Health Management and Policy Alert

Understanding the performance and potential of specialist hospitals

UCLPartners - 

This report, produced together with the Innovation Agency, outlines how high-performing specialist trusts have the potential to do more to benefit the wider NHS. A review of around one-third of England’s 21 specialist trusts looked at why they consistently score higher than their counterparts in ratings for performance and satisfaction. The review recommends seven ways in which local systems can benefit more widely from the role of specialist trusts.

• Report
• Press release

Non-urgent attendances to emergency departments are more common among younger adults

National Institute for Health Research - NIHR Signal - 

This NIHR-funded study analysed three years’ worth of data (2011-14) from emergency departments within one large region of England representing rural, urban and suburban areas. It found that adults aged 16 to 44 years are more likely to attend emergency departments for non-urgent presentations than older adults. They were more than three times more likely to present for non-urgent reasons than those over 65 years. Non-urgent attendances are also more common during out-of-hours periods, especially at night.

• NIHR Signal

Steeling ourselves for winter 2018/19

NHS Providers - 

This briefing addresses key questions about the health and care sectors' preparedness for this coming winter compared with last year. These include the operational and financial challenges trusts face following this summer’s heatwave, the support available from the national bodies, and the preparations trusts and their partners are making to meet the needs of their local populations in the coming months.

• Briefing
• Press release

The state of health care and adult social care in England: 2017/18

Care Quality Commission -
This report looks at the trends, shares examples of good and outstanding care, and highlights where care needs to improve. It finds that most people in England receive a good quality of care. Ratings show that quality overall has been largely maintained from last year, and in some cases improved, despite the continuing challenges that providers face. However, it found that it was harder for people to access services in the community in places where services failed to work well together, leading to unnecessary admissions to hospital and putting extra pressure on acute and mental health services. The report also considers the factors that affect the sustainability of good care for people.

• Report
• Care Quality Commission - news

Regulating the duty of candour: requires improvement

Action against Medical Accidents - 

This research shows that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) “requires improvement” in how it regulates the statutory duty of candour. This is despite significant improvements since AvMA’s previous report in 2016.

• Report
• Press release

National mortality case record review: annual report 2018

Royal College of Physicians -
This report reveals that hospitals are using a standardised review approach to learn from adult acute deaths and improve patient care. It cites a number of case studies where the structured judgement review process has made positive contributions to improving healthcare for patients.

• Report
• Royal College of Physicians - news

GP partnership review: interim report

Wessex Local Medical Committee -
This report looks at the evidence from around the world which shows that health care systems investing in primary care have better outcomes, with greater patient satisfaction delivered at a lower cost. It starts to explore the potential solutions that will revitalise the partnership model of general practice.

• Report
• Wessex Local Medical Committee - news

Be the change : ensuring an effective response to all in psychiatric emergency equal to medical care - recommendations from the first international summit on urgent and emergency behavioural healthcare

NHS Clinical Commissioners -
According to this report, care for people in mental health crisis does not adequately address the needs of the community it is intended to serve. It outlines ten recommendations that if fulfilled would make urgent and emergency psychiatric health care ‘minimally adequate’, and calls on governmental agencies, policy makers and health and social services to take radical action to address inequalities and improve mental health crisis care.

• Report
• NHS Clinical Commissioners - news

NHS key statistics: England, October 2018

House of Commons Library - 

This briefing paper provides a summary of NHS demand, performance and capacity of services in England. It includes A&E statistics, waiting lists, ambulance data, delayed discharges, staffing levels including doctors and nurses, and more.

• Briefing
• More detail

Partnering with the NHS to sell goods and services

Healthcare UK -
This guidance, aimed at overseas investors, explains how to access NHS procurement channels.

• Guidance