to join the England performers lists

NHS England and NHS Improvement - 

This document sets out the processes which must be followed by NHS England Regional teams when considering applications from primary care medical, dental, ophthalmic and ophthalmic medical practitioners to join the NHS England Performers List (PL).

• Document
• More detail

Childhood cancer inequalities in the WHO European Region

World Health Organization — Regional Office for Europe - 

This report sets out for the first time the evidence on childhood cancer inequalities in the Region, and examines the patterns that emerge at national and regional levels of childhood cancer incidence, patient and caregiver experiences, and short- and long-term outcomes for patients.

• Report
• Press release

Global trends in R&D: overview through 2021

IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science - 

This report assesses the trends in new drug approvals and launches, overall pipeline activity in terms of actively researched medicines, and the number of initiated clinical trials. It also profiles the state of R&D funding and the activity of companies of different types, and the results of research are compared to the input effort in a Clinical Development Productivity Index.

• Report
• More detail

Young people are the future: how can recruiters encourage more of them to join the NHS workforce?

The King's Fund - 

Despite being one of the biggest employers in England, only six per cent of the NHS workforce is under 25. In this blog Joni Jabbal explores how more young people can be supported into employment in the NHS.

• Blog