Trust launches first self-funded nursing course to tackle shortage – Health Service Journal 
A North West trust has partnered with a local university to launch the first degree course to offer student nursing places not commissioned by Health Education England.

Government response: NHS accident and emergency figures – Department of Health
The weekly A&E figures for the weeks ending December 21 and December 28 2014 have been published by NHS England,

In the 2 week period, compared with the same period in 2013:

• there were 849,800 attendances at A&E, up by nearly 70,000 from 780,700
• 761,700 patients were seen in under 4 hours, compared to 749,000
• there were 162,700 emergency admissions via A&E, compared to 152,100

Evaluating biosimilar medicines
NICE has updated its methods for providing guidance and advice on biosimilar medicines, as their availability and use on the NHS grows.  Biosimilars have the potential to offer the NHS considerable cost savings, especially as they are often used to treat long-term conditions. NICE will now consider biosimilar medicines notified to it by the National Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Centre for referral to the technology appraisal topic selection process.

Integrated care: how to comply with Monitor’s requirements
Monitor has updated its document Complying with Monitor’s integrated care requirements published originally in July 2014. It aims to assist providers and commissioners of healthcare services, and health and wellbeing boards to comply with their integrated care obligations. It also explains the relationship between these obligations and the other rules that Monitor enforces.

Health visiting service specification 2015-2016
NHS England has published the new health visiting service specification for 2015-16. The new service specification aims to support an integrated approach to meeting the needs of young children and their families and the delivery of improved outcomes. Health visitors will continue to lead delivery of the Healthy Child Programme (HCP), and work in partnership with maternity services, local authority-provided or commissioned early year’s services and other key partners to deliver a holistic and effective service.  The document is an updated version of last year’s specification.

The Learning Loop – Development, Impact and You 
The Learning Loop is a tool that helps you to define how the work you do now informs what you do next. It provides a high-level perspective on how implementing social change can be broken down into a gradual process of iterative cycles.  It describes four different stages that your work might pass through in a cycle of continual improvement. Using this tool can help understand the different phases involved when trying to implement your ideas. By reflecting on the process involved, it can help you to understand what to do next. Learning is an ongoing cyclical process.

Case study – patient safety: Pressure Ulcers – best practice: Nottingham and Derbyshire Local Area Team – NHS Improving Quality
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) developed their own version of the Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk© this includes a flow chart directing staff to the appropriate care plan or SSKIN bundle (Skin Integrity, Surface, Keep Moving, Incontinence, Nutrition) for patients at risk. NUH found that the risk assessment tool was not always an accurate and reliable predictor of risk in some cohorts of patients. This is particularly true of patients who were admitted to hospital from their own home. When the environment is changed patients adapt; at home they hold on to furniture etc, in the hospital setting they tend to stay confined to a chair or bed and have reduced mobilisation and a greater fear of falling.