DH and NHS England launch older people’s programme – Health Service Journal
The Department of Health and NHS England have launched a £400m programme for vulnerable older people to reduce pressure on accident and emergency wards.
Their transforming primary care programme aims to help 800,000 people deemed to have most complex needs. They are mostly expected to be over the age of 75.

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Masterclass in integrated care for older people – Double Tree by Hilton, Manchester 09 June 2014 09:00- 09 June 2014 17:00
The masterclass will be chaired and facilitated by Peter Sharp, Head of Wellbeing at Cordis Bright and former Chief Executive of the Centre for Workforce Intelligence, and there will also be several case study presentations on integrated care for older people including:

• Tracey Roose, Chief Executive, Age UK Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly & Programme Director for Integration, NHS Kernow
• Martin Vernon, Consultant Geriatrician, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Greater Manchester Clinical Champion for Integrated Care and Lead for End of Life Care, British Geriatrics Society Read Martin’s 60 second interview
• Professor Moira Livingston MBChB, FRCPsych, DipMed Ed, Clinical Director Improvement Capability,NHS Improving Quality

2014 – Our Year of Outpatient Change – Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
Over the last eighteen months a number of our teams and departments have begun to change how we deliver traditional NHS outpatient care.  Some of these changes are seemingly small – such as organising our team’s timetables to offer a 52 week service.  Others may feel very different, such as doing a consultation by telephone, or our latest work on seeing patients using video technologies like Skype.  To date all our changes are being…

Review set to probe standard of nurse training  – Health Service Journal
A major review of nurse training England will be launched next month to help push up standards of patient care, Health Service Journal reveals.  Health Education England and the Nursing and Midwifery Council will launch the review in May to investigate the education standards of the 60,000 annual intake of nursing and midwifery students. The Shape of Caring Review, which will be led by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Willis of Knaresborough, will also examine the standard of post-registration training for the NHS nurses, which applies once they have qualified and joined the NMC register. Around 390,000 registered nurses are employed in the NHS.

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Millions to benefit from improved GP care
Millions of people will now be able to see their family doctor outside of working hours, including late night and weekend appointments, while the elderly and those with more serious health complaints will get tailored care, coordinated by just one local GP.

Updated guidance published for avoiding unplanned admissions
NHS Employers, GPC and NHS England have published an updated version of the enhanced service Avoiding unplanned admissions: proactive case finding and care review for vulnerable people.

Goldberg II: Delivering on strategy in the NHS
The Good Governance Institute has published Goldberg II: Delivering on strategy in the NHS. This report, written one year in to the development and operation of the new Clinical Commissioning Groups and Health and Wellbeing Boards, outlines the present state of strategic planning in these organisations and the varied challenges and opportunities facing the NHS.

Health systems of the United Kingdom
The Health Foundation and Nuffield Trust have jointly published The four health systems of the United Kingdom: how do they compare? The report assesses the performance of the NHS on the quality of patient care in all four UK countries since devolution. The report attempts to update earlier comparisons of the publicly financed health systems of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in terms of funding, inputs and performance before and since devolution. It also includes comparisons with the North East of England, which has been chosen as a better comparator with the three devolved nations than England as a whole.
Additional links:

• BBC News report
• RCN Response

Monitor’s strategy 2014 to 2017
Monitor has published its latest corporate strategy. Monitor’s strategy 2014 to 2017: Helping to redesign healthcare provision in England. The document sets out the opportunities and challenges facing the NHS in England. It describes Monitor’s mission, responsibilities and values, and outlines its commitment to quality care.

Department of Health improvement plan
The Department of Health has published Department of Health Improvement Plan: April 2014. It sets out what DH will do to ensure the long term health and success of the department. It has been developed following an assessment of the 4 critical themes of organisational effectiveness: performance; efficiency and innovation; capability; strategic risk and leadership of change. It sets out where the department is currently, what it has achieved, where it needs to be in future and the improvements that the department needs to make to get there.

NICE Quality Standard: sickle cell acute painful episode
NICE has published a new Quality Standard Sickle cell acute painful episode (QS58). This quality standard covers the management of sickle cell acute painful episode in people in hospital from the time of presenting to hospital until the time of discharge.

Nice consultations
Point-of-care coagulometers (the CoaguChek XS system and the INRatio2 PT/INR monitor) diagnostics consultation. Consultation closes 7 May 2014
Acute coronary syndromes (including myocardial infarction): Quality standard consultation. Consultation closes 13 May 2014
Nutrition support in adults: surveillance review proposal consultation Consultation closes 25 April 2014
Detecting, managing and monitoring haemostasis: viscoelastometric point-of-care testing (ROTEM, TEG and Sonoclot systems): diagnostics consultation Consultation closes 2 May 2014
Sepsis – the recognition, diagnosis and management of Severe Sepsis: scope consultation. Consultation closes 2 May 2014

HEE signs international agreement to help train Chinese GPs – Health Education England
Health Education England has signed an international agreement to help China train General Practitioners. The initial focus will be on increasing HEE’s existing ‘train the trainers’ role to help China implement a significant expansion in training GPs. Detailed proposals form a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HEE, Peking University and the University of Birmingham. The MoU was signed by HEE Chief Executive Professor Ian Cumming and is a collaboration with Health Education West Midlands.

BMJ Quality & Safety: The international journal of healthcare improvement – Current Issue

• Electronic Page:Medication errors: do they occur in isolation? (12 Apr 2014)
• Editorials:Simulation modelling and resource allocation in complex services (12 Apr 2014)
• Viewpoints:A just culture after Mid Staffordshire (12 Apr 2014)
• Narrative Review:Team-training in healthcare: a narrative synthesis of the literature (12 Apr 2014)
• Original Research:Improving patient waiting times: a simulation study of an obesity care service (12 Apr 2014)
• Original Research:Using ‘nudge’ principles for order set design: a before and after evaluation of an electronic prescribing template in critical care (12 Apr 2014)
• Original Research:Internal consistency, factor structure and construct validity of the French version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (12 Apr 2014)
• Original Research:Errors in after-hours phone consultations: a simulation study (12 Apr 2014)
• Original Research:Association of note quality and quality of care: a cross-sectional study (12 Apr 2014)
• Systematic Review:Are interventions to reduce interruptions and errors during medication administration effective?: a systematic review (12 Apr 2014)
• Research And Reporting Methodology:Building clinical networks: a developmental evaluation framework (12 Apr 2014)
• Quality Improvement Reports:Using quality improvement to optimise paediatric discharge efficiency (12 Apr 2014)

How Emotionally Intelligent are You? – Boosting Your People Skills
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