Learning from mistakes
The House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee has published Will the NHS never learn?  Follow-up to PHSO report ‘Learning from Mistakes’ on the NHS in England.  This report finds that the government must do more to coordinate its efforts to establish a culture of open-minded learning and investigation within the NHS in England.

Building a culture of learning and development
NHS Employers has published a case study highlighting how Sheffield Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust has worked to build a culture of learning and development which has resulted in positive outcomes for the workforce and organisation as a whole.

NHS treatment for overseas patients
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has published NHS treatment for overseas patients. The report calls on the Department of Health to improve systems for cost recovery and to do more to promote public confidence that the money due to the NHS is being recovered, and that the system is fair to taxpayers and to patients who are entitled to free care.

Quality Standard: Falls in older people update
NICE has updated its quality standard Falls in Older People (QS86). Originally published in March 2015, this quality standard has been updated by adding three new statements to the 2015 version. All statements prioritised in 2015 were retained.  The three new statements were originally intended to form a separate quality standard on falls prevention. However, the statements have been combined with the 2015 statements so that there is a single quality standard covering prevention of falls and assessment after a fall.

Quality Standard update: Stable angina
NICE has updated the Quality Standard on Stable angina (QS21). Statement 1 has been updated to reflect changes made to the NICE guideline on chest pain of recent onset. Definitions for statement 3 have also been updated to include Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) advice about ivabradine and nicorandil.

National diabetes audit 2015-16
NHS Digital has published in partnership with Diabetes UK National Diabetes Audit – 2015-2016: Report 1, care processes and treatment targets. The audit found that the percentage of patients with Type 1 diabetes achieving NICE-recommended treatment targets for glucose control, blood pressure and cholesterol varied from 11 per cent in some CCGs/Local Health Boards to 34 per cent in others. This year, for the first time information is reported on the number of people with diabetes who also have a learning disability and completion of care processes and treatment target achievement.

Shared health records
Digitalhealth has published a special feature report Shared Records. The report discusses governance challenges and sharing records at scale. The benefits considered within the report including time saving and the potential to reduce A&E visits. It shares the experience of a number of shared record initiatives, including Bristol’s ‘Connecting Care’ programme, where about 2,500 users share records across GP surgeries, three acute trusts, community providers, mental health and adult social care via a single portal.

Food standards for NHS hospitals
The Department of Health has published Compliance with hospital food standards in the NHS: Two years on: a review of progress since the Hospital Food Standards Panel report in 2014. This report revisits the work of the Hospital Food Standards Panel and identifies the progress that has been made since hospital food standards became mandatory in the NHS in England.

Defining and measuring unmet need
The University of York Centre for Centre for Health Economics has published Defining and measuring unmet need to guide healthcare funding: identifying and filling the gaps (Research paper 141).  Although CCG budget allocations include adjustments for unmet need for healthcare there is a lack of evidence to support these.   This report describes a literature review to understand the available evidence regarding unmet need.  The authors found no one article which satisfied all requirements of ideal evidence; the literature was strongest in defining need but weakest in regard to establishing observable proxies of need capable of being used in budget allocations.

Myocardial Ischaemia audit report  2014-2015
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) has published Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project: How the NHS cares for patients with heart attack: Annual Public Report April 2014 – March 2015. This report is written for the public and shows the performance of hospitals and ambulance services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland against national standards for the care of patients with a heart attack in 2014/15. The audit shows continuous improvement in a number of aspects of the quality of care for patients following heart attack.

New support for GPs and GP trainees suffering mental ill-health and addiction
NHS England is launching an NHS GP Health Service which will provide confidential mental health support for GPs and GP trainees suffering from mental ill-health and addiction.  This free and confidential service will take self-referrals and be provided through a regional network of experienced clinicians and therapists across 13 areas in England, who will deliver support for a range of conditions.

Clinical negligence claims consultation
The Department of Health has published an open consultation Introducing Fixed Recoverable Costs in Lower Value Clinical Negligence Claims. This consultation seeks views on the Government’s proposal to introduce a mandatory system of fixed recoverable costs (FRC) for lower value clinical negligence claims. The FRC scheme would apply across the NHS, not -for-profit and private healthcare providers and in England and Wales but not Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Parkinson’s disease management
The Royal College of Nursing has published A competency framework for nurses working in Parkinson’s disease management. This revised competency framework describes professional criteria in the form of competencies required by experienced nurses when caring for a person with Parkinson’s and atypical Parkinsonian syndromes.

NICE shared learning
NICE has added the following items to its local practice collection:

• Refer-to-Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation
• Improving the physical health of people with serious mental illness: A quality improvement approach
• Patient Led Clinical Medicines Reviews
• Embedding NICE guidance into GPSOC clinical systems
• Nurse-led ASA grading in preoperative assessment to guide investigations and risk scoring
• Implementing transition care locally and nationally using the ‘Ready Steady Go’ programme

NIHR Signals
The National Institute for Health Research regularly publishes Signals.  Signals are summaries of recently published research and intended to provide decision makers in health and social care organisations with evidence they can use.

• Following programmes to improve recovery after surgery linked to shorter hospital stays
• Daily aspirin reduces pre-eclampsia for ‘at-risk’ women
• Eye surgery to remove the lens shows promise for treating early glaucoma
• Young children from deprived areas are more at risk of serious burns and scalds
• Long-term oxygen therapy shows no benefit for moderate lung disease

NICE surveillance reports
NICE Surveillance Reports provide a summary of new evidence published related to a guideline and provide an in depth commentary on a selection of this evidence.  They include the decision that NICE has taken about the need to update the relevant clinical guideline in light of new evidence.

• Antenatal care for uncomplicated pregnancies (CG62) – surveillance decision: NICE plans a full update of this guideline.
• Caesarean section (CG132) – surveillance decision: NICE plan an update in the two clinical areas and will amend four recommendations.
• Hypertension in pregnancy: diagnosis and management (CG107) – surveillance decision: NICE plans and update of five sections, will amend two recommendations and make other amendments.
• Induction of labour (CG70) – surveillance decision: NICE plans an update of three clinical areas.
• Multiple pregnancy: antenatal care for twin and triplet pregnancies (CG129) – surveillance decision: NICE plans an update to one section and amendment in one clinical area.
• Neonatal infection (early onset): antibiotics for prevention and treatment (CG149) – surveillance decision: NICE plans an update of two sections, inclusion of a new area, and various amendments.
• Postnatal care up to 8 weeks after birth (CG37) – surveillance decision: NICE plans a full update of this guideline.
• Preterm labour and birth (NG25) – surveillance decision: NICE plans an update of one section .
• Stroke and transient ischaemic attack in over 16s: diagnosis and initial management (CG68) – surveillance decision: NICE plans an update of the guideline.
•  Surgical site infections; prevention and treatment (CG74) – surveillance decision: NICE plans    an update of the guideline.

NICE Guidance update:  Antenatal care

•  CG62      Antenatal care for uncomplicated pregnancies (updated)