Making the case for quality improvement: lessons for NHS boards and leaders – The King’s Fund
This report has been co-authored with The Health Foundation. It outlines ten lessons for NHS leaders. These provide a starting point for leaders seeking to embed quality improvement in their work.

NHS urges 1.4m staff to have flu jab to reduce risk of epidemic – Guardian Health News
Bosses write to workers saying they should get vaccinated as soon as possible – and must give a reason for refusing to do so

Number of NHS nurses and health visitors falls for first time since 2013 – The King’s Fund
The number of nurses and health visitors employed by the NHS has fallen for the first time on a year-on-year basis since April 2013, according to a new analysis by The King’s Fund.

Reconfiguration of NHS services (England)
House of Commons Library briefing on reconfiguration of NHS services, including recent policy developments, information on consultation and scrutiny powers, and drivers of major service changes.

Sustainability and transformation partnerships: developing robust governance arrangements – Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
This briefing includes a diagnostic tool to assess the status of governance arrangements arising from ‘at scale’ working. Completing the tool will provide a basis for discussion by the board/ governing body and/ or audit committee of an NHS body when seeking assurance about developing governance arrangements.

NMC releases draft standards of proficiency for nursing associate role – NHS Employers
Find out more about the draft standards released for the nursing associate.

The regulation of medical associate professions in the UK – Department of Health
This consultation seeks views on the regulation of medical associate professions in the UK, including physician associates, physicians’ assistanta, surgical care practitioners and advanced critical care practitioners. The closing date for comments is 22 December 2017.

Clinical radiology: UK workforce census 2016 report – Royal College of Radiologists
This report underlines the situation in UK radiology, with the ongoing shortage of imaging doctors making late hospital diagnoses and delayed scan results a very real likelihood for patients. It finds that, in 2016, the NHS paid out an estimated £88 million for out-of-hours reporting of X-rays and scans, while nearly two-thirds of vacant radiologist posts sat empty for 12 months or more. It also highlights the UK-wide problem of not have enough imaging doctors to fill hospital vacancies.

90% of health and care leaders “concerned” about ability to cope this winter – NHS Confederation
Poll by the NHS Confederation paints a bleak picture as the health and care system prepares for another tough winter.

Hunt confirms scrapping of NHS pay cap – NHE
Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that the seven-year cap on NHS staff wages will come to an end next year. The health secretary said yesterday he had been given “leeway” to scrap the policy by chancellor Phillip Hammond but was unable to confirm whether the government would provide extra funding to pay for the increased…

Musculoskeletal conditions: return on investment tool – Public Health England
The return on investment tool pulls together evidence on the effectiveness and associated costs for a number of interventions for musculoskeletal conditions.

The tool allows results to be tailored to local situations based on the knowledge of the user. All interventions are aimed at those of working age. The tool is accompanied by:

• a report showing how the tool was constructed and the main results
• a summary of the findings from a literature review to identify cost-effective interventions

Local authorities and clinical commissioning groups can use results from the tool to protect and improve the health of their local populations when making commissioning decisions.

How much information should patients’ families expect on acute wards? – 
BMJ
One of the biggest stressors in work for me and my colleagues, junior and senior, is the relentless demand for information—not from patients themselves but from their relatives.It’s taboo to talk…

Communicating with relatives – BMJ
What you need to know. Conversations with relatives require a careful balancing of patient autonomy and recognition of the network of support that many people rely on.Conversations can be emotional and…

Complexity of primary care is barrier to physician associates, say GPs – BMJ
GPs think that complexity and uncertainty in primary care are the biggest barriers to physician associates becoming part of their teams, research has found. They also considered physician associates’…

Ethnicity facts and figures – HM Government

Information gathered from a range of government sources about the different experiences of people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds under topics – Crime, Justice and the law; Culture & Community, Health; Housing, Education skills and training; Work, pay and benefits.

• The Health topic includes Access to treatment, Patient experiences, Patient outcomes, Physical and mental health and Preventing illness.

Race Disparity Audit – Cabinet Office 

In addition the first release of a Race Disparity Audit which reviews each topic on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website, as well as an overview of disparities that have most impact across all aspects of people’s lives. The intention is that other audits will follow in due course.

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Variation in surgery standards depending on time of day flagged 
  Standards of care for patients needing emergency bowel surgery vary considerably based on the time of day they have their operation, a new audit has revealed.
• Trust re-enters special measures after less than a year 
  Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust has been placed back in quality special measures, less than a year after it exited them, after a new inspection found the number of serious incidents “remained high”.
• Dozens of councils face funding cuts for poor DTOCs performance 
  Thirty two local authorities have been warned by ministers their adult social care allocations could be cut next year if their delayed transfer of care performance does not significantly improve, HSJ has learned
• Southern Health fined after it ‘failed to protect patients’ 
  Southern Health must pay more than £150,000 after an “inexcusable failure” that led to a mental health patient suffering life changing injuries after they fell from the roof of a psychiatric unit.
• NHS Improvement deputy chief leaving to run STP 
  NHS Improvement’s director of resources and deputy chief executive Bob Alexander will step down next year to run a sustainability and transformation partnership.
• Trusts miss NHS England A&E performance milestone 
  Trusts have fallen short of NHS England’s first milestone towards hitting the national emergency performance waiting time target, official figures reveal today.
• Last minute talks fail to stop trust pulling doctors from neighbour hospitals
  A major teaching trust is pulling its oncology consultants out of two neighbouring hospitals because of longstanding concerns about their “operational standards” – meaning the service will close this month.
• CQC and police investigate trust after patient death 
  The Care Quality Commission is expected to visit a Brighton hospital today following the death of an elderly inpatient, who is believed to have swallowed cleaning fluid.
• Patient images sent by taxi after £30m IT system breaks down 
  Doctors have been forced to send images from patient scans on DVDs in taxis to neighbouring hospitals after a £30m IT system failed across eight hospitals.
• Private provider loses community services contract to NHS 
  Virgin Care has lost its bid to hold on to community services in part of Surrey, with the local trust and GP federation chosen as preferred bidder for the Guildford and Waverley area.
• Finance directors ‘feel bullied’ by NHS regulators to agree targets 
  The professional body representing public sector accountants has warned experienced NHS finance staff are “often feeling bullied by regulators to publicly report numbers they do not think are achievable”.
• Leak shows trust accepted deficit target despite FD’s safety warning 
  A struggling NHS trust went against the advice of its finance director by agreeing to a savings target that he warned would jeopardise patient safety, confidential papers seen by HSJ reveal.
• More funding needed to lift pay cap, warn Stevens and Mackey 
  The government will need to provide the extra cash needed to lift the public sector pay cap in the NHS, Simon Stevens and Jim Mackey told MPs.
• Trust criticised over maternity culture ran ‘normal birth’ campaign 
  A trust that was recently criticised over the “oppressive” culture within its maternity department ran a “normal birth” campaign earlier this year, HSJ can reveal.

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

• Award win for “innovative” IT system that has been adopted by over 1,500 organisations nationally A project team at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) and partners from the Lancashire and Cumbria Information Governance (IG) Group have been awarded the ‘Innovation’ Informatics Award, sponsored by the North West Coast Innovation Agency. The teams have been working together over the past two years to develop an Information Sharing […]
• NEW PENRITH SERVICE REDUCES THE RISK OF FALLS A partnership between a leisure centre and the NHS hopes to give older people renewed confidence and reduce the risk of falls. The new fall prevention service group, called Forever Fit is currently being piloted in Penrith with support from the Specialist Physiotherapist team at Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and staff from GLL at […]
• OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS ARE HELPING APPLEBY RESIDENTS STAY INDEPENDENT A new way of working is being trialled in Appleby Medical Practice to increase independence in frail and older patients. Occupational therapists (OT) are working from the local GP surgery three times a week to increase independence and provide more care in the community. The pilot has already seen great results and has had positive […]