Health Management and Policy Alert

NHS Long Term Plan implementation framework

NHS -
Following the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement committed to publishing an implementation framework, setting out further detail on how it would be delivered. Local systems are developing their five-year strategic plans which will describe the population needs and case for change in each area, then propose practical actions that the system will take to deliver the commitments set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. The framework summarises these commitments alongside further information to help local system leaders refine their planning and prioritisation. This includes detail about where additional funding will be made available to support specific commitments and where activity will be paid for or commissioned nationally.

• Implementation framework
• NHS Long Term Plan - publications

The real story of winter

NHS Providers - 

What was the real story of winter for trusts, their patients, and hard pressed frontline staff? This briefing examines winter 2018/19 for the provider sector. It urges health leaders not to draw false comfort from the noticeable absence of stories about ‘winter pressures’ in the media earlier this year. 

• Briefing
• Press release

The impact of primary care incentive schemes on care home placements for people with dementia

Centre for Health Economics -
This research finds that the interface between primary care and long-term care is complex. In the case of dementia, this interface may be influenced by incentives offered to GPs as part of the Quality and Outcomes Framework to provide an annual review for patients with dementia. The hypothesis is that the annual reviews reduce the likelihood of admission to a care home by supporting the patient to live independently and by addressing carers’ needs for support.

• Report
• Centre for Health Economics - publications

Adult health screening

House of Commons Public Accounts Committee - 
This report argues that national health bodies are not doing enough to make sure that everyone who is eligible to take part in screening is doing so, and do not know if everyone who should be invited for screening has been. Looking at four out of 11 national health screening programmes, this report finds that none met their targets for ensuring that the eligible population was screened in 2017-18.

• Report
• Summary

NHS pressures: winter 2018/19 - a hidden crisis

British Medical Association -
This report uses NHS England figures to examine the performance of the NHS during recent winters and over the long term. The report finds that winter 2018/19 saw the NHS once again under pressure, with A&E attendances and emergency admissions up, high bed occupancy, cancer waiting times growing and 4.3 million people now waiting for treatment. Many doctors worked extra hours and morale suffered.

• Report
• British Medical Association - press release

2019/20 General Medical Services (GMS) contract Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF): guidance for GMS contract 2019/20 in England

NHS England -

This document provides additional guidance on the interpretation and verification of the QOF indicators for 2019/20 in England, which are listed in Annex D of the Statement of Financial Entitlements Directions (SFE). It is effective from 1 April 2019 and replaces versions issued in previous years.

• Guidance
• More detail

Fracture Liaison Service Database: commissioner's report 2019

Royal College of Physicians -
This report provides CCGs with a summary of the audit’s national key findings, recommendations and results for fracture liaison services (FLSs) within their locality. The report also explains what an FLS is and how FLSs could help CCGs not only to reduce the number and cost of unplanned admissions but make a significant reduction in morbidity and mortality for older people. It finds that there are significantly fewer FLSs available for older patients in some parts of England and Wales than others, with 54,000 preventable life-altering fractures estimated to occur over the course of the next five years as a result.

• Report
• Royal College of Physicians - news

NHS waiting times for elective and cancer treatment

National Audit Office -
This review presents data on the NHS’s performance against current waiting times standards for elective and cancer care in England, and some of the factors associated with that performance. It draws together existing evidence and analysis by the Department, NHS England, NHS Improvement and other stakeholders. The report discusses: changes in waiting times performance, and variations in that performance; the impact of waiting times performance on patients; the factors that influence waiting times performance; and NHS England’s and NHS Improvement’s approach to managing and improving waiting times performance.

• Report
• National Audit Office - press release

Exploring variations in the opportunity cost cost-effectiveness threshold by clinical area: results from a feasibility study in England

Office of Health Economics -
This research paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between health outcomes and health expenditures in England. Results suggest that setting a cost-effectiveness criterion for NICE may not be capable of being synthesised using scientific methods alone, but involve political judgements.

• Research paper
• Office of Health Economics - news

Clinically-led review of NHS access standards: interim report from the NHS National Medical Director

NHS England - 

In 2018 Professor Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director, was asked to carry out a clinical review of standards across the NHS, with the aim of determining whether patients would be well served by updating and supplementing some of the older targets currently in use. In this interim report, Professor Powis sets out his recommendations for doing so.

• Report
• More detail