Our Fabulous NHS – Academy of Fabulous Stuff

• Behaviour Changes – Jenni Guest Acute Frailty Network Associate 
  We are innately creatures of habit and patterns of behaviour are hard to change, any of you who have tried […]
• Child Protection Clinical Supervision 
  Working to ensure children are protected from harm requires sound professional judgments to be made. It is demanding work that […]
• Medical Procedures Unit proves hugely successful 
  The Medical Procedures Unit at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle has proved to be a huge success in its first […]
• Telford & Wrekin Social Services Doing Things Differently!  
  Telford – a new town • Deficit Model of Care and Support  with a  centralised with Single Point of Referral. […]
• Improving Oxygen Delivery on Wards 
  Oxygen (O2) is a drug and should be prescribed if administered to a patient. The British Thoracic Society has published […]
• PEM (Paediatric Emergency Medicine) Free Guide
  You can access the guide here – PEM (Pediatric Emergency Medicine) Guides was spearheaded by Dr. Michael Mojica as a […]

HSJ Roundup

• U-turn over agency staff tax rules
  NHS Improvement has made a significant U-turn over new tax rules for agency staff, in new guidance issued to NHS trusts today.
• Cancer services hit by raft of senior resignations
  A general hospital’s oncology department has been hit by three senior resignations which have halved its consultant resource – creating “significant risk and [exposing] the fragility of the service model”.
• Leading CSU paves way to becoming CCG-owned company
  A shadow board has been set up to pave the way for a commissioning support unit to turn into a community interest company owned by its customers, HSJ can reveal.
• First commissioning support unit moves towards independence
  A shadow board has been set up to pave the way for a commissioning support unit to turn into a community interest company owned by its customers, HSJ can reveal.

Working through intermediaries: IR35 update May 2017 – NHS Improvement 

• An update relating to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) intermediaries legislation known as IR351 and in particular the application of these rules as amended from 6 April 2017.
• NHS Improvement had anticipated that providers would need to ensure that all locum, agency and bank staff were subject to PAYE and on payroll for the new financial year. They have now revised this position and said that assessment of whether or not IR35 applies should be carried out in a fact-specific, case-by-case basis.
• HMRC has provided a simple tool to help determine whether an individual should be considered employed for tax purposes.

NHS pressures – British Medical Association (BMA)
This briefing warns that the NHS in England is unlikely to recover from the pressure it faces during the winter, with trends suggesting that the health system is entering a state of year-round crisis. The analysis of NHS performance data shows that bed occupancy, delayed transfers of care and A&E waiting times are all increasing and that key performance targets are consistently not being met across the health system.

Public sector pay in the next parliament – Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
This briefing analyses the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat plans for public sector pay, and what the implications of their policies are for the public sector. The analysis shows there are tradeoffs in delivering public services and that increasing public sector pay involves large increases in costs for government departments. However, if public sector pay continues to fall compared to pay in the private sector, the public sector will struggle to recruit and retain the workers it needs to deliver public services, and the quality of those services will therefore be at risk.

NHS funding choices and the 2017 general election – Nuffield Trust
This analysis of the major political parties manifestos has found that none of the parties have pledged to spend enough money on the NHS in England to close its funding gap, cope with increased demand and sustain high quality care. This briefing sets out four spending scenarios, setting them alongside a continuation of existing government plans and calculates how much money each would require by 2022/23. It finds that all the major political parties’ plans fail to reach the lowest projecting of possible future NHS spending patterns and consequently spending as a proportion of GDP is set to fall under the three main parties’ proposals.

Resources for sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) and accountable care systems (ACSs) – NHS England
A range of information, commentary and tools that help to demonstrate the opportunity and challenges within the NHS – and for local teams to use as they develop their plans for change including:

• External reports and information
• NHS in the news
• Engaging local people – a guide for local areas developing sustainability and transformation plans
• Updates from Simon Stevens and Jim Mackey
• Indicative STP allocations
• Quick guides – what success in 2020 would look like, and suggestions about how areas could approach implementation.