Accessing patient records and sharing confidential patient information
The House of Commons Library has published its latest briefing paper Accessing and sharing health records and patient confidentiality. It outlines safeguarding arrangements for confidential patient information. It also describes statutory and public interest disclosures of patient information; information sharing rules for people who lack mental capacity; and access to information on hereditary conditions for relatives.

NHS Maternity Review
NHS England has launched an online survey the results of which will be fed into the NHS maternity review.  The survey which runs until the 31 October 2015 is completely anonymous, and is open to anyone interested in maternity services, including mums, dads, families and friends;also the views from healthcare professionals, commissioners and charities would be welcomed on how barriers can be overcome with the aim of improving services.
Additional link: NHS England press release

Pricing of branded health service medicines
The Department of Health has launched an open consultation seeking views on proposals to reform the statutory scheme that controls prices of branded health service medicines to make it work more effectively, and to re-align the statutory scheme savings with the savings made by the voluntary Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS).

Managing conflicts of interest in CCG’s
The National Audit Office has published the findings from its investigation into managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups. This investigation was in response to Parliamentary and public concerns over the risk of conflicts of interest influencing local NHS commissioners’ decisions in ways that favour secondary interests, such as personal gain, over patients’ interests.

NHS Employers raises concerns over immigration rules
NHS Employers has written to the Home Secretary to raise concerns that current immigration rules are compromising patient safety, cost controls and leaving shortages of nurses and doctors at a crucial time. The letter was sent following feedback received from employers in the NHS highlighting the problems that employers have been experiencing with the current shortage occupation list and the way in which NHS applications are assessed and prioritised for restricted certificates of sponsorship.
Additional link: BBC News report

End of life care
The National Palliative and End of Life Care Partnership which includes Care Quality Commission, Public Health England and the Association for Palliative Medicine has jointly published Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: A national framework for local action 2015-2020. This guidancedetails the work that several organisations have agreed to do to improve local services, enabling people who use these services to have fair access to care, and that any care is based on individual needs.
Additional link: Care Quality Commission

Moving healthcare closer to home
Monitor has published a suite of information and guidance in support for providers and commissioners to make evidence-based appraisals of how the benefits compare with the costs of various approaches to move care closer to home. Various case studies from across the country are included that describe schemes to avoid hospital admissions, enable early discharge or reduce length of stay through improving acute pathways.
Additional link: NHS Providers

Reducing length of hospital stay
The Nuffield Trust has published Improving length of stay: what can hospitals do?This report is part of a larger project undertaken by Monitor which aims to find the best ways to improve quality of care across the health system in light of recent pressures on urgent and emergency care. Drawing evidence from the literature together with insights from a number of senior clinicians, managers and case studies, this report explores what approaches to reducing length of stay have been (and could be) effective, providing a set of measures for improving length of stay that are within the control of the hospital itself.

HIP Fracture report
The Royal College of Physicians has published the sixth National Hip Fracture Database (NHFD) report. The latest report shows that 64,102 patients were admitted to hospital with a hip fracture between 1 January and 31 December 2014 across the UK.  This leads to the occupation of over 4,000 inpatient beds at any one time across the UK, which equates to 1 in 40 of all NHS beds. The report details variation in practice around the UK, supporting the development of the best way to care for the frail and older patients who experience hip fracture injuries.

NICE consultations

•  Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – nintedanib [ID752]: appraisal consultation. Closing date for comment 9 October 2015
• Transition from children’s to adult’s services: draft guideline consultation. Closing date for comment 22^nd October 2015
• Referral for suspected cancer: topic engagement. Closing date for comment 23 September 2015
• Antimicrobial resistance – changing risk-related behaviours in the general population: draft guideline consultation. Closing date for comment 20 October 2015
• Stroke (quality standards update): quality standard consultation. Closing date for comment 5 October 2015

Statistics

• Provisional Monthly Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in England – April 2014 to March 2015 – September 2015 Release
• Provisional Monthly Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) in England – April 2015
• Monthly hospital activity data, July 2015
• Dental Earnings and Expenses – 2013-14 Initial Analysis
• GP Earnings and Expenses – 2013-14
• Quarterly Epidemiological Commentary: Mandatory MRSA, MSSA and E. coli bacteraemia, and C. difficile infection data (up to April-June 2015)
• NHS 111 Minimum Data Set (MDS) – England, July 2015
• Delayed Transfers of Care Data 2015-16 – July 2015
• Ambulance Quality Indicators Data 2015-16 – September 2015
• Monthly Diagnostic Waiting Times and Activity – July 2015
• Consultant-led Referral to Treatment Waiting Times Data 2015-16 – July 2015
• Vital Statistics: Population and Health Reference Tables, Summer 2015 update