This report is based on case studies of employee engagement at eight high performing NHS Trusts. It identifies the approach and interventions associated with high levels of engagement, and provides some recommendations for trusts looking to drive up engagement. It concludes that only through effectively engaging with employees will the NHS be able to meet the challenges it faces in coming years.

This report argues that moving towards an integrated system of healthcare provision would make it possible to offer whole-person, holistic care to patients. It highlights the role mutuals could play in integrating public, private and third sector bodies to both improve patient outcomes and plug any funding gaps.

Outlines the results of an FTN members’ survey and reveals the full scale of extra investment that NHS foundation trusts and trusts are making to improve patient care following the Francis and Keogh reviews and the introduction of the new CQC inspection regime. It calls for a new approach to funding service developments and improved financial risk sharing.

Report from Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE) that argues that moving towards value-based payment models also requires a change in management skills that encourage systems thinking and aligns clinical and operational resources in order to improve outcomes and efficiencies.

John Illingworth looks at the enhanced role data and information will play in improving patient safety in the NHS, and introduces a new practical guide to implementing the framework for measuring and monitoring safety.

‘Probably most of us think we are doing a good job… But how much of this is comfortable illusion?’ In her latest blog, Dr Jennifer Dixon suggests we are often blind to the quality of our own work. Which is why using intelligent data and measurement is central to improving quality – ‘from the “national” health system level, to the local, to the personal’.

Presentation that outlines Fiddy Abraham’s (oscillating) theory-in-use and improvisation in a set of case studies in inter-organizational cross-sectoral design undertaken between 2005 and 2008 in similar settings. Different approaches, including socio-technical systems design, conversational enquiry, and others were foregrounded in different settings and this enquiry sets out to explore what drove those choices, in the system and in the scholarly practice of the consultant.

NHS England blog post calling for a move towards an NHS where caring is valued more and staff are given more time to care. I want a culture where the little things really matter and are expressed by everyone from hospital porter to Medical Director.

Compassion has become extremely fashionable in recent times and is perhaps most noticeable when it is absent. Creating a compassion friendly environment would, in my opinion, include adequate staffing levels, time for personal development and rewarding positive behaviours.

The recent reports of both Francis (2013) and Cavendish (2013) set out a requirement to develop training and educational pathways for all health care assistants and support staff. A code of conduct for support staff has also been developed by Skills for Health and Skills for Care (March 2013) as part of its response to the Francis enquiry.

This paper describes a training and practice programme ‘Shared Values’. The aim of the programme is for participants to develop an understanding of the values and attitudes which must underpin practice and to ensure that these values are apparent to service users and their families.