Health Management and Policy Alert

Health and wellbeing at work

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development -

This is the nineteenth annual survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) exploring trends and practices in health, well-being and absence management in UK workplaces. Overall, the findings reflect employers' growing recognition of their critical role in improving the health of the workforce. But the survey highlights some cause for concern, including an increase in stress-related absence and a lack of support for managers, who are increasingly expected to take responsibility for their team's well-being. The CIPD is calling on employers to invest in more training and development for managers and have published some top tips to support managers to minimise stress in their teams.

• Report
• More detail

Can we really compare and aggregate pro data between people and settings? Implications for multi-country clinical trials and HTA

Office of Health Economics - 

Clinical trials are increasingly being conducted across multiple countries and regions. The collection of patient-reported outcome (PRO) data in these trials, and the practice of pooling data from them in analyses, relies on patients’ responses to PRO instruments being strictly comparable. This paper considers whether we can compare and aggregate PRO data between people and settings. 

• Research paper
• Press release

2019-20 Better Care Fund: policy framework

Department of Health and Social Care

This document sets out the agreed way in which the BCF will be implemented in financial year 2019 to 2020. It includes: the level of funding for 2019 to 2020; conditions of access to the fund; national performance metrics; and the assurance and approval process.

• Framework
• More detail

Workforce stress and the supportive organisation: a framework for improvement through reflection, curiosity and change

Health Education England - 

Health Education England commissioned the National Workforce Skills Development Unit (NWSDU) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust to develop a resource to get employers to rethink how they deal with workforce stress. The framework encourages employers to take a closer look at the systems they currently have in place for managing staff wellbeing, it challenges them to give greater consideration to the impact workforce stress has on staff and look at the role they can play in providing better support to staff who may need it.

• Framework
• Press release

Recommendations for assuring standards in the independent sector

Royal College of Surgeons -

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) is calling for independent hospitals to collect and publish equivalent data to that which the NHS routinely provides on patient safety and clinical audits. This RCS position statement sets out the changes to standards in the independent sector it believes are required to prevent a repeat of the harm caused by rogue breast surgeon, Ian Paterson.

• Position statement
• Press release

Early access to mental health support

Children's Commissioner -

This report illustrates the findings of a data collection exercise to understand spending on low-level children's mental health services across England. While the total reported spend on low-level mental health services across all areas in England increased by 22 per cent between 2016/17 and 2018/19 in cash terms, and by 17 per cent in real terms, over a third of areas around the country still saw a real-terms fall in spending – with nearly 60 per cent of local authorities seeing a real-terms fall.

• Report
• Press release

Averting the AMR crisis: what are the avenues for policy action for countries in Europe?

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies -

This policy briefing summarises some of the key policy avenues for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Following the widely accepted ‘One Health’ approach to combating AMR, the brief aims to support the implementation of national action plans on AMR, drawing on numerous examples of effective policies implemented by European Union member states and involving the human, animal and environmental health sectors.

• Briefing
• More detail

Immigration status checks by the NHS: guidance for overseas patients

Department of Health and Social Care -

This NHS patient guidance explains why immigration status checks are required and what happens when they are made.

• Guidance

Information sharing with the Home Office for unpaid NHS patient debts: privacy notice

Department of Health and Social Care - 

The Home Office holds information on people living, working, visiting or studying in the UK and who are subject to visa control. The NHS is legally obliged - through the Department of Health and Social Care - to inform the Home Office of a relevant unpaid debt for NHS care. Debts may be a ground to refuse an application for a new visa, or extension of stay for a person subject to immigration control. This privacy notice explains overseas patients rights and sets out the information they are entitled under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/279.

Guidance

 

Overseas visitor charging: guidance for NHS service providers on updates to regulations

Department of Health and Social Care - 

This guidance sets out how changes to charging regulations will affect how NHS organisations recover costs from overseas visitors and migrants if the UK leaves the European Union with no deal.

Guidance