Knowledge @lert for Tuesday 7th July
Health and social care funding
In advance of the budget the Kings Fund has published The Budget: health and social care funding. The briefing warns that unless additional funding is found, a growing black hole in NHS finances could have significant consequences for patient care. Although there are opportunities for the NHS to improve productivity, the briefing argues that initiatives to reduce spending on agency staff and increase financial control will not be enough to offset growing deficits among NHS providers.
NICE Quality and Productivity collection
NICE has added Podiatry education to empower patients to self-careto its Quality and Productivity collection. Published by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the case study sets out the evidence that many conditions that patients present with could be safely and appropriately handled by the patients themselves once they have the confidence, skills and knowledge. This project was designed to identify and train patients suitable for self-care, so they can be discharged from the service.
Specialised services investment decisions
NHS England has set out its planned investment decisions for certain specialised services as part of its annual commissioning round. Thirty nine proposed new investments have been considered.
NICE Quality and Productivity collection
NICE has added two new case studies to its Quality and Productivity collection:
- Home administration of intravenous diuretics to heart failure patients: Increasing productivity and improving quality of care
- Ensuring appropriate use of monitored dosage systems: reducing unnecessary pharmacy workload
Accessible information standard
NHS England has launched the Accessible Information Standard which aims to provide people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss with information that they can easily read or understand. The standard will be implemented on 31 July 2016. All organisations that provide NHS or adult social care are required to follow the new standard, including NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts, and GP practices.
NCEPOD: gastrointestinal haemorrhage
The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death has published Gastrointestinal haemorrhage: time to get control? This report highlights the process of care for patients aged 16 years or older that were coded for a diagnosis of gastrointestinal haemorrhage. The report takes a critical look at areas where the care of patients might have been improved. Remediable factors have also been identified in the clinical and the organisational care of these patients.
National Emergency Laparotomy Audit
The Royal College of Anaesthetists has published The first patient report from the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit which provides information about the care given to patients having emergency bowel surgery. This publication provides data from over 20,000 patients and allows hospitals to see whether they are meeting the published quality standards. It also shows whether the facilities available in a hospital are sufficient to deliver the required level of care.
Traineeships: guidance for employers
NHS Employers has published new guidance for employers to promote the use of traineeships in the NHS. Traineeships: harnessing young talent to enrich the NHS explains how traineeships can be used as part of a holistic strategy to address the workforce supply challenges the NHS is facing. Although the nationwide traineeship programme is government-led, employers and education providers have a responsibility to ensure that trainees are provided with meaningful, high quality and authentic work experience.
NHS IQ handbooks: Learning and Intelligence
NHS Improving Quality has updated two handbooks on learning and intelligence based on input from users over the past six months. The handbooks are accessible e-books for individuals and teams working in health and social care, and aim to help drive service improvement. The Learning Handbook helps users take a systematic approach to learning, capturing valuable lessons that inform best practice and future activities to give them the greatest chance of improved outcomes. The Intelligence Handbook guides users through the process of finding, filtering and understanding intelligence so they can use it to best advantage.
Bulletins
- Liaison and Diversion Bulletin – June 2015
- Health Protection Report – volume 9 issue 23: news (3 July)
- NHS foundation trust bulletin – 1 July 2015
- Staff engagement newsletter – July 2015
- NHS Workforce Bulletin – 29 June 2015
- Public Health Awareness bulletin – July 2015
- Public Health England bulletin – 29 June 2015