HSJ Roundup

• PM pledges to scrap Mental Health Act in major reform package
  Prime minister Theresa May has pledged to scrap the “flawed” Mental Health Act and replace it with new legislation if the Conservatives are re-elected.
• Struggling trust needs £200m to replace unfit estate
  A struggling teaching trust has submitted a £200m estates plan to NHS Improvement in a bid to ensure its estate is safe and fit for purpose.
• Former trust chief parachuted in as improvement director at two trusts
  Former trust chief executive Mark Hackett has been appointed as an improvement director at NHS Improvement, it has emerged.

Our Fabulous NHS – Academy of Fabulous Stuff 

• Benefits of Dementia Befrienders into an acute hospital wards 
  People with dementia account for approximate 3.2 million hospital bed days per year with about 25% beds occupied at any […]

Case study published in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons by members of our Orthopaedic team
Sequential scapholunate and volar beak ligament reconstructions with flexor carpi radialis tendon grafts. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2017 May;99(5) Iyengar KP, Matar HE, Durrani M, Loh YC.
The flexor carpi radialis tendon is considered by many the workhorse tendon in hand and wrist surgery. Some have expressed concerns about altering the mechanics of the wrist by sacrificing part or all of the flexor carpi radialis tendon. We present an interesting case of sequential scapholunate and volar beak ligament reconstructions using a flexor carpi radialis tendon autograft where a slip of tendon was harvested twice within three years, achieving a satisfactory clinical outcome at five years following the initial surgery.

A&E departments to get more funding  – The Department of Health
The Department of Health has announced the allocation of £55.98 million of the £100 million A&E capital funding, outlined in the spring Budget by the Chancellor, to ease pressure on emergency departments in time for next winter. The funding awarded at this stage is being allocated to 70 NHS hospitals.

Integration resources – Hempsons
Whether you are a Forward View Vanguard site or developing your own redesigned model of care, either as commissioner or provider, our Integration Portal is designed to help you to answer these questions and provide many other useful resources.

Tax and NI refunds: widening access training scheme – NHS Employers
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have created a scheme to allow NHS employees to claim refunds for income tax and national insurance contributions.

New case study looks at reducing agency spend – NHS Employers
In this new case study, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust shares its experience and advice on how it has reduced medical agency spend

Compassionate leadership and innovation – The King’s Fund
The King’s Fund has published Caring to change: how compassionate leadership can stimulate innovation in health care. This paper looks at compassion as a core cultural value of the NHS and how compassionate leadership results in a working environment that encourages people to find new and improved ways of doing things. The paper includes case studies of how compassionate leadership has led to innovation.

Digital health records for children – The Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians Health Informatics Unit is conducting a consultation to seek views on the content of a new set of standards for digital health records for children. This is the first in a series of three surveys and focuses on the areas of birth details and the new born review. The subsequent surveys will cover immunisations and routine primary, health visitor and school nurse information; and developmental assessments and personal data.  The survey closes on 15 May 2017.

Social prescribing: less rhetoric and more reality. A systematic review of the evidence – BMJ Open
Following analysis of 15 evaluations of social prescribing programmes the authors conclude that current evidence fails to provide sufficient detail to judge either success or value for money.

Confidentiality: good practice in handling patient information – General Medical Council 
From 25 April 2017 all doctors practising medicine in the UK will be expected to follow revised, expanded and restructured GMC ethical guidance on confidentiality.

Community care contracts – The Health Foundation
The Health Foundation has published Provision of community care: who, what, how much?  This briefing presents information on the number, value and length of community care contracts awarded by CCGs and the types of providers that hold the contracts.  It is based on responses to a Freedom of Information request which found NHS providers held more than half of the total annual value of contracts, while private providers held 5% of the total annual value, but 39% of the total number of contracts issued.

Referral to treatment pathways – NHS Improvement
NHS Improvement has published Elective care guide Referral to treatment pathways: guide to managing efficient elective care, third edition. This document provides guidance on the operational delivery of an effective referral to treatment pathway, including demand and capacity planning, elective access policies, performance management and reporting.

Bulletins

• Medicines Use and Safety Update – May 2017
• New Medicines Newsletter  – April 2017