Contact the Library for further information on any of the topics listed below.

Health leaders’ panel: survey six – footprints, financing and staff morale –  The Nuffield Trust
Since July 2014, the Nuffield Trust has regularly surveyed a panel of 100 health and social care leaders in England for their views on a range of issues including: finance, general practice and rationing. This is the sixth poll in the series and this poll focuses on NHS finances, staff morale and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) areas. The poll results identify a decline in staff morale in the last six months, linked to heavy workloads and financial pressures in the sector. Respondents also highlighted concerns about the successful implementation of STPs due to the survival instincts of previously independent bodies and the fragmented system of NHS governance.

Control totals risk undermining STPs, leaders warn – Health Service Journal
National leaders risk derailing the sustainability and transformation planning process by “blackmailing” local NHS bodies using outdated strategies such as control totals, the NHS Confederation has warned.

Dorrell warns health and care service will need more cash – Health Service Journal
The health and social care system will likely require more money over the next four years than was allocated in the comprehensive spending review, former Conservative health secretary Stephen Dorrell has suggested.

User’s guide: Finance and Efficiency template v1.0 – NHS England, NHS Improvement

• This document is for those completing the finance and efficiency template return as part of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan.
• This is a guide to completing the template and should be read with these documents:
  • guidance provided on 18 May on the content of the submission
  • STP finance and efficiency template (the ‘template’)
  • previously published Five Year Forward View documentation including the joint planning guidance
  • CCG allocations through to 2020/21 published January 2016
  • the latest published version of the Indicative Hospital Activity Model (IHAM), which has been updated to 2015/16 M10 FOT and footprint; it gives indicative activity figures up to 2020/21 based on historic trends and local demography projections for activity
  • NHS guidance on the Sustainability and Transformation Fund (STF). This guidance outlines indicative allocations of the STF in 2020/21.

“Hiding who I am”: exposing the reality of end of life care for LGBT people – Marie Curie
This report looks at the barriers that prevent lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people from accessing end of life care and highlights their real-life experiences. Its findings indicate that nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of LGBT people are not confident that health and social care services provide sensitive end of life care for their needs.  As a result, access to care is often delayed and LGBT people are more likely to experience unmanaged symptoms and pain at the end of their lives.

Each Baby Counts launches first annual report – Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
More robust and comprehensive local reviews are urgently needed to ensure lessons can be learnt and improvements made. The quality of local investigations into cases of stillbirth, early neonatal death and severe brain injury occurring as a result of incidents during term labour must improve, highlights the first annual report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ (RCOG) Each Baby Counts initiative.

The King’s Fund responds to latest A&E performance statistics – Press releases,  9 June 2016
Commenting on the new performance statistics published today by NHS England, John Appleby, Chief Economist at The King’s Fund, said:

‘Today’s figures show the NHS struggling to meet many of its key performance targets in the face of rising demand and huge financial pressures. At a time of year when we should be seeing performance figures starting to fall back in line with targets, instead we see a worrying picture of the extreme pressure hospitals are under.

‘The figures highlight a sharp rise of 25% in the number of people waiting to be discharged from hospital compared to this time last year. While this reflects a significant increase in the number of patients waiting for social care support, the majority of delays are caused by NHS related problems. As the National Audit Office reported last week delayed discharges are costing the NHS in excess of £800 million a year but more importantly impose a significant human cost on patients and their families.

‘A&E departments continue to breach the maximum four hour wait. And though the number of patients waiting over 4 hours to be admitted to hospital from emergency departments (so-called ‘trolley waits’) has fallen compared to March (as expected at this time of year), this year’s April figure is 38 per cent higher than a year ago. There are also 3.8 million people waiting for an operation, the highest since 2007, the key cancer target – 62 days from GP referral to first treatment – continues to be missed and the proportion of patients still waiting for a planned hospital admission after 18 weeks also remains above target.’More than half of trusts ‘require improvement’ – Health Service Journal
HSJ has mapped and analysed every inspection rating the Care Quality Commission has handed out to NHS trusts across the country to date.

Trust spent £315,000 on interim HR directors in a year – Health Service Journal
A Kent trust paid £315,000 for the services of two “off payroll” interim human resources directors who were together in post for less than a year.