Knowledge @lert for Friday 4th November
HSJ roundup: (contact the library for further details on any of these HSJ articles)
- STP needs £755m of capital funding to succeed, says leaked document
More than £750m of capital funding is required to deliver the sustainability and transformation plan for Cheshire and Mersey, according to a document leaked to HSJ. - New investigation helps scandal hit trust to learn lessons
A full investigation into the death of a baby that led to the exposure of a major NHS care scandal has been carried out by the trust responsible for his care eight years after his death. - Hacked trust faces criticism over handling of worst cyber attack on NHS
The hospital trust at the centre of the NHS’s most severe cyber security attack to date is facing fundamental questions about its handling of the hack and whether it acted in the best way to contain the virus. - Not HEE’s role to fill junior doctor rota gaps, says chief executive
Providing enough junior doctors to staff hospital rotas seven days a week is not the primary role of Health Education England, its chief executive has told HSJ. - Seven councils reject STP submissions
Local authorities in London and Yorkshire have said they cannot sign up to their areas’ sustainability and transformation plans due to concerns about hospital reconfiguration and transparency.
STPs: where are we now and what happens next? Hugh Alderwick The King’s Fund Blog
Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) have now been produced by NHS and (sometimes) local government leaders in 44 parts of England. The plans are important, setting out the proposed direction for health and care services over the next five years. But they been developed at significant speed and, for the most part, without the involvement of frontline staff or patients. They also propose major changes to services that will be unpopular with politicians. For those in need of a primer: STPs were introduced in NHS planning guidance published in December last year. NHS organisations and their partners were asked to work together to make plans for the future of health and care services in their area. The plans needed to cover three broad themes: improving quality and developing new models of care; improving health and wellbeing; and improving efficiency of services. First drafts of the plans were produced in June and ‘final’ plans were submitted to NHS England in October. We have been carrying out research in four STP areas and will be publishing the first tranche of findings from this work in just over a week’s time.
Reducing winter pressures on accident and emergency departments
The House of Commons health committee has published Winter pressure in accident and emergency departments Third Report of Session 2016–17. This report is calling on the Government to make sure that sufficient funding is available to support the infrastructure investment required to ensure that type 1 emergency departments are fit for purpose, and to review the real terms cuts to NHS capital budgets in the spending review. The Committee is also asking for NHS Improvement to consider the steps that it can take this winter to ensure that all A&E departments are properly staffed and for Health Education England to look again at the long term sustainability of staffing, including for paramedics, within major emergency departments and the ambulance service.
The King’s Fund comments on the Health Select Committee’s Winter Pressures in Accident and Emergency report
Commenting on the Health Select Committee’s Winter Pressures in Accident and Emergency Departments report, Richard Humphries, Assistant Director of Policy at The King’s Fund, said:’We welcome the Health Select Committee’s report which highlights the increasing pressures on A&E services.’Demand is increasing and the numbers of patients medically fit to be discharged but still in hospital has reached record levels. This increase has mainly been driven by delays in arranging social care for people who need support when they leave hospital, a direct result of year after year of cuts in social care funding. As well as unnecessarily occupying beds for patients who need them, this is taking a huge toll on the older people affected, their families and carers and the cost of delayed discharge for older people is over £800 million a year.
Redrawing the health and social care architecture: exploring the role of national bodies in enabling and supporting the delivery of local health and care services – PricewaterhouseCoopers
This research finds that 70 per cent of NHS staff in England do not understand the role of the national bodies in the healthcare system. The report calls for the government to clarify the roles of these bodies and move to a more devolved system where local areas are given more accountability and responsibility. It also suggests that local areas should be given the power to raise funds for their regional health service.
Prevention of surgical site infection
The World Health Organisationhas published Global guidelines on the prevention of surgical site infection. People preparing for surgery should always have a bath or shower but not be shaved, and antibiotics should only be used to prevent infections before and during surgery, not afterwards, according to thenew guidelines that aim to save lives, cut costs and arrest the spread of superbugs. The guidelines are valid for any country and suitable to local adaptations, and take account of the strength of available scientific evidence, the cost and resource implications, and patient values and preferences.
NHS Injury Cost Recovery scheme 2016 to 2017: guidance on the application of the NHS Injury Cost Recovery scheme –Department of Health
This guidance is primarily for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts who provide treatment for injuries whose costs are recoverable under the NHS Injury Cost Recovery scheme (ICR). It sets out the circumstances where costs can be recovered and the process under which this is undertaken, as well as giving some guidance on how ICR payments should be recorded in annual accounts.
What if NHS leaders were more representative of their patients? – The King’s Fund
The NHS if is a collection of essays that explores hypothetical scenarios and their impact on the future of health and care. Our aim is to encourage new thinking and debate about possible future scenarios that could fundamentally change health and care. This essay, by Vijaya Nath, looks at the current leadership structure of the NHS and discusses how increased diversity could improve performance.
Take me to your leader: hospital collaboration in the NHS – KPMG
This report discusses the need for collaboration born out of the arrival of the Sustainability and Transformation Plans and a new two year planning guidance. It looks at what makes collaboration successful and what prevents it.
Thousands of NHS staff may have paid too much tax – BBC News – Health
Tens of thousands of NHS workers could have overpaid income tax and national insurance, the BBC understands.