Health Management and Policy Alert

Carbon reduction plan requirements for the procurement of NHS goods, services and works

NHS England - 

In April 2023, the NHS will require all suppliers of new contracts for goods, services, and/or works with an anticipated contract value above £5 million per year (excluding VAT) to publish a carbon reduction plan (CRP) for their emissions from the sources included in scope 1 and 2 of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, and a defined subset of scope 3 emissions, aligning with the government’s procurement policy note (PPN) 06/21: Taking account of CRPs in the procurement of major government contracts. This document outlines how this requirement will be applied in an NHS context and is intended to be used in conjunction with central government’s guidance documents on PPN 06/21.

• Guidance
• More detail

Interim bulletin 3: harm caused by delays in transferring patients to the right place of care

Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) - 

This third interim report for an investigation into issues around patient handover to emergency care focuses on staff wellbeing across the urgent and emergency care systems and the impact that this has on patient safety. The investigation team spoke to staff working across the urgent and emergency care system in the NHS including in emergency departments, NHS 111 call handling centres and ambulance services. As conversations progressed, HSIB saw that there was ‘significant distress’ from staff as they expressed that not being able to help the sickest of people had an impact on their personal health and wellbeing.

• Report
• Press release

Medical Workforce Race Equality Standard (MWRES): a commitment to collaborate The First Five

NHS England -
This report sets out practical actions based on data and evidence to tackle existing inequalities in the medical workforce. It includes steps to reduce disproportionate representation of international medical graduates in General Medical Council referrals, improve diversity in senior medical leadership appointments, and increase ethnic minority representation in the councils of royal medical colleges to better reflect the workforce.

• Report
• NHS England - publications

Tackling inequality and disadvantage: key actions policy makers, commissioners and provider organisations can take when developing an approach with a digital component

National Voices -
This briefing, launched by members of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, highlights how groups of people who experience the greatest barriers to accessing health and care are often the most likely to experience digital exclusion. It also contains additional, detailed insights into how digital exclusion affects groups who experience health inequalities, including people with learning disabilities, people seeking asylum, people in contact with the criminal justice system, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and others. The guidance also highlights the key actions people who design health and care can take to tackle inequality and disadvantage when using digital tools.

• Briefing
• National Voices - publications

Public perceptions of the NHS: a winter of discontent

The Health Foundation - 
This report summarises the latest wave of polling from Ipsos and the Health Foundation on the public’s views about health and social care. It shows deepening public concern about NHS services. Across the UK, only a third (33 per cent) of the public agree that the NHS is providing a good service nationally, a fall on the finding (43 per cent) in the previous survey, published in May 2022.

• Report
• The Health Foundation - press release

Dying well at home: commissioning quality end-of-life care

The King's Fund -
Increasingly people are dying at home rather than in hospital and this trend is set to continue. This report from The King's Fund, and accompanying policy brief, offer recommendations for commissioners, integrated care boards and national bodies who want to improve care for those dying at home.

• Summary report
• Full report
• The King's Fund - publications

NHS public health functions agreement 2022 to 2023

Department of Health and Social Care -
This guidance contains information about NHS England's objectives and funding arrangements as it commissions public health services. It sets out the arrangements under which the Secretary of State delegates responsibility to NHS England for certain public health services. The services currently commissioned in this way are: national immunisation programmes; national population screening programmes; child health information services; public health services for adults and children in secure and detained settings in England; and sexual assault services.

• Guidance
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

The Department of Health and Social Care's written evidence to the Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration Body (DDRB) for the pay round 2023 to 2024

Department of Health and Social Care -
The DDRB has been asked to make pay recommendations for the pay round 2023 to 2024 on: uplifts for consultants, doctors and dentists in training; the minimum and maximum pay ranges for salaried general medical practitioners; and the pay element of remuneration for dentists employed by, or providing services to, the NHS.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

The Department of Health and Social Care's written evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) for the 2023 to 2024 pay round

Department of Health and Social Care -
The NHSPRB has been asked to make pay recommendations for the pay round 2023 to 2024. This written evidence aims to enable the NHSPRB to make independent recommendations, weighing all of the evidence, within the current challenging economic and fiscal context, along with recruitment and retention trends and staff motivation.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES): 2022 data analysis report for NHS trusts

NHS England -
This report aims to provide a national picture of WRES in practice, to colleagues, organisations and the public on the developments in the workforce race equality agenda. It also seeks to enable 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.

• Report
• NHS England - news