The State Of Medical Education and Practice In The UK 2014 – General Medical Council
Shows significant increases in the number of women becoming surgeons and specialists in emergency medicine. At the same time, the profession as a whole will soon have equal numbers of men and women doctors – already women account for 44% of all registered doctors and more than half of medical students are female. There has also been a shift in the pattern of doctors from overseas coming to work here. In the past, the largest source of overseas-trained doctors was south Asia, but recently there has been a sharp rise in doctors coming to work here from southern Europe.

Foundation Trust Network and NHS Alliance form a partnership
The NHS Alliance and the Foundation Trust Network have formed a new partnership bringing together healthcare representatives from primary care and secondary care with a view to breaking down silos and tensions that have historically stymied efforts to introduce innovations, reports the National Health Executive. The new partnership aims to share best practice and case studies to help facilitate integrated thinking and integrated care and ultimately streamline health and care pathways for patients. The group are planning to publish a short series of papers to capture the findings of the first six months’ collaborative working. The first joint paper is expected in mid – November.

Warning to NHS over paediatric driven reconfigurations – Health Service Journal – Acute care news.
Hospital trusts should ensure adequate children’s community services are in place before closing in-patient units

18 week waits, August 2014: explore the maps – Health Service Journal – Acute care news
See all NHS waits around England by provider, CCG or specialty senior leader in paediatrics has warned

How Healthy Are We? A High-Level Guide – The King’s Fund
King’s Fund guide establishing basic facts on the health of England’s population, including the main drivers of health, how it varies and is expressed in inequalities, and relevant comparisons with other countries. This guide has been updated using new data and studies.

Struggling trusts are stuck in a policy cul-de-sac – Health Service Journal Article
The constraints put on hospitals mean they are not going to become considerably more efficient anytime soon. Trusts will need more money to operate a balanced budget and keep up with standards expected of them. The basic problem with policies influencing the acute sector is that they result in too many trusts getting into serious financial and performance difficulties.

Free webinar using choice and competition for the benefit of patients
Monitor has announced details of a planned joint webinar with NHS Clinical Commissioners directed towards providing further clarity on choice and competition regulations. It aims to highlight how commissioners can use the regulations in place to help enable commissioning strategies and transformation plans locally. The scenarios and case studies to be discussed should encourage commissioners to think of the situations they face, and help them to make quicker and increased changes for the benefit of patients. The webinar takes place on takes place on 21 October at 12.30pm.

Quality in services
The Health Foundation and the Nuffield Trust has jointly published, Cause for concern the second annual statement from the QualityWatch programme. This report draws on analysis of over two hundred quality indicators and a series of in-depth research reports to provide an overview of how patterns of quality in services are changing across a range of care settings.