Health Management and Policy Alert

Maintaining public service facilities: cross-government

National Audit Office -
This report finds that maintenance backlogs across key public services including schools, hospitals and prisons are estimated to be at least £49 billion. It finds that poor condition of buildings can affect public service delivery, with 5,400 clinical service incidents occurring in the NHS every year due to property and infrastructure failures. It recommends that government should consider the best way to manage its assets alongside its long-term investment plans, in addition to the cost of ongoing maintenance, to bring property condition to a satisfactory level.

• Report
• National Audit Office - press release

On the frontline of the UK’s corridor care crisis

Royal College of Nursing - 
This report documents the experiences of more than 5,000 NHS nursing staff following a survey at the end of December 2024. Thousands of nursing staff responded, confirming corridor care is widespread across the UK. Almost 7 in 10 (66.8%) respondents to an RCN survey said they're delivering care in over-crowded or unsuitable places – such as corridors, converted cupboards and even car parks – on a daily basis. More than 9 in 10 (90.8%) of those surveyed said patient safety is being compromised.

• Report
• Royal College of Nursing - press release

National state of patient safety 2024: prioritising improvement efforts in a system under stress

Imperial College London -
This report finds that patient safety in England has deteriorated in a majority of categories over the past two years. Analysis of publicly available data for the report shows worsening performance on several key patient safety indicators, particularly in maternity services. It also highlights a stark divide between the North and South of England: harmful, unintended effects of medical treatment are twice as high in the North East than in Greater London.

• Report
• Imperial College London - news

Impact report 2023-24

Health Innovation Oxford & Thames Valley -
This report outlines how the 15 health innovation networks (HINs) benefitted patients, addressed NHS challenges and supported economic growth. It highlights progress led by HINs across the country in addressing cardiovascular disease, patient safety, health inequity and more in 2023/24. It finds that HINs collectively made a difference to the lives of more than 1 million patients, and leveraged £467 million investment through innovator support.

• Report
• Health Innovation Oxford & Thames Valley - news

Malnutrition and nutritional care survey in adults

British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition -
This report presents findings from the screening of 2,250 adults from across the UK. It aims to give a picture of the prevalence of malnutrition and the different nutritional care interventions implemented in various settings across the four nations. It found the highest rate of adults at risk of malnutrition since the survey’s commencement, at 48% of all those screened. 42% of those screened in care homes were at risk of malnutrition, increasing to 47% of those screened in hospital, and further still to 49% for patients at home.

• Report
• British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition - news

Mental health inpatient settings: creating conditions for the delivery of safe and therapeutic care to adults

Health Services Safety Investigations Body - 

In June 2023 the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that HSSIB would undertake a series of investigations focused on mental health inpatient settings. This report describes the findings of the first of those investigations, exploring the risks to patient safety associated with the workforce and working conditions in acute mental health inpatient settings for adults.

• Report
• More detail

Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape: terms of reference

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 

This document sets out the terms of an independent review of patient safety across the health and care landscape. It will: map the broad range of organisations that impact on quality (and therefore have links to safety); and focus on six key organisations overseen by the DHSC, which have a significant impact on safety. This review follows on from Dr Penny Dash’s review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission. It will be used to more widely inform the government’s 10-year health plan.

• Guidance
• More detail

Review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission: full report

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 

In May 2024, Dr Penny Dash was asked by the DHSC to conduct a review into the operational effectiveness of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). An interim report of her work, providing a high-level summary of her emerging findings, was published in July 2024. The review has found significant failings in the internal workings of CQC, which have led to a substantial loss of credibility within the health and social care sectors, a deterioration in the ability of CQC to identify poor performance and support a drive to improve quality - and a direct impact on the capacity and capability of both the social care and the healthcare sectors to deliver much-needed improvements in care. The report outlines the necessary changes to start improving the CQC.

• Report
• More detail

Primary care patient safety strategy

NHS England - 

This strategy outlines the primary care implementation of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, and is for all areas of primary care, though with some improvements implemented first in general practice to enable the successes and learning to be used in the rollout to community pharmacy, optometry and dental services.

• Strategy
• More detail

 

Healthcare provision in prisons: emergency care response

Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) - 

Ambulance crews spend significant time diverting resources to 999 callouts in prisons that are cancelled or not a serious emergency. The HSSIB estimates that these calls use 1,250 hours of ambulance crew time per year. There is a particular need to improve communication and collaboration.

• Report
• Press release