Health Management and Policy Alert

Each Baby Counts: 2018 progress report

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists - 

This is the second Each Baby Counts annual report into stillbirth, early neonatal death and severe brain injury occurring during labour at term. Based on data for babies born in the UK in 2016, this report shines a spotlight on the care provided to women and their babies and provides an opportunity to measure progress and identify areas for improvement in maternity safety.

• Report
• More detail

Making hospitals safe for people with diabetes

Diabetes UK - 

This report has been developed through conversations with people with diabetes, diabetes inpatient teams, healthcare professionals working in hospitals and hospital managers. It highlights the challenges facing diabetes inpatient services and shows what should be in place in all hospitals.

• Report
• More detail

Sexual safety on mental health wards

Care Quality Commission (CQC) - 
This report calls for new national guidance to improve the sexual safety of people and staff on mental health wards, following analysis of how mental health trusts in England report sexual incidents. The report shares findings from a review of patient safety incidents which found that more than a third of incidents could be categorised as sexual assault or harassment of patients or staff.

• Report
• Press release

The Government response to the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review (LeDeR) Programme: second annual report

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 
This report presents a joint response from the Department of Health and Social care and NHS England to the LeDeR report. It accepts the recommendations from the report and sets out a plan of action for each one. The actions will help address the inequality in life expectancy between people with learning disabilities and the wider population by ensuring that staff supporting people with a learning disability understand their needs and can make adjustments to the way care is provided, to help people reach their full potential.

• Response
• LeDeR report

 

Women in crisis: how women and girls are being failed by the Mental Health Act

Agenda - 

This report sets out growing evidence that being detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 can be detrimental to women and girls' wellbeing, with little attention paid to their particular needs, including their experiences of trauma. This can have devastating consequences for women and girls, as shown by previously unpublished figures on self-inflicted deaths outlined in this report.

• Report
• Press release

Patient discharge from hospital to general practice: thematic report 2017-2018

Healthcare Inspectorate Wales - 

This review found some problems with the discharge process, including a lack of awareness from some hospital staff on procedures and poor communication with general practices. As a result, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales has made thirteen recommendations to improve the quality of patient discharge.

• Report
• Press release

Evaluation of the implementation of the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle in early adopter NHS trusts in England

University of Manchester -

This independent evaluation, commissioned by NHS England, shows clinical improvements such as better monitoring of a baby’s growth and movement in pregnancy, as well as better monitoring in labour, led to maternity staff helping to save more than 160 babies’ lives across 19 maternity units. The report found that stillbirths fell by a fifth at the maternity units where national guidance, known as the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle, had been implemented. The best practice guidance is now being introduced across the country and has the potential if these findings were replicated, to prevent an estimated 600 stillbirths.

• Report
• Press release

UK biological security strategy

Department of Health and Social Care - 

Significant outbreaks of disease are amongst the highest impact risks faced by the UK. The UK biological security strategy draws together for the first time the work taking place across government to protect the UK and its interests from significant biological risks, no matter how these occur and no matter who or what they affect. The strategy, produced in association with the Home Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, sets out the nature of the biological risks and the opportunities we face, looks at how this landscape is continuing to evolve, and explains what our response is to these challenges.

• Strategy
• More detail

Each baby counts: themed report on anaesthetic care, including lessons identified from Each Baby Counts babies born 2015 to 2017

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists - 

Launched in 2014, the Each Baby Counts programme aims to reduce the number of babies who die or are left severely disabled as a result of incidents occurring during term labour by 50 per cent by 2020. In 2017, the College published a landmark report based on the care of 1,136 babies born in the UK in 2015 and found that 76 per cent of these babies might have had a different outcome with different care. It also included recommendations highlighting critical factors in the care of the many of these babies that may prevent these incidents in the future. Detailed further analysis of the Each Baby Counts data has now been conducted into the anaesthetic care given to the mothers of 49 babies reported to Each Baby Counts between 2015 and 2017. This special report will form part of a wider set of findings and recommendations from the Each Baby Counts programme, to be published in autumn 2018.

• Report
• Press release

Polypharmacy: getting our medicines right

Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) - 
This draft guidance outlines the size of the challenge of problematic polypharmacy and highlights the work being done to address it. It makes clear recommendations to organisations and individuals involved with medicines as part of the care of the people they serve. Views are being sought on this draft guidance and responses will be accepted until 28 August 2018.

• Consultation