Sustainability and transformation plans in London – The King’s Fund 
This report, commissioned by the Mayor of London and based on work completed in March 2017, looks at the five STPs in London, their contents and common themes. It assesses the main issues and risks to be addressed across the five plans and makes recommendations for the future of the STP process in London, focusing specifically on the role of London-wide action in taking forward the plans.

Home from hospital: how housing services are relieving pressure on the NHS – National Housing Federation (NHF)
This report looks at the increase in delays in discharging people from hospital, and shows how housing services are offering solutions that are relieving pressure on the NHS. It features a number of case studies that demonstrate how housing services are successfully reducing delays in discharging people from hospital and preventing unnecessary hospital admissions.

New care models: harnessing technology – NHS Clinical Commissioners 
This report explores how digital tools can help to address rising demand, constrained funding and workforce challenges, and it demonstrates how technology has the potential to revolutionise the way health and care is delivered. It focuses on how five vanguards are implementing innovative digital technology solutions at the heart of a new approach to care.

Accountable care organisations consultation – Department of Health (DH) 
The development of the accountable care organisations (ACOs) contract has identified some necessary changes to regulation. This is largely to ensure that current rules continue to apply to the new contract, and the organisations using it. It also increases flexibility in some cases, for example for GPs who wish to enter into ACO arrangements without terminating their existing contracts. This consultation seeks views on the proposed changes to the regulations on the running of an NHS standard contract. The consultation closes on 2 November 2017.

Under pressure? NHS maternity services in England – Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) 
This briefing finds that NHS maternity units are more likely to close towards the end of the week and during holiday periods due to low staffing levels. It reviews the evidence on the long-run pressures faced by maternity units from changes in the number of maternity admissions and the case mix. While the number of maternity cases has remained largely constant since 2010, the case mix continues to change, with women giving birth later in life and with more complex health conditions. There are implications for maternity units if this evolving case mix of mothers requires more care in terms of staffing or other resources.

Hospital-community partnerships to build a culture of health: a compendium of case studies – American Hospital Association (AHA)
This compendium brings together case studies from across the U.S. that describe how community partnerships have made improvements in addressing priority health needs within the local area.

Brexit FAQs – NHS Employers
This set of frequently asked questions addresses issues relating to Brexit and the NHS workforce.

The pharmacy contribution to antimicrobial stewardship – Royal Pharmaceutical Society 
This report focuses on the pharmacist’s role as part of a multidisciplinary approach in tackling the challenges of inappropriate use of antibiotics. The recommendations in this policy have been produced in order to contribute to wider efforts in meeting the challenge set by the UK Government in 2016 of reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing by 50 per cent by 2020.

From the frontline: workforce pressures in the NHS – Macmillan Cancer Support
According to this report, current workforce pressures are affecting the level of care being delivered to cancer patients. A survey undertaken by nfpSynergy for Macmillan of over 250 GPs and nurses working in primary care across the UK, found that over half are not confident the NHS workforce is able to provide adequate care to cancer patients, given the current pressures it faces.

Managing the costs of clinical negligence in trusts – National Audit Office
According to this report, the government needs to take a stronger and more integrated approach if it is to rein in the increasing cost of clinical negligence claims across the health and justice systems. It finds that over the last ten years, spending on the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts has quadrupled from £0.4 billion in 2006-07 to £1.6 billion in 2016-17, while the number of successful clinical negligence claims where damages were awarded has more than doubled, from 2,800 to 7,300.

Mapping the coverage of health and work topics in healthcare and business undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in England – Public Health England
This is the final report for a study mapping the coverage of health and work topics in healthcare and business degree courses. The study was commissioned by Public Health England and conducted by ICF Consulting Services. It began in February and was completed in April 2017. It mapped the coverage of six core health and work topics in a selection of business, healthcare and social work courses in England.

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• More than 800 patients waiting over a year at one trust 
  Poor waiting list management led to “dangerous” failures and 814 patients waiting more than a year for an outpatient appointment at a London teaching trust, HSJ has learned.
• Children potentially exposed to severe harm after waiting list blowout 
  Four children were potentially exposed to severe harm after delays in their treatment, as dozens have been on a surgery waiting list for more than a year.
• US firm suing NHS England for millions in unpaid bills 
  A US owned clinical waste firm is suing the NHS for millions of pounds in unpaid bills, HSJ has learned.
• Savings targets set for new pathology hubs 
  A network of acute trusts in Greater Manchester has been set the biggest savings target in the country under NHS Improvement’s national pathology networking plan.
• Controversial heart surgery closure plans could be ready in weeks 
  Controversial recommendations over the national reconfiguration of congenital heart disease services could be submitted to NHS England in three weeks, ending years of uncertainty.
• NHSI reveals nationwide pathology network plan 
  NHS Improvement has outlined plans to create 29 pathology networks across England in a bid to make nine per cent savings as part of work to implement recommendations set out by Lord Carter.
• Jeremy Hunt to announce digital trust ‘buddies’ 
  The government will distribute £181m to a second wave of digital trusts, the health secretary is expected to announce tomorrow.
• A&E scorecard plan replaced by patient flow dashboard 
  NHS Improvement has dropped plans to rank trusts on an accident and emergency “scorecard” and instead launched a performance data “dashboard” to help trusts better identify patient flow bottlenecks and share best practice.
• Nineteen trusts named to receive A&E capital funding 
  Ministers have announced which NHS trusts will receive part of the next tranche of additional capital funding previously announced for accident and emergency services.
• STP special: the lessons learned so far 
  It’s over 18 months since sustainability and transformation plans were launched so what has been achieved and what challenges remain, asks Alison Moore in the last of our series on STP progress
• ‘Heavy handed’ NHS England forces CCG to agree to STP 
  NHS England threatened commissioners in London with legal directions if they do not support plans to appoint a single accountable officer, HSJ has been told.
• Trust leaders told reputation at risk if ‘poor’ A&E fails to improve 
  A trust with a new £48m emergency department has been ordered to urgently improve by NHS Improvement after recording some of the country’s worst A&E performance figures.

Our Fabulous NHS – Academy of Fabulous Stuff
***Get involved*** –  share your fab stuff!

• IMPLEMENTING THE SAFER PATIENT FLOW BUNDLE AND RED AND GREEN DAYS IN COMMUNITY REHABILITATION HOSPITALS We took tools developed for acute hospitals and implemented them sensitively and effectively in ‘slow stream’ Community Rehabilitation Hospitals. The SAFER patient flow bundle blends together five elements of best practice and when used in conjunction with the ‘Red and Green Days’ approach should reduce length of stay and improve patient flow and safety. At […]
• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals’ needs your help to mark World War 1 anniversary VOLUNTEERS have gathered together to support the Trust’s new Poppy Project. Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust hopes to receive at least 30,000 handmade poppies which will be used for an innovative art installation at the hospital to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One next year. Trust Lead Chaplain, Jonathan […]
• Health and Social Care Pre-employment Co-ordinators supporting workforce recruitment and people into employment in the sectors In May 2016 Health Education England working across Kent, Surrey and Sussex (HEE KSS) introduced the role of Health and Social Care Pre-employment Co-ordinator in each of the three counties. The focus of the role is to design, delivery or commission pre-employment programmes bespoke to local workforce needs in the aim of producing a “semi-job […]
• Because we’re all human: A Just Culture – and why it’s so important. Mersey Care’s, Chief Executive Joe Rafferty explains a Just Culture – and why it’s so important. We talk about Mersey Care’s commitment to building a just culture and the important of staff being able to speak up. We are striving towards ‘Perfect Care’ for people in our care. We’re tackling some of the most complex […]