Our Fabulous NHS – Academy of Fabulous Stuff
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• Diabetes Admission Avoidance Service
  The desire to improve patient satisfaction and reduce admissions to hospital for diabetes related problems, the diabetes team despite small numbers decided to introduce an admission avoidance project. The project consisted of the diabetes specialist nurses making themselves available to see patients from A&E or the ambulatory care unit from 8am-2pm mon-fri, so that patients […]
• Wakefield Vanguard is reducing demand on secondary care from care homes
  The year-long evaluation of the Connecting Care Enhanced Health in Care Home Vanguard has now been published. Conducted across 10 care homes which were part of the phase one cohort, the evaluation covers a total of 659 available beds, and focuses on collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to answer key questions about the vanguard, […]

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Just three NHS finance staff reported to professional body in six years
  Only three NHS finance staff have been referred to their professional body over breaches of its code in the past six years, HSJ can reveal.
• Fall in EU doctors countered by influx of global medics 
  The numbers of European Union doctors applying to work in the UK has fallen since last year’s Brexit referendum but has been mitigated by an influx of international doctors.
• Trust chiefs staying a little longer in post – but ‘need more support’ 
  Chief executives of NHS providers are staying in the post for longer than they were three years ago, analysis by HSJ indicates.
• Short tenure of ‘inadequate’ trust chiefs laid bare 
  The chief executives of trusts rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission have been in post much longer than those rated inadequate – several of whom have stayed less than a year, HSJ analysis confirms.
• Government promises 20,000 new posts in mental health 
  The government today announced it would create 21,000 new posts in the mental health sector by 2020-21, building on its previous commitments.
• New BMA chief issues warning over CCG restructures 
  The current reorganisation of commissioning structures risks disrupting management support for GP practices, the BMA’s new lead GP has said.
• NHSI procurement savings scheme falls behind original plan 
  A high-profile programme to save millions of pounds on procurement by buying commonplace products centrally has fallen behind its original schedule.

General practice – developing confidence, capability and capacity – NHS England
This ten point action plan aims to recognise and develop the roles that general practice nurses have which transform care and can help deliver the plan to make the NHS fit for the future. It brings together key actions which aim to meet general practice workforce challenges by attracting new recruits, supporting existing general practice nurses and encouraging return to practice.

Member briefing: Brexit – National Voices
National Voices is a member of the Brexit Health Alliance, a group of organisations convened by the NHS Confederation and including industry, professional bodies and patient organisations.  This briefing explains the priority areas of concern for the health and care sector as Britain leaves the European Union, and explains the role the Brexit Health Alliance is seeking to play.

Arrival by ambulance explains variation in mortality by time of admission: retrospective study of admissions to hospital following emergency department attendance in England
Studies finding higher mortality rates for patients admitted to hospital at weekends rely on routine administrative data to adjust for risk of death, but these data may not adequately capture severity of illness. We examined how rates of patient arrival at accident and emergency (A&E) departments by ambulance—a marker of illness severity—were associated with in-hospital mortality by day and time of attendance.

The associations between work-life balance behaviours, teamwork climate and safety climate: cross-sectional survey introducing the work-life climate scale, psychometric properties, benchmarking data and future directions 
Improving the resiliency of healthcare workers is a national imperative, driven in part by healthcare workers having minimal exposure to the skills and culture to achieve work–life balance (WLB). Regardless of current policies, healthcare workers feel compelled to work more and take less time to recover from work. Satisfaction with WLB has been measured, as has work–life conflict, but how frequently healthcare workers engage in specific WLB behaviours is rarely assessed. Measurement of behaviours may have advantages over measurement of perceptions; behaviours more accurately reflect WLB and can be targeted by leaders for improvement.

Modifying head nurse messages during daily conversations as leverage for safety climate improvement: a randomised field experiment
Recent literature reviews lament the paucity of high-quality intervention studies designed to test safety culture improvement in hospitals. The current study adapts an empirically supported strategy developed for manufacturing companies by focusing on patient care and safety messages head nurses communicate during daily conversations with nurses.

Nurse apprenticeships – interim advice on pay for courses starting in September 2017 
Interim advice on what to pay for the limited number of courses starting in September 2017.

NIHR signals

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

• Continuous insulin pumps may help manage poorly controlled type 2 diabetes
• Screen reminders for GPs did not improve anticoagulant prescribing in atrial fibrillation
• Intervention delivered in Northern Irish and Scottish schools reduces binge drinking
• Online education, pain coaching and advice by video conference can reduce knee pain
• Intensive speech therapy helps stroke survivors with persistent communication difficulties
• Tenofovir reduces mother-to-child hepatitis B transmission
• Regional anaesthesia could improve fistula function for kidney dialysis
• Physical activity in the community improves mobility for cancer survivors
• Treatments for reducing menopausal hot flushes are ranked for effectiveness
• Type 2 diabetes is becoming more common in children
• Public health interventions may offer society a return on investment of £14 for each £1 spent

Helicobacter pylori in dyspepsia
Public Health England has updated guide for primary care on how to test for and treat Helicobacter pylori in dyspepsia.  The documents aim to provide a simple, effective, economical and empirical approach for testing and treatment of Helicobacter pylori and to minimise the emergence of antibiotic resistance in the community.  The guide is provided in Word format so CCGs can make minor changes to suit local service delivery and sampling protocols.

Toolkit for researchers
The Health Foundation has launched a toolkit Communicating your research.  This toolkit aims to help researchers increase influence and impact in health and health care.  It includes planning for impact; communicating research results; extending influence and widening impact and a glossary of terms.

Where next for commissioning?
NHS Providers has published the second of its ‘Provider Voices’ series sharing a chief executive’s view on Where next for commissioning?  The chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust examines whether the purchaser-provider split has outlived its usefulness; the value of accountable care organisations; sustainability and transformation partnerships; the time service transformation takes; and co-commissioning for primary care.