HSJ Roundup

• Barts Health flagged reliance on XP ahead of cyber attack
  Barts Health Trust has revealed it was trying to upgrade “many” computers still running the outdated Windows XP operating system just days before last week’s unprecedented global cyber-attack.
• Tories will target NHS weekend discharge rates
  New targets for NHS trusts to discharge emergency admissions “at a similar” rate at weekends as on weekdays will be a key priority if the party wins the general election, a senior party source has told HSJ.
• NHS spending as proportion of GDP ‘would fall under Tories and Labour’
  The Conservatives’ manifesto suggests the NHS will receive some additional revenue funding in 2018-19, but that spending over the next five years would be broadly in line with previous commitments.
• Conservatives: CQC given bigger role in social care and discharges
  The Conservative party has pledged in today’s manifesto to “extend the scope” of the Care Quality Commission to further regulate the “health related services” of local authorities.
• Leading chief executive faces disciplinary hearing next week
  The NHS’s longest standing chief executive Sir Leonard Fenwick faces a disciplinary hearing next week, HSJ has learned.

A sustainable workforce
The Health Foundation has published A sustainable workforce: the lifeblood of the NHS and social care. This briefing provides a focus on the NHS and social care finances and aims to clarify the debate on three main challenges: funding and social care: how big a problem is it? Funding and the NHS: are two years of famine ahead? Funding for social care and the NHS: how much might be needed beyond 2020? The briefing also calls for an independent financial body for the NHS to be established, similar to the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR).

NHS efficiency map: theatre management
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) in partnership with NHS Improvement has updated the NHS efficiency map.  This latest update includes a case study relating to theatre management at Leeds Teaching Hospitals which uses The Productive Operating Theatre (TPOT) methodology to unlock theatre efficiency.  (Open the efficiency map to access the link to the case study – search for “theatre” within the map).

Funding for innovation projects in inclusion health
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) has launched a new programme to fund nurse-led projects focused on improving homeless and inclusion healthcare (pdf). The QNI invites nurses working in primary and community care in the UK to apply for funding of up to £5000, to develop projects which aim to improve healthcare for people who have poor health outcomes because they are more likely to be marginalised by wider society. Up to 10 will be selected to receive the funding. The year-long projects will start in January 2018.

National clinical audits
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership has published Detection and Management of Outliers for National Clinical Audits. It explains the expectations required of national clinical audit providers and healthcare provider organisations in relation to the identification of outliers by national clinical audits.

Identifying victims of slavery
The Royal College of Nursing has published a new guide Modern slavery: RCN guide for nurses and midwives.  This guide has been developed to help nurses and midwives identify victims of slavery and help people find the assistance and support they need.

Effect of online health information on GP consultations
Research published in the British Journal of General Practice has explored how searching for online health information before visiting a doctor influences patients’ behaviour during the consultation. The effect of Dr Google on doctor-patient encounters in primary care looks at the effect of searching online health information on the behaviour of the patients as well as how the GP handles this information.  It concludes that the use of the internet by patients is not seen as a threat by GPs and leads to a better mutual understanding of symptoms and diagnosis.

Standards for the weighing of Infants, children and young people
The Royal College of Nursing has published Standards for the weighing of infants, children and young people in the acute health care setting . This document sets out the RCN’s position in relation to the weighing of infants, children and young people and includes guidance on preparing them for weighing, timing and frequency of measurement, record keeping and auditing and benchmarking.  It focuses primarily on the weighing of children in the acute hospital setting.

NICE guidance
Medtech innovation briefing
MIB104 NaviCam for diagnosing gastrointestinal tract conditions

Quality standard
QS16 Hip fracture in adults(updated)  

Protecting against cyber attack
NHS Digital’s Data Security Centre has provided guidance for the NHS on the cyber attack which took place on 12 May 2017.  It includes information about applying patches to protect against the cyber- attack, technical guidance on reconnecting networks and some Frequently Asked Questions.

Anti-microbial resistance
The Office for Health Economics has published Incentives for new drugs to tackle anti-microbial resistance.  This briefing reviews the proposals for funding and rewarding research for new antibiotics and vaccines to tackle the build-up of anti-microbial resistance.  In particular, it explores what sort of market-based incentives could be put in place in Europe.

Child health and STPs
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has published State of Child Health short report series: sustainability and transformation partnerships.  The RCPCH has undertaken a review of Sustainability and Transformation Plans from a child health perspective.  The report finds that while most STPs set out the case for change well and cover important key themes such as prevention, early intervention, more care delivered in the community, better mental health services and integrated working, there is a lack of detail underpinning the vision.  It concludes that the lack of profile given to infants, children and young people by the majority of STPs is a cause for concern.  

NHS workforce infographics
NHS Employers has published three infographics highlighting different aspects of the NHS workforce:

• Gender in the NHS– statistics on gender within job roles and pay bands
• Ethnicity in the NHS– statistics about the diversity of the NHS workforce in comparison to the working population in England, as well as ethnicity by pay band and job role
• Age in the NHS– breakdown of age groups by pay bands and job roles

What is social care and how does it work?
The King’s Fund has produced resources to help explain social care which include:

• What social care is, how it’s provided and how it’s paid for – three videos explaining social
• A short history of social care funding – a timeline showing policy developments about the social care funding system in England from 1996 – 2017
• Social care: what’s in a name? – a blog from the Deputy Director of Communications and Information

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.

• A blood test threshold for diagnosing heart failure in general practice is reviewed
• Better prescribing might prevent thousands of strokes in the UK
• A supported web-based programme helps people lose weight in the short term

Statistics

• NHS Outcomes Framework indicators – May 2017 Release
• Provisional Accident and Emergency Quality Indicators for England – February 2017, by provider
• Provisional Monthly Hospital Episode Statistics for Admitted Patient Care, Outpatient and Accident and Emergency data – April 2016 to March 2017
• Mixed sex accommodation breaches – April 2017
• Diagnostic imaging dataset – January 2017
• Direct access audiology waiting times – March 2017