New patient care test for hospital bed closures – NHS England
NHS England Chief Executive has announced that hospital bed closures arising from proposed major service reconfigurations will in future only be supported where a new test is met that ensures patients will continue to receive high quality care.  From 1 April, local NHS organisations will have to show that significant hospital bed closures subject to the current formal public consultation tests can meet one of three new conditions before NHS England will approve them to go ahead.

NICE Bites: antimicrobial resistance
The March 2017 NICE Bites bulletin from the North West Medicines Information Service covers Changing people’s behaviour to reduce antimicrobial resistance and the spread of resistant microbes.The aim of this publication is to provide healthcare professionals with a summary of key prescribing points taken from the NICE guidance NG63. This guideline aims to change people’s behaviour to reduce antimicrobial resistance and the spread of resistant microbes.

NICE guidance:
Evidence summary
ES7         Skin involvement in systemic sclerosis: rituximab

Medtech innovation briefing
MIB97   TopClosure Tension Relief System for wound closure
MIB98   SimpliCT laser-guided needle placement in interventional radiology

Care of people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
The Royal College of Emergency medicine and Royal College of Nursing together with and other key stakeholders including Resuscitation Council (UK) have all endorsed the publication of Resuscitation to recovery: A National Framework to improve care of people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in England (pdf). This guide outlines actions to be taken by the general public, emergency services, and hospital services to improve the survival rate of people suffering cardiac arrest.  These include improving public awareness of how to perform CPR, establishing an effective pathway of care and a commitment to research to improve understanding of resuscitation.

Briefing Note: Issues Highlighted By The 2016 NHS Staff Survey In England – Picker Institute Europe
This year’s NHS staff survey has found that overall staff engagement has reached a peak, indicating that staff felt that they have opportunities to show initiative and contribute to improvements at work. The proportion of staff reporting witnessing errors and adverse incidents is the lowest it has been since 2012. This year’s survey data is available in an interactive dashboard format which enable users to benchmark their data against other organisations more easily.

An NHS winter that never seems to end? King’s Fund Blog
No one would ever claim that winter in the NHS is easy. Our most recent Quarterly Monitoring Report (QMR) duly paints a picture of accident and emergency (A&E) departments that are struggling to cope as the health needs of patients become both more complex and more acute. The recent publication of the latest set of daily performance reports for the traditionally busy winter months of 2016/17 now allows us to take a closer look at how the NHS held up this winter.

New healthcare apprenticeship standards launched – NHS Employers
Three new apprenticeship standards have been launched for healthcare support workers, senior healthcare support workers and assistant practitioners. Trailblazer groups, made up of employers and facilitated by Skills for Health and Health Education England, have been working over the last two years to design and develop the content of these new standards and their associated assessment plans.

A guide to NHS Networks – HEE NW Knowledge Management Team
A guide outlining how to use NHS Networks, a site providing NHS staff with the opportunity to join and create communities of practice, from the Health Education England North West Knowledge Management Team.

Also: Are you preparing for your NMC Revalidation? Why not join the NMC Revalidation network for Southport & Ormskirk on Yammer.

Bulletins

• NHS Brexit bulletin – Issue 1, 2 March 2017
• New Medicines Newsletter– February 2017