Trust chiefs told which back-office services to prioritise in savings drive – Health Service Journal
NHS Improvement has written to trust chief executives outlining the back-office and other services that should be included in their consolidation plans. “In time” providers will have to look at consolidating “all corporate and administrative costs”. NHS Improvement also seeks to improve “accuracy” of its efficiency data.

St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in Merseyside could suspend all non-essential hospital referrals for four months during the winter.- BBC

The CCG’s lay chair, Geoffrey Appleton, said the group recognises the move “won’t be popular” but is facing a funding gap of £12.5m this year. The British Medical Association (BMA) called the move “unacceptable”.

Universities plan for ‘devo Manc’ medical school – Health Service Journal
Three universities are jointly examining plans born out of the Great Manchester devolution project to train more health workers and set up an independent international medical school.

Company secretaries in the NHS
The Good Governance Institute has published The role of the company secretary in the NHS.  The role of the company secretary has been recommended in Monitor’s code of governance for NHS Foundation Trusts and widely adopted across the NHS. However, research conducted by the Good Governance Institute found wide variances in the seniority and scope of the role. This paper focuses on the role of the company secretary in relation to specific responsibilities, reporting and accountability, committees and board process and qualification and prior profession. The paper concludes that the role of the company secretary in the NHS is under appreciated and underutilised.

North East trusts to create single leadership team – Health Service Journal
STRUCTURE: Leaders at two acute foundation trusts have unveiled plans to create a joint management structure.

Clinical leadership strengthened in urgent care and specialised services – NHE
NHS England has appointed the outgoing president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine as clinical lead for its recently launched Accident & Emergency Improvement Plan, as well as forty of the nation’s leading doctors to drive reform of specialised services. Dr Clifford Mann will work closely with NHS England’s National…

Dementia Evidence Toolkit
Researchers at the Personal Social Services Research Unit of the London School of Economics and Political Science have developed The Dementia Evidence Toolkit.  This toolkit is for commissioners, care providers, people working in health and social care and people with dementia and their families.  It contains a searchable database with information on over 1345 research studies on interventions for people living with dementia and their carers.  It also incorporates summaries of the research findings for some of the main care and treatment interventions.