Improving quality in the English NHS: A strategy for action – The King’s Fund
This paper argues that the NHS in England cannot meet the health care needs of the population without a sustained and comprehensive commitment to quality improvement as its principal strategy.  It describes key features of a quality improvement strategy and the role of organisations at different levels in realising it, offering 10 design principles to guide its development.

Revalidation – free resources for specialist nurses on apollonursingresource.com – NHS Academy of Fabulous Stuff
Apollo is a free website resource for specialist nurses. Apollo was developed by Ulster University and Coloplast Ltd to support specialist nurses demonstrate their value as a direct response to requests for help from specialist nurses. Specialist nurses tend to have lop-sided skill sets, they are clinical experts  providing high quality and life-enhancing interventions for patients and their families. But on the other hand, whilst they have developed clinically, a different reality is now an integral component of the role –  the need to demonstrate the value they bring to people and services in a way that managers and commissioners understand and value.

NHS providers: quarterly performance report – Monitor
Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority have published the latest Quarterly report on the performance of the NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts: 9 months ended 31 December 2015.  This report contains updates on the sector’s performance against key national healthcare standards and its financial position.  The report also describes joint action being taken by Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority to tackle any concerns, and drive improvements at sector-wide level.

CCG leaders expect surge in A&E reconfiguration – Health Service Journal
More than a third of commissioning group leaders responding to an HSJ survey expected the publication or implementation of plans to close or downgrade accident and emergency services in the next year.  Fifty-four clinical commissioning group chairs and accountable officers responded to the CCG Barometer, carried out with Capsticks, in January and early February. They represent around a quarter of the 209 CCGs in England.

Maternity review sets bold plan for safer, more personal services – NHS England
Maternity services in England must become safer, more personalised, kinder, professional and more family-friendly. That’s the vision of the National Maternity Review, which today (Tuesday) publishes its recommendations for how services should change over the next five years. The NHS England commissioned review – led by independent experts and chaired by Baroness Julia Cumberlege – sets out wide-ranging proposals designed to make care safer and give women greater control and more choices.

Women should control maternity care budgets, review says – Health Service Journal
Women should be given their own budgets to spend on their maternity care, a national review has said, as part of a series of recommendations to increase the proportion of births outside of hospital settings.

• National Maternity Review calls for personalised maternity budgets by 2020
• Recommendations aim to improve choice and increase community births
• Review says a significant increase in midwifery workforce is not required

Consultation on the recovery of public sector exit payments – NHS Employers
The Government intends to introduce new legislation to mandate the recovery of compensation in the public sector. Read our response.

Towards an integrated approach to homeless hospital discharge: an evaluation of different typologies across England. Helen Mathie, Journal of Integrated Care, Volume 24, Issue 1, February 2016.
The paper is based on a mixed method approach comprising 52 telephone interviews with project staff, 48 responses from an online survey with staff, outcomes data collected by projects, 30 semi-structured interviews with patients and nine in-depth telephone interviews with staff and commissioners.This is one of the few examples of hospital discharge outcomes for homeless people across a number of different localities and project models which examine the role of both health and housing professionals in the process.
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