• providers of NHS funded secondary care (such as hospitals)
• certain types of information that healthcare providers are required to publish or submit

This consultation seeks views on:

• whether the suggested types of information should fall within the reach of the offence?
• whether proposed list captures the information that is important to the public, commissioners and regulators?

Monitor appoints medical director – Health Service Journal Article

Monitor has appointed Hugo Mascie-Taylor as its new medical director and executive director of patient and clinical engagement, HSJ has learned. Dr Mascie-Taylor is the former medical director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, and has been working as a trust special administrator to determine the future of Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust. He was also medical director at the NHS Confederation.

• Contact the Library & Knowledge Service to request this HSJ article or Phn. 01704 704202

SI 2014 No. 897: The Statutory Sick Pay Percentage Threshold (Revocations, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) Order 2014

With effect from 6th April 2014, it will no longer be possible for employers to reclaim Statutory Sick Pay (“SSP”) from the government. Prior to 6 April 2014, employers could reclaim SSP exceeded 13% of its national insurance contributions in the month. The rationale for abolishing it is because the government felt that it gave employers an incentive not to encourage long-term sick employees to return to the workplace.

Millions to be spent training lowest paid staff – Health Service Journal Article

Millions of pounds could be invested in the training and development of lower paid NHS staff to help them progress into nursing and other professional roles, HSJ has learned.Health Education England is considering boosting the proportion of the £5bn education and training budget it spends on the lowest paid NHS staff by 1 per cent a year for five years, papers seen by HSJ reveal.

• Contact the Library & Knowledge Service to request this article or Phn. 01704 704202

SIGN guideline: Antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery
The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network has updated SIGN guideline 104: Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Surgery.  The guideline provides information on risk factors for surgical site infection, the benefits and risks of antibiotic prophylaxis, indications for surgical antibiotic prophylaxis and the administration of prophylactic antibiotics (type, timing, dosage, duration and route). The 2014 update provides updated information on the risks of: Clostridium difficile infection associated with antibiotic prophylaxis (section 4.2.4) and The timing of administration of antibiotic prophylaxis (section 6.2).

Breathe new life into old training – Health Service Journal Article

An alternative approach to training can teach doctors how to improve services, not just implement them. The King’s Fund’s Time to Think Differently programme explores the challenges of matching the health and social care workforce to the work required in times of significant change. This problem sits alongside the increasing need to reduce avoidable harm within our healthcare systems. At the same time, through new medical science and delivery models, we have seen the system of care provision become more complex.

• Contact the Library & Knowledge Service to request this HSJ article or Phn. 01704 704202
• Time to Think Differently programme

The management of waste from health, social and personal care – Royal College of Nursing (RCN)

The guide was developed with RCN members and waste management experts from across the UK. It was co-authored by WSP, the professional consultancy which also helped produce the Department of Health’s revised guidance on the safe management of health care waste. It aims to supporting health care workers to classify waste appropriately in order to bring benefits to health organisations as well as the environment.

• Guide
• RCN – news

The generation strain: collective solutions to care in an ageing society – Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) 

The number of older people in need of care is expected to outstrip the number of family members able to provide informal care for the first time in 2017, according to a report by IPPR. It shows that the average annual cost for an older person who pays for a typical package of care has increased to £7,900 a year, an average £25,000 for home care and an average £36,000 for a nursing home.By 2030, an estimated 230,000 older people in England who need care of more than twenty hours a week could be left without family to help, according to IPPR. The report says that the number of people aged 65 and over without children to care for them will almost double before the end of the next decade and that by 2030, there will be more than 2 million people in England without a child to care for them if needed.

• Report
• Press release

Transparency data: Input and impact indicators: 2013 to 2014 

This summary data will help assess the effects of DH policies and reforms on the cost and impact of public services. Input indicators show the resources being invested into delivering results. Impact indicators give information on the outcomes of our work. The input and impact indicators are set out in the Transparency section of the DH Business Plan 2013 – 2015.

The Environment and Health Atlas for England and Wales: A collection of maps illustrating geographical distributions of disease risk and environmental agents – Imperial College London 

The atlas provides interactive maps of geographical variations for a range of health conditions and environmental agents at a neighbourhood (small-area) scale in England and Wales.These maps have been developed as a resource for the public, researchers and anyone working in public health and policy to better understand the geographic distribution of environmental agents and health conditions in England and Wales. The health outcome maps show the relative risk so there must always be some wards above average and some wards below average.

Outcomes assessment for people with long-term neurological conditions: a qualitative approach to developing and testing a checklist in integrated care – Health Services and Delivery Research Volume: 2 Issue: 9
Aims to understand:

• how health and social care organisations work together
• what outcomes people with long-term neurological conditions (LTNCs) want to achieve
• how a list of these outcomes could be used by health and social care staff working together.

Finds integrated care can affect the way outcomes are interpreted, assessed and achieved. There is scope for developing a measure to assess outcomes of integrated care for long-term conditions that reflect service users’ needs.
Additional Items

• Plain English Summary
• Scientific Summary
• Protocol

Re: Stock-take – Publishing of Staffing Data – NHS England

Stock take of progress against commitments regarding the publishing of staffing data in the form of a Dear Colleague Letter. This follows guidance issued by NHS England and the Care Quality Commission on 31 March 2014.
Additional Items

• How to ensure the right people, with the right skills, are in the right place at the right time’
• Staffing Letter
• Table of actions
• Frequently Asked Questions

Six GPs elected to BMA council as NHS campaigners dominate

A leading campaigner against NHS privatisation has won more votes than any other candidate in elections to the BMA council, as six GPs were also voted in.

Health-related statistics
Provisional Accident and Emergency Quality Indicators for England – January 2014, by provider
Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England – April 2013 to December 2013
Diagnostic Imaging Dataset Statistics – December 2013
Monthly Figures on Deaths Registered by Area of Usual Residence, England and Wales – March 2014 (Provisional)
Provisional Monthly Hospital Episode Statistics for Admitted Patient Care, Outpatient and Accident and Emergency data – April 2013 – January 2014.  Includes special topic on bites and strikes caused by certain animals