‘No improvement over safe staffing’, nurse survey suggests – Health Service Journal 
Almost two thirds of nursing staff who have experienced a ‘red flag’ event while working on an acute adult inpatient ward have failed to see nurse numbers immediately increased to deal with the situation, according to a major survey of NHS staffing levels.

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

Shared record system helped avoid 2,000 A&E admissions, says CCG – Health Service Journal
An ambulance service’s use of shared electronic patient records has helped avoid more than 2,000 accident and emergency admissions this financial year in Kent, local commissioners have estimated.

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

Literature Review of the Effectiveness of Clinicians as Improvement Leaders following Training in Improvement and Large Scale Change – University of York, York Health Economics Consortium
Assesses the effectiveness of health care practitioners directly involved in patient care (e.g. doctors, nurses or allied health professions) as improvement leaders after receiving training in improvement and large scale change. Finds that training can be effective in enabling clinicians to become leaders, but it is also consistent in showing that training is not enough. Identifying the right people for training is important: identifying individuals with a desire to lead but also with existing personal attributes to make them an effective leader is important. There is also a need for a culture of support for change, for leaders to be successful. This support seems to need to be provided as both tangible metrics (such as giving clinicians the time to lead change projects outside of their ‘day job’) but also in the form of more intangible support and encouragement from senior management to enable others within the organisation to follow the lead of the clinician undertaking the change or quality improvement (QI) project.

Can competition improve management quality in the NHS? The Commissioning Elf
Chris Sampson reports on a discussion paper produced by the Centre for Economic Performance, which looks at the impact of competition on management quality in hospitals.

East Midlands trust launches recruitment drive for 140 nurses – Nursing Times
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has announced plans to recruit 140 nurses to help improve patient care and reduce its use of agency staff.

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

Hit or miss: Lessons from the best and worst A&E performers – Health Service Journal
NHS England’s failure to meet the four hour A&E waiting time target belies a wide variation in performance. Alison Moore reports on what we can learn from the best and worst performers.  NHS England has failed to meet the target of seeing 95 per cent of people who attend accident and emergency departments within four hours in 2014-15. Yet within this overall picture there are some health economies that have excelled and others that have struggled.

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