Knowledge @lert for Friday 14th August

August 14, 2015 CCG Daily News

A patient approach: putting the consumer at the heart of UK healthcare –  Institute of Economic Affairs
This analysis of the population’s attitudes towards access to healthcare suggests that people are open to a variety of providers when it comes to personal treatment, with nearly half the population indicating no preference when asked if they’d rather be treated by an NHS provider, an independent non-profit or a for-profit provider. Almost one fifth of individuals expressed an active desire for their care to be delivered privately. The author argues that supporters of moving the NHS to a competitive system that incorporates a combination of public and private providers, should capitalise on the growing appetite for reform amongst the general public.

Health of the UK population in 2040 – The Lancet, Naomi Lee, Pieter van de Graaf, Emma Hopkins, Martin O’Flaherty
Looking into the future often creates a mixture of uncertainty and anticipation. Science fiction is filled with stories of doom and excitement about discoveries yet to be made. The UK Academy of Medical Sciences is exploring what the main health challenges for the UK population will be in 2040, and identifying opportunities to address them. To coincide with the launch of this project in November, 2014, The Lancet asked readers “What do you think will be the three biggest issues for the health of the UK population in 2040?” We received a host of responses from doctors, medical students, professors, and policy makers with ideas that ranged from the expected to pure science fiction.

12-hour shift working, is it for everyone? – new study released – NHS Employers
Read our summary of a major new study published around 12-hour shift working in the NHS.
Read the study in full for further information.

South Warwickshire FT and GPs plan joint contract bids – Health Service Journal
South Warwickshire Foundation Trust has established a partnership with a large scale GP federation, with the intention of bidding together for a local community services contract.  The trust, which provides acute care in south Warwickshire and community services across the county, is also developing a similar arrangement with a second GP provider group elsewhere in its patch.

BMA pulls out of junior doctor contract talks – Health Service Journal
The British Medical Association has walked out of talks with NHS Employers over junior doctors contracts.

  • BMA junior doctors committee votes not to re-enter negotiations with NHS Employers
  • Trade union calls on government to drop insistence on extending routine working hours
  • NHS Employers “extremely disappointed”

Demand for elective care highest in seven years – Health Service Journal
The number of patients waiting to start treatment has hit the highest point in seven years, according to the latest data from NHS England.  There were 3.2 million patients waiting at the end of June – the most since January 2008.

DH to clip major hospitals’ power to veto tariff – Health Service Journal
The Department of Health has moved to drastically curb the power of NHS hospitals to veto unpopular proposals for the pricing of NHS services. DH plans to raise the thresholds for reconsideration of tariff proposals Proposals are an attempt to avoid repeat of tariff crisis that took place this year. Providers have until 11 September to respond.

Integration of general practice and community pharmacy
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and National Association of Primary Care (NAPC) have published a consultation document Improving patient care through better general practice and community pharmacy integration.  This document sets out how significant improvements to patient care could be achieved through better integration of the community pharmacist with general practitioners. It also seeks to explore barriers to implementation and how these may be overcome in practice.  The document proposes some areas where the RPS and NAPC believe the greatest impact could be made, as well as how this could happen. The consultation closes on 9 October 2015.

A fresh start for registration
The Care Quality Commission has published A fresh start for registration: improving how we register providers of all health and adult social care services. This document sets out the improvements along with the CQC’s vision for the future of registration as part of their approach to regulation within a new five-year strategy from 2016.  It informs people and their families what they deserve to expect when using health and social care services registered with CQC.

Flu vaccination: invitation letter templates for health professionals
Public Health England has published two flu invitation letter templates for health professionals to use or adapt:

Stopping Smoking by using other sources of nicotine
The Royal Society for Public Health has published Stopping smoking by using other sources of nicotine. This position paper is calling for public confusion over nicotine to be addressed as a way of encouraging smokers to use safer forms of the substance.  Tobacco contains nicotine along with many other chemicals, but nicotine by itself is fairly harmless.   Electronic cigarettes and Nicotine Replacement Therapy (gum, lozenges, and patches) contain nicotine but don’t contain the harmful substances found in cigarettes. The Royal Society is now calling for measures to promote safer forms of nicotine products to smokers and make it harder to use tobacco.

Fair and transparent pricing for NHS services
The Department of Health has launched a consultation Fair and transparent pricing for NHS services.  This consultation is about proposals to revise the objection mechanism to the pricing method for NHS services in England, which applies when proposals for the national tariff are published for consultation.

Eyes on Evidence
The latest edition of Eyes on Evidence (August 2015) includes the following items:

  • Quality of life in young people with cerebral palsy
  • Fractional flow reserve to guide percutaneous coronary intervention in people with stable coronary artery disease
  • Latanoprost for newly diagnosed open-angle glaucoma
  • Childhood factors and inactivity in adulthood
  • Positive’ and ‘negative’ emotive content in tobacco control TV adverts
  • Evidence summaries from NICE’s Medicines and Prescribing Programme:
    • Type 2 diabetes: insulin degludec/liraglutide (Xultophy)
    • Type 2 diabetes: dulaglutide (Trulicity)
    • Ulcerative colitis: budesonide multimatrix (Cortiment)
    • Acute coronary syndrome: ezetimibe added to simvastatin (IMPROVE-IT study)
    • Gastrointestinal bleeding: differences among anticoagulants
    • Cardiovascular disease: risk of diabetes and statin treatment
    • Risk of suicide, attempted suicide or self-harm with antidepressants

Bulletins

Statistics

Knowledge @lert for Thursday 13th August

Knowledge @lert for Monday 17th August