Health Secretary announces nursing workforce reforms – DOH
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced wide-ranging reforms to increase nurse training places and retain staff.
A 25% increase in training posts for nurses is part of a range of measures to:

• ensure the NHS meets current and future nursing workforce needs
• improve working conditions
• provide new routes into the profession

The government will provide funding for the clinical placements required for an additional 5,170 pre-registration nurse degrees from 2018. This builds on the commitment to 10,000 more training places for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals announced in August this year.

Safe and effective staffing: nursing against the odds – Royal College of Nursing
Following on from the publication of “Safe and effective staffing: the real picture” in May 2017, the RCN launched a survey of nursing and midwifery staff in the UK. The survey asked people about their last shift or day worked in health or social care. More than 30,000 responses were received in just two weeks, providing insight into staff experiences and staffing levels across the UK. The findings provide a strong voice from nursing staff, clearly describing the impact that poor staffing has on both patient care and their own wellbeing. Some of the experiences and stories shared via the survey have been included throughout the report.

End of life care for infants, children and young people – National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
This quality standard covers end of life care for infants, children and young people (from birth to 18 years) who have a life-limiting condition. Life-limiting conditions are those that are expected to result in an early death for the person. It also covers support for family members and carers. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

Patient Reported Outcome Measures
NHS England has published National Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) Programme consultation report.  This report sets out findings from a consultation on the National PROMs programme which took place between January and March 2016.  NHS England will discontinue some national PROM collections, will work with NHS Digital to make national PROMs data easier to use, and seek to drive digital collection of PROMS data.

Sepsis in children
Public Health England has published Sepsis in children: information for health visitors and school nurses.  This guidance includes causes and symptoms of sepsis; support for parents; and additional resources for health visitors and school nurses.

Four trusts first in England to roll out digital appointment response system – NHE
A new digital portal has been brought in to four trusts to make them the first in England to allow patients to receive and respond to appointment letters digitally. The change will put plans to digitise the NHS outlined by Jeremy Hunt a few weeks ago into action and could potentially save millions of pounds a year. Barnsley Hospital…

Financial progress at risk if sustainability funding is not protected – NHE
Funding for sustainability and transformation must be protected beyond 2018-19 to ensure that progress being made by providers to reduce financial deficits is continued in the future. Currently, providers are allocated a share of the £1.8bn sustainability and transformation funding (STF) in local areas, but a new report by NHS…

New workforce app will ‘bring gig economy to the NHS’ – NHE 
A union has warned that a new app being brought to the NHS could risk bringing the so-called ‘gig economy’ to the health service. Alongside a number of other new measures to address the many challenges faced by the NHS, Jeremy Hunt today announced plans for a new workforce app that the GMB has described as being like “Uber for…

Statistics

• Maternity Services Monthly Statistics  – May 2017
• Dementia Assessment and Referral – July 2017
• Sexual identity UK – 2016
• Monthly counts of Klebsiella species (Klebsiella spp. ) bacteraemia by CCG – April 2017 to August 2017
• P. aeruginosa bacteraemia: monthly counts split by location of onset by CCG – April 2017 to August 2017
• E. coli bacteraemia: monthly counts split by location of onset by CCG – April 2017 to August 2017
• E. coli bacteraemia counts by CCG and month – August 2016 to August 2017

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Theresa May names lead to review Mental Health Act 
  The prime minister has announced the former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists will lead an independent review of the Mental Health Act.
• Charity fears national precedent if CCG axes free transport services 
  A charity has warned a dangerous precedent may be set if a clinical commissioning group enforces its decision to stop funding non-emergency patient transport to people who rely on “life sustaining” treatment.
• Final contract for NHS procurement shake-up put on market 
  Procurement leaders hope to improve the way the NHS handles transactions with a contract for financial management worth nearly £50m that has gone to the market.
• Trusts confirm new shared chief executive
  An acute trust and a mental health and community trust have appointed a joint chief executive after forming an alliance to make services more integrated.
• Chief executive admits trust will fail to fill hundreds of nurse vacancies 
  The chief executive of a major Midlands hospital trust has said it must use new roles such as nursing associates to tackle hundreds of nurse vacancies.
• Seven CCGs approve single accountable officer for whole STP 
  Plans to appoint a single accountable officer for seven clinical commissioning groups have now been approved, despite previous opposition from commissioners.
• Specialist emergency trust’s A&E rated inadequate 
  One of Greater Manchester’s four “specialist” emergency hospitals has had its urgent and emergency care services rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission.
• Trust suspends spinal surgery after two deaths 
  An acute trust in the North West has suspended its spinal surgery services after four serious incidents – including two patient deaths – were identified over a six month period.
• Winner of troubled community services contract named 
  Liverpool’s troubled community services will be run by a mental health provider from November, after its bid for the contract was preferred to that of the city’s children’s trust.
• NHS workers to get first refusal on affordable homes 
  Plans to give health workers first refusal on affordable housing built on surplus NHS land have been welcomed by sector representatives.
• Success regime CCGs appoint single chief 
  The five clinical commissioning groups in the mid and south Essex success regime area have appointed a single lead accountable officer.

Our Fabulous NHS – Academy of Fabulous Stuff
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• Chronic lung disease patients reduce emergency visits using self-care platform A digital self-care platform that connects community clinicians with chronically ill patients and their families via their TV is dramatically reducing home visits and emergency hospital admissions. The 12-month pilot study of chronic lung disease patients by an NHS Foundation Trust shows promising results for Nimbus Medical’s InterCare platform – which enables patients to check […]
• Track-it The campaign is really about perceptions, and getting the message across that a set of health records are far more than just bits of paper and should be treated with care, dignity and respect as we would do the actual patient themselves. Our mantra is see people not paper, because within a set of health […]