Warning A&Es will ‘fly blind’ with less performance data this winter – Health Service Journal
NHS England will not publish figures on the number of ambulances queuing, four hour waits in emergency departments, cancelled operations or delayed transfers of care on a weekly basis, as it has done in previous winters.

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Statement on junior doctors’ contract – Department of Health  
Health Secretary updates Parliament on the latest on the junior doctors’ contract negotiations

Junior doctor strikes could still go ahead in January, BMA warns – GP Online 
Junior doctors’ leaders have said they remain prepared to take strike action if negotiations with the government and NHS Employers do not work out, after action was suspended last night.

Timeline: How the NHS came to the brink of the first junior doctor strikes in 40 years – GP Online 
Junior doctor strikes planned for Tuesday 1 December were called off at the last minute after more than two years of disagreements between the BMA and DH over a proposed contract overhaul.  GPonline’s timeline looks at how the dispute evolved.

BMA cancels strike as government suspends imposition threat – Health Service Journal
The British Medical Association has suspended strike action planned for tomorrow by junior doctors, in response to a deal with the government to re-start negotiations over a new contract.  Health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Commons this afternoon there had been a ”potential agreement… [which] would allow a time limited period during which negotiations can take place, and during which the BMA agrees to suspend strike action and the government agrees not to proceed unilaterally with implementing a new contract”.

• Government agreed to drop imposition threat in exchange for ‘time-limited’ negotiations
• Agreement to negotiate follows Acas talks and months of acrimony after BMA walk out in October 2014
• Hunt tells MPs strike action could have led to 20,000 operations being cancelled

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Allied health professionals are critical to new models of care – King’s Fund
Allied health professionals (AHPs) make up 6 per cent of the NHS workforce – the third largest professional group – and still more work in social care, housing, local government, and the voluntary and private sectors. They are highly trained and professionally autonomous practitioners, yet too often their vital contribution is marginalised in a public discourse that tends to refer only to ‘doctors and nurses’. This needs to change.

Royal Liverpool board says more work needed on merger plan – Health Service Journal
The board of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust has backed clinicians’ call for joint working with Aintree University Hospital Foundation Trust, but said further work is needed to determine whether a merger is the best option.

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Atrial fibrillation decision support tool
NICE has endorsed an Atrial fibrillation decision support toolwhich is designed to assist UK healthcare professionals in the appropriate prescribing of anticoagulation therapy for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. The tool provides individualised prescribing recommendations based on NICE clinical guidelines and also incorporates a NICE patient decision aid to help patients weigh up the possible benefits, harms, advantages and disadvantages of different treatment options.

National Prostate Cancer Audit
The Royal College of Surgeons of England has published National prostate cancer audit 2015 annual report.  The audit looks at whether NHS services in England and Wales for men diagnosed with prostate cancer meet recommended standards.  The audit found that men with locally advanced prostate cancer are increasingly being offered radical treatments in line with national guidelines.  The percentage of men with this stage of prostate cancer who had radical treatment went up from 27% between 2006 and 2008 to 47% between 2010 and 2013. 

NICE Bites: Diabetes (type 1 and 2) in children and young people
The November 2015 NICE Bites bulletin from the North West Medicines Information Service covers Diabetes (type 1 and 2) in children and young people (NG18).   The aim of this publication is to provide healthcare professionals with a clear and succinct summary of key prescribing points taken from the NICE guidance, NG18.  This guideline covers the management of type 1 and 2 diabetes in children and young people

Rules for all agency staff working in the NHS –  Monitor
This collection of guidance and resources aims to provide support on the new cap on the amount of money that trusts can pay per hour for agency staff within the NHS which was implemented with effect from 23 November 2015.

Involving children and young people in the recruitment process
NHS Employers has published A guide to involving children and young people in the recruitment process.  This guide is intended to support employers who wish to involve children, young people and their families in the recruitment process. Featuring examples from different trusts and organisations, the guidance takes organisations step by step through the process and includes information on: the benefits of involving children and young people; learning from others; preparing the organisation – what to consider; recruitment activities and preparing young people.

Diversity and inclusion in the NHS
NHS England has published an analysis carried out by the King’s Fund Making the difference: diversity and inclusion in the NHS.   The analysis used data drawn from the 2014 NHS Staff Survey to assess staff experience at work. The report shows that discrimination within the NHS was experienced between managers and staff, between colleagues, but also from patients and members of the public; it shows variation across the country.  The report also highlights organisations which are ahead of the curve from which other can learn.

Extending the role of community pharmacy in urgent care
NHS England has published Extending the role of community pharmacy in urgent care.  This guidance provides practical tips and case studies for System Resilience Groups and local commissioners showing how to extend the role of community pharmacy to relieve pressure on urgent care and how to make best use of the tools such as the Directory of Services, NHS Choices and the Summary Care Record to support this.

Consultants prepare acute reconfiguration plans for troubled FT – Health Service Journal
A troubled Yorkshire trust has brought in consultants to draw up a reconfiguration plan for its two acute hospitals.  EY is preparing a five year plan for Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust, which will enable its clinical commissioning groups to launch a public consultation next year.

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Monitor director joins vanguard project – Health Service Journal
A regional director at Monitor has been appointed to join one of the new care model “vanguard” sites.  Paul Streat, the regulator’s regional director for the South, is joining Southern Health Foundation Trust as the development director for Better Local Care – the Hampshire vanguard.

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Local people open up about why maternity matters to them – The Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff 
Local people speak up about why maternity matters to them and what they want to see from the teams working in hospitals, at a recent event hosted by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT). The Maternity Matters in Morecambe Bay event on 25 September in Barrow, saw around 60 members of the public attending to speak to UHMBT staff and partner health organisations about their experiences of local maternity services, and how they want to work with the Trust, and be involved in the future of the service.

‘Conversation cafes’ were held where those that attended gave their honest and open views and opinions on their experiences and what they would like to see changed or done differently in the future. The feedback, which is now being reviewed to make further improvements from the event was gathered in various different ways from notes written on table cloths and feedback forms, to a ‘Wall of Conversation’ that was produced by a graphic illustrator as people were talking.’

Statistics

• NHS Sickness Absence Rates – July 2015
• NHS Staff Earnings Estimates to August 2015 – Provisional statistics
• NHS Workforce Statistics – August 2015, Provisional statistics
• Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) Recorded Dementia Diagnoses – April 2015
• Inpatient elective admission events, outpatient referrals, attendances availability and occupancy – quarter ending 30 September 2015
• Critical care bed capacity and cancelled urgent operations – October 2015
• Seasonal flu vaccine uptake in GP patients – 1 September 2015 to 31 October 2015