Annualisation: an approach to consultant job planning.

Annualisation is a fairly new innovation in organisation of workforce. It allows the employees’ work pattern to be planned prospectively over a period of a year and the pay to be calculated based on the work performed at that period. It first appeared in Europe in the 1970s in the industrial sector. In the UK it has been used since the 1980s as a new management technique in manufacturing, and in the NHS. Increasingly, NHS employers find it difficult to reach agreements with consultants based on fixed weekly-programmed job planning. The new consultant contract provides a basis for implementing a much more effective system for planning of consultant activities. Annualisation is a comprehensive approach to job planning of consultants; it combines trust objectives with individual consultant commitments. In this article, we have considered the background of annualised hours and the relevant legislation framework in the UK, advantages and disadvantages for employers and employees, the key principals of implementation of annualisation of consultant job planning. We have also brought examples of the NHS trusts’ formulated policies in support of annualisation. We have concluded that considering the present circumstances in the NHS, annualisation of consultant job planning is beneficial for NHS trusts, particularly in terms of costs, and to the consultants in terms of accommodating their various commitments. Considering the current structure and strategic objectives in the NHS, we recommend this method of workforce management to be implemented widely in the NHS.

Safe staffing frequently asked questions – NHS England

Following the guidance letter issued on 16 May concerning Trusts submitting staffing data, NHS England has compiled a document of questions and answerson this subject.

Evidence updates: Opioids in palliative care / Autism in adults

NICE has published two new evidence updates Opioids in palliative care  This update is a summary of selected new evidence relevant to NICE clinical guideline 140 ‘Opioids in palliative care: safe and effective prescribing of strong opioids for pain in palliative care of adults’ (2012). Autism in adults details selected new evidence relevant to NICE clinical guideline 142 ‘Autism: recognition, referral, diagnosis and management of adults on the autism spectrum’ (2012). Evidence updates are intended to increase awareness of new evidence they do not replace current NICE guidance and do not provide formal practice recommendations.

Hospital admissions cut plan “overly optimistic” – Integrated Care

The £3.8bn scheme to encourage health service integration and cut hospital admissions in England is “overly optimistic”, warn health researchers.

A tool to evaluate your website for patient engagement – International Journal of Healthcare Management

The current healthcare environment encourages patients to participate in their healthcare. One way to do so is to design and manage a website that empowers patients and family members to be involved in their care. The authors previously developed a model that classifies hospital websites into four levels by how well the websites engaged the patients. This paper presents a tool based on that model that can be used by hospitals to objectively measure the level of hospital website patient engagement.

Effective organizational change in healthcare: Exploring the contribution of empowered users and workers. – International Journal of Healthcare Management

Worldwide healthcare systems are facing immense changes in the demand of care with vast cost explosions caused by aging populations and the increase in chronic and mental diseases. The move towards patient-centered healthcare seems to be an ideal approach to meet future challenges but still clashes with reality. Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) in the UK is one of the unique examples of patient empowerment to influence changes in healthcare systems like the National Health Service (NHS). The purpose of this paper is to look at user-driven organizational change management in PALS in retrospect to learn from its ‘best’ and ‘worst’ practices. In conclusion, patient-centered healthcare becomes more realistic if healthcare users and workers are empowered at the same time. The vision of patient, public, and staff involvement in the move towards patient-centered health needs to be backed up by adequate and secure resources as well as consistent organizational leadership and change management. Organizational change processes in general should be seen as biological continuous cycles with unpredictable evolutionary turning points rather than linear progressions. This helps to stay optimistic and embrace change as challenging, exciting, and difficult all the way through the change process.