@NHS Twitter account
NHS England has launched the @NHS Twitter account.  @NHS will see a different NHS patient or member of NHS staff become curator each week over a three month pilot and report first hand their experiences of the health service.

Harnessing social action to support older people –  Nuffield Trust
In this research report we present the findings of our evaluation of seven social action projects funded by the Cabinet Office, NHS England, Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. The aim of the Reducing Winter Pressures Fund was to scale up and test projects that used volunteers to support older people to stay well, manage health conditions or recover after illness, and thereby reduce pressure on hospitals.

Nursing Associates – a new member of the multi-disciplinary workforce – Jane Cummings, NHS England Blog
For all of us this is a time of great change with many challenges. Those challenges are significant as ongoing demand on our services continues to change in both volume and shape across health and social care. We witness severe pressures throughout the system on a daily basis, with nursing, midwifery and care staff placed […]

Integrated governance
The Good Governance institute has published The new Integrated governance handbook 2016.  This report examines governance between organisations which has not yet been widely adopted to-date.  There is now a need for whole health and social care economy systems that not only deliver but demonstrate accountability for public funds.

Agency, bank and overtime spending in maternity units in England in 2015 –  Royal College of Midwives (RCM)
This report is the result of FOI requests sent to all NHS trusts in England with maternity services and it found that in 2015, the NHS spent over £72 million on agency, overtime and bank midwives which is equivalent to the cost of over 3000 full-time midwives. The report highlights the need for improvement on workforce strategy within the NHS to ensure a more efficient use of resources and it also calls for the government to reconsider proposed plans to abolish nursing bursaries.

Safer maternity care: next steps towards the national maternity ambition –  Department of Health (DH)
This action plan outlines the Department of Health’s national ambition to halve rates of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and brain injuries that occur during or shortly after birth, by 2030. The plan sets out the various measures that will be used to make NHS maternity services safer, such as: a £250,000 maternity safety innovation fund, published maternity ratings for CCGs to enable benchmarking and a new national quality improvement programme.

Financial special measures promise significant savings for the NHS – NHSI
Up to £100 million in savings have been identified at some of England’s most financially troubled hospitals by a programme designed to support NHS trusts rapidly improve their finances.

HSJ roundup: (contact the library for further details on any of these HSJ articles)

HEE to receive £20m for GP training places
Health Education England is to receive an additional £20m on top of its existing budget to help support the planned increase in the number of GPs in England

Trusts offered incentives to improve maternity safety
Trusts that demonstrate better outcomes in maternity care will be rewarded with reductions in the premiums they pay the NHS Litigation Authority, Jeremy Hunt announced.

‘Shared leadership’ plan for South West trusts
Bristol’s two acute trusts are developing “shared leadership arrangements”, NHS Improvement has announced.

First digital health providers inspected by CQC
The Care Quality Commission has published the first two pilot inspections of GP apps, as it works towards a full inspection regime for the growing number of digital care providers.

Trusts could be offered £300m ‘incentive fund’ to beat control totals
Trusts that miss out on sustainability and transformation funding could see their allocations offered to organisations that can go beyond their financial targets.

Hunt aims to ‘dismantle’ maternity litigation culture
Families who suffer harm after failings in maternity care could be given access to a new voluntary compensation scheme, health secretary Jeremy Hunt will announce today.