A Short Guide to the Department of Health and NHS England – National Audit Office 
This short guide summarises what the Department of Health and NHS England do, how much they spend, organisations that oversee, support and deliver health and social care, recent and planned changes, key themes from NAO reports, commissioning plans and organisation of regulation and oversight.

New technology helping to tackle frailty in older people – NHS England 
NHS England is reporting the trialling of new wearable sensors, based on technology used by NASA and the CGI film industry, to help identify older patients at risk of falls as part of a new drive to tackle frailty. One system, designed to analyse the way a patient walks, was developed in partnership with Intel and tested at University College Dublin’s Institute for Sports and Health. In Sheffield, the Perfect Patient Pathway Test Bed is testing Kinesis’ QTUG device for patients over 65 who have no recorded falls and score as ‘moderately frail’. The system sees patients walk with the motion sensor attachments on their legs while an app carries out the analysis.

Sepsis Quality standard [QS161] 
This quality standard was published in September 2017. It covers the recognition, diagnosis and early management of sepsis for all populations. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

Cross-system sepsis action plan 2017 
This document identifies further actions which will be undertaken by healthcare organisations to enable continuing improvements in sepsis care across over the next year. Amongst others, this document is aimed at CCG clinical leaders.

NHS is warned to be on high alert for flu this winter – BMJ
The head of NHS England has warned hospitals and GP surgeries to be prepared for a big increase in cases of flu this winter after a heavy season in the southern hemisphere.Speaking at the Health and…

MRSA, MSSA and E. coli bacteraemia and C. difficile infection: quarterly epidemiological commentary – Public Health England 
The commentaries contain national aggregated data and an overview of the trends in the mandatory reports of HCAI; meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), meticillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteraemia and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection, over recent quarters.

Number of written complaints about NHS increases 4.9 per cent – Health and Social Care Information Centre
There were 208,400 written complaints received by the NHS during 2016/172 – up 4.9 per cent on the previous year, NHS Digital figures released today show.

Partnering for Improvement: inter-organisational developments in the NHS
– Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham
This research explored the expectations and realities of partnering across different spectrums – individual, mandated, structural and voluntary partnering – and identifies a number of key learning points.
The report presents a range of implications of relevance to all those with an interest in pursuing partnering – NHS providers, policymakers and regulators.

Practical guide for large scale change launched – NHS England
NHS England has launched a refreshed guide to support health and care leaders to deliver large scale change. The guide will help them meet the challenges set out in the Next Steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View published earlier this year. NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement team and the Horizons team have refreshed and updated […]

New improvements to help fight sepsis – Department of Health
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced new measures to help combat sepsis. Thousands of nurses, care home staff and pharmacists will be told how to check for signs and symptoms of sepsis, as part of a new NHS plan to improve treatment of the condition.

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Eight-fold increase in DH ‘exit package’ payments 
  The Department of Health and its executive agencies spent £39m on “exit packages” last year, following the departure of more than 700 staff.
• Inadequate CCG appoints new chief officer 
  A clinical commissioning group rated inadequate has appointed an interim chief officer following the departure of its experienced leader.
• Merger talks to create largest STP in the country 
  Health leaders are in discussions over merging three northern sustainability and transformation partnerships to create the largest in the country, HSJ can reveal.
• Private hospital agrees £27m compensation deal over rogue surgeon 
  A private hospital group has agreed to pay £27.2m in compensation to patients injured by a surgeon who operated from its sites.
• NHS England funding restrictions under fire after patient’s death 
  NHS England is facing calls to lift funding restrictions following the death of a 74-year-old man from a brain bleed months after he was denied treatment to prevent strokes.
• Trusts left waiting months for late CQC inspection results 
  Trusts are waiting almost half a year to receive their Care Quality Commission inspection reports, the latest data from the regulator reveals.

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

• #EndPJParalysis Today is the day ……. 100 day, 100,000 patient day #EndPJparalysis challenge starts today   Supported by ECIST, over 20 Trusts in the East of England have signed up to capture and build an evidence base for #EndPJparalysis! You can find out more about the campaign and how to get involved here
• Spotlight on Sepsi Sepsis is a ‘silent killer’ which directly touches the lives of over 250,000 people every year in the UK and indiscriminately kills 44,000 people. With earlier identification and treatment, it has been suggested that around 14,000 lives could be saved annually. Yesterday Secretary of State for Health Hunt announced new measures to help combat sepsis: […]
• Edge of Life programme on BBC Radio Four BBC Radio Four have produced a documentary focussing on the work Mersey Care do in striving for zero suicide in our care. The 40-minute programme, called ‘The Edge of Life’, featured interviews with service users, Chief Executive Joe Rafferty, Medical Director Dr David Fearnley and the Trust’s Suicide Prevention Lead, Jane Boland. […]