Support overdue: women’s experiences of maternity services – NCT
This report is based on the NCT’s second survey of women’s experiences of their maternity care carried out with the WI. Women are generally positive about the maternity care they receive and many praised the kindness and professionalism of the staff who cared for them.  However, some findings gave cause for concern. For example, the survey asked about ‘red-flag’ events – indicators of dangerously low staffing levels, such as a women not receiving one-to-one care during established labour – and found that half of all women surveyed had experienced a red flag event. Postnatal care remains an area of concern with no change in the percentage of women – roughly one in five – telling us they were not able to see a midwife as much as they needed post-birth.

Quality gaps identified through mortality review – BMJ Quality & Safety current issue
Hospital mortality rate is a common measure of healthcare quality. Morbidity and mortality meetings are common but there are few reports of hospital-wide mortality-review processes to provide understanding of quality-of-care problems associated with patient deaths. A nurse and a physician independently reviewed every death that occurred at our multisite teaching institution over a 3-month period. Deaths judged by either reviewer to be unanticipated or to have any opportunity for improvement were reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee. We report characteristics of patients with unanticipated death or opportunity for improved care and summarise the opportunities for improved care.

International recommendations for national patient safety incident reporting systems: an expert Delphi consensus-building process – BMJ Quality & Safety current issue
Patient safety incident reporting systems (PSRS) have been established for over a decade, but uncertainty remains regarding the role that they can and ought to play in quantifying healthcare-related harm and improving care. We obtained reasonable consensus among experts on aims and specifications of PSRS. This information can be used to reflect on existing and future PSRS, and their role within the wider patient safety landscape. The role of PSRS as instruments for learning needs to be elaborated and developed further internationally.

BJGP Open: primary health care journal launched
The Royal College of General Practitioners has launched BJGP Open. This open access journal aims to serve the primary healthcare community, showcasing original research from around the world. Accounts of new developments in primary care, clinical case studies, novel directions for healthcare policy, and research protocols for planned clinical trials from around the world will all feature in the journal.

BMA calls for urgent meeting with prime minister to discuss NHS crisis – BMJ 2017
The BMA’s chair of council, Mark Porter, has requested an urgent meeting with Theresa May to discuss the crisis in the NHS in England after Downing Street’s controversial decision to point the finger of blame at GPs for the current pressure on hospital emergency departments.1

NHS Guidance
Evidence summary:
ES4   Refractory extrapulmonary sarcoidosis: infliximab

Key Therapeutic Topics – updated:
KTT3    Lipid-modifying drugs
KTT5    Asthma: medicines optimisation priorities
KTT6   Hypnotics
KTT7    Low-dose antipsychotics in people with dementia
KTT9    Antimicrobial stewardship: prescribing antibiotics
KTT13  Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
KTT14  Wound care products
KTT15   Biosimilar medicines
KTT16   Anticoagulants, including non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs)
KTT17   Acute kidney injury (AKI): use of medicines in people with or at increased risk of AKI

Statistics

• NHS Continuing Healthcare Activity – England, Quarter 2, 2016-17
• Numbers of Patients Registered at a GP Practice – January 2017

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

• MP demands trust explains Sir Leonard Fenwick extended leave 
  A Newcastle MP has called on his local acute foundation trust to be more transparent and give a “reasonable explanation” as to why its chief executive, Sir Leonard Fenwick, is on extended leave.
• STPs could be put in charge of collecting patient data 
  Accountable care organisations and STP footprints could be given responsibility for collecting patient data, according to a proposal being drafted for consultation by NHS England.
• Community trust to restrict GP referrals due to ‘severe pressure’  
  A major community trust has told local GPs it will be restricting routine referrals and prioritising urgent ones due to “severe pressure” on its services, HSJ has learned.
• Teaching trust recommended to exit special measures after ‘wake up call’  
  Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust has been recommended to leave special measures by the Care Quality Commission, after it was rated good in its last inspection.