Supporting change in your NHS : The non-executive community in transformational change – NHS Clinical Commissioners 
A summary of discussions held at events that brought together CCG lay members and trust non-executive directors (NEDs) which focused on how they can contribute to the integration and transformation of their local health communities.
The publication looks at attendees’:

• perspectives on the lay member and NED role
• insights on current system change
• views on the next steps for lay members, NEDs and health and care organisations.

NHS workforce strategy
Health Education England has published Facing the Facts, Shaping the Future: a draft health and care workforce strategy for England to 2027.  This draft strategy sets out the current workforce landscape, what has been achieved since 2012, the work underway and describes an approach to shaping the face of the NHS and social care workforce for the next two decades.  The consultation on the document closes on 23 March 2018.

Specialised commissioning
A new journal has been launched for healthcare managers which has a wide focus across the commissioning pathway.   Specialised Commissioning will include feature articles and interviews stimulating debate through the sharing of diverse perspectives on policy and practice development from the sector including NHS England, NICE, commissioners, patient groups and charities.  The journal is sent free to relevant healthcare professionals and managers who have a role or interest in specialised commissioning.

Redesigning urgent and emergency care
The Health Foundation has published The impact of redesigning urgent and emergency care in Northumberland. This report considers findings from analysis into the early impact of changes to urgent and emergency care services in Northumberland following the opening of the country’s first bespoke emergency hospital in 2015. It highlights that reconfiguring NHS services takes time to generate the intended results and that robust, repeat evaluation can help to inform decisions and improvement.

Variations in mortality across the week following emergency admission to hospital: linked retrospective observational analyses of hospital episode data in England, 2004/5 to 2013/14 
Health Services and Delivery Research November 2017, 5(30) 
Retrospective observational analyses of hospital episode data in England, using both national data and data from a single, large acute NHS trust. Nationally excess mortality out of hours was largely explained by a sicker population of patients being selected for admission. However, mortality rates were still elevated on Sunday daytimes after severity of patient illness was accounted for. Mortality rates are also elevated for patients admitted during night-time periods. The estimated cost of implementing 7-day services exceeds the maximum amount that the NICE would recommend the NHS should spend on eradicating excess mortality at weekends.

National chronic kidney disease audit
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership has published National Chronic Kidney Disease Audit: National Report (Part 2). This second part of the National Report has a focus on the outcomes for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) with stages 3-5 for whom GPs are asked to keep a register. The report highlights that people with uncoded CKD have double the mortality rates of people whose CKD is coded in general practice.

Cold weather alert
NHS England has issued a Cold weather alert.  There is an 80 per cent probability of severe cold weather/icy conditions/heavy snow at times between 9.00am on Wednesday 13 December and 3.00pm on Sunday 17 December in Yorkshire and the Humber. Cold weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services.

Pulmonary rehabilitation
The Royal College of Physicians has published Pulmonary rehabilitation: beyond breathing better. This is a supplementary report detailing the outcomes of the English cohort of patients included in the 2015 pulmonary rehabilitation clinical audit. The report provides key recommendations for patients, commissioners and ideas for future research.

Out in the cold: lung disease, the hidden driver of NHS winter pressure – British Lung Foundation 
This report identifies a seasonal trend in respiratory admissions over the last seven years and argues that a failure to address this annual fluctuation is contributing to winter A&E pressures. It argues that community care and support outside of hospital needs to be strengthened and that service planning for a rise in respiratory admissions is needed to manage this seasonal variation.

Introducing ‘opt-out’ consent for organ and tissue donation
The Government has launched a consultation about organ and tissue donation.  It wants to know what people think about proposed changes in which people are considered willing to be an organ donor after their death, unless they have ‘opted out’.  The Government wants to find out what people think of how the changes to the system should be made, and what else they think the government needs to consider.

Health emergency preparedness
NHS England has updated Summary of published key strategic guidance for health Emergency Preparedness, Resilience & Response (EPRR).  Originally published in March 2015 this document gives an overview of the key strategic EPRR guidance documents currently published. The slides also show documents that are in development and those that are currently being updated.

Tackling low health literacy
Health Education England has launched the Health literacy toolkit aimed at helping staff to tackle the challenges caused by low levels of health literacy and improve health outcomes. The toolkit includes a ‘how to’ guide, a workshop lesson plan with slides, and case studies to raise awareness of health literacy and upskill the healthcare workforce.

National data guardian for health and care
The National Data Guardian has published National Data Guardian for Health and Care 2017 report: Impact and influence for patients and service users.   This report reviews the first term of office of Dame Fiona Caldicott as National Data Guardian and describes future priorities.  It sets out a case for the independent advice and challenge the role provides to ensure that confidential data collected by the NHS and social care services is properly safeguarded and used appropriately to improve care. 

Maternity records: developing standards
The Professional Record Standards Body is seeking views from women who use maternity services, parents, health and care professionals and industry representatives on draft standards specifying which clinical information should be recorded and shared in maternity records.  The final standard will help people involved in women’s maternity care, and women themselves, to share information quickly and easily.

Shared learning

• Implementing NICE Guidelines to reduce inequalities and improve the healthy life expectancy of the population of Dudley: optimising Hypertension management in Dudley
• Use of Clinical Audit to improve a musculoskeletal (MSK) pathway: NICE Metastatic Spinal Cord Compression (MSCC) guidelines
• Implementation of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation prescription
• Innovative ways of engaging with Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities to improve access to psychological therapies
• Integrated Care Services (iCares). Transforming and Integrating Community Services within admission avoidance, care management and community rehabilitation services

Statistics

• Health Survey for England – 2016
• Workforce Race Equality Standard data reporting: December 2017