Vanguards in Action – Solihull Vanguard Together for Better livesThe work of the Solihull – Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
Together for better lives partnership of local health and social care organisations to improve urgent and emergency care has already create an integrated system that combines preventative services with rapid access to primary, social and specialist care both in and out of hospital, enabling people to take better control of their lives.

‘Trusts with no future’ list on hold again – Health Service Journal
Plans to publish a list of NHS trusts unlikely to have a future as independent organisations have been put on hold, the NHS Trust Development Authority has indicated. The TDA had pledged to publish the list, which categorises the 88 trusts it oversees according to their prospects for sustainability, in the summer. However, the publication of the information is now in doubt after a TDA spokeswoman told HSJ that the decision about whether to complete the work would have to be taken by NHS Improvement – the new body to be created by the merger of the TDA and Monitor.

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London CCG could defy NHS England on QIPP demands – Health Service Journal
A London clinical commissioning group is considering whether it should refuse to make more primary care quality, innovation, productivity and prevention savings demanded by NHS England by the end of the year. The national body wrote to CCGs in the capital last week requesting £13.2m in further QIPP savings in primary care by the end of 2015-16.

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Putting integrated care into practice: the North West London experience. G Wistow, M Gaskins, H Holder, J Smith, Nuffield Trust, October 2015
“Policy-makers must set realistic expectations, provide sustained and tailored support, and allow time for clinicians and managers to deliver changes to the ways in which patients are cared for. Alongside this, there is a need for careful and robust monitoring of progress over the longer term, feeding into local governance and accountability arrangements, so that investment and implementation deliver the transformational changes promised at the outset.”

Birth after previous caesarean birth updated guidance
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology has published Birth after Previous Caesarean Birth(Green-top Guideline No. 45).This is the second edition of this guideline, the first edition was published in 2007 under the same title. This revised guideline seeks to reassure women considering a vaginal birth after a previous caesarean section that it is a clinically safe choice for the majority of women.  This guideline provides evidence based information to help doctors advise women of the choices available to them, and manage their care through subsequent pregnancies and births.

Consultant led waiting time rules
The Department of Health has published Referral to treatment consultant-led waiting times: rules suite.  This updated guidance sets the rules and definitions for referral to treatment consultant-led waiting times to ensure that each patient’s waiting time clock starts and stops fairly and consistently. It does not attempt to provide detailed guidance on how the rules should apply in every situation, but to provide the NHS with a framework to work within to make clinically sound decisions locally about applying them, in consultation between clinicians, providers, commissioners and patients.

Prevalence of dementia in population groups
Public Health England has published Prevalence of dementia in population groups by protected characteristics: a systematic review of the literature. This review examines how common dementia is and how much it varies between groups with the following characteristics: socio-economic position, race or ethnic group, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability. This review builds on previous work by the Department of Health in 2010 to 2011, as part of the development of the Dementia Equalities Action Plan (DH, 2011).

NICE Bites: Antimicrobial stewardship
The September 2015 NICE Bites bulletin from the North West Medicines Information Service covers Antimicrobial stewardship – NICE NG15. This guideline provides good practice recommendations on systems and processes for effective use of antimicrobials. Antimicrobial stewardship is defined as an organisational or healthcare-system-wide approach to promoting and monitoring judicious use of antimicrobials to preserve their future effectiveness.

Sentinel stroke national audit programme results
The Royal College of Physicians has published the tenth report from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP). It reveals that that 14 stroke services scored an overall ‘A’ grade for the quality of care they provide for patients.  The report relates to patients admitted between April and June 2015 and includes named hospital results for the entire inpatient care pathway.

Suicide prevention
The Centre for Mental Health Research has published Aiming for ‘zero suicides’ An evaluation of a whole system approach to suicide prevention in the East of England. This report was commissioned by the East of England Strategic Clinical Networks to evaluate activity taking place in four local areas in the region through a pilot programme to extend suicide prevention into communities. The evaluation found a range of activities that had taken suicide prevention activities out into local communities. The report explored ways in which the benefits of this initiative could be made more widely available. It is also recommended that local mental health Crisis Care Concordat action plans incorporate suicide prevention methodology and training.