People performance management skills
NHS Employers has refreshed its People performance management toolkit.  This toolkit aims to support NHS managers to talk about performance with staff and to nurture talent in their teams.  It has been updated to include links to new guidance and latest resources.

Change model
NHS England has refreshed documents relating to the Change Model, a framework for any project or programme that is seeking to achieve transformational, sustainable change.  The resources include a guide setting out the eight components of the model, a GAP analysis tool, key questions templates and an action plan template.

Accountable care models contract
The Department of Health has published the consultation response to the Accountable care models contract consultation.  The documentation includes the government response, a brief guide to what Accountable Care Organisations are, revised draft amendments to the provision of integrated services regulations, and revised draft sale of goodwill regulations.

NHS England funding
NHS England has published NHS England Funding and Resource 2018/19: Supporting ‘Next Steps for the NHS Five Year Forward View’.  This document contains information about NHS England’s funding in 2018/19. It also sets out how NHS England will, through the distribution of funding, people and resources, support ‘Next Steps’ to transform local health and care systems.

Commissioners use of research
The National Institute for Health Research has published a ‘highlight’ How commissioners use research evidence.  This highlight summarises six studies on the use of evidence by commissioners.  It includes studies into the behaviour of individual managers and the way in which commissioning organisations make sense of and use research information when making decisions. The findings provide some practical pointers for researchers to make their work more accessible and relevant to commissioners and managers. 

NHS productivity
The Centre for Health Economics has published Productivity of the English National Health Service: 2015/16 update.  This research paper updates CHE’s time series of NHS productivity growth for the period 2014/15 to 2015/16 and reports trends in outputs, inputs and productivity since 2004/05.  Over the last eleven years NHS productivity has increased by 13.49% or an average of 1.17% per annum. However, since 2012/13 productivity has been continuously decreasing, with 0.04% growth between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

What is the impact of developing a seven day hospital service? – NHS Improvement
These case studies detail some of the clinical, operational, and financial impacts of providing a seven day hospital service based on findings from interviews with hospital staff and data analysis over the period of implementation.

NIHR Signals provide decision makers in the NHS, public health and social care with the latest important research from the NIHR and other health research organisations.

These are the latest Signals from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Dissemination Center:

• Self-care support for children with long-term conditions may reduce emergency costs

• A third of health practitioners do not get vaccinated against flu

• Adding a third antiplatelet drug after a stroke increases harms but not benefits

• Multi-morbidity predicted to increase in the UK over the next 20 years

• Enriched food and snacks can increase nutritional intake in older people in hospital

• Person-centred care improves quality of life for care home residents with dementia

• Hospital admission rates and costs increase in line with BMI

• Statins are of no benefit in acute respiratory distress syndrome

• Common osteoporosis drugs may prevent breast cancer spreading to bone

• Hypertonic saline as effective as normal saline for trauma patients

 Statistics

• Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet, England 2018
• Dementia Assessment and Referral – January 2018
• Hepatitis C in England: 2018 report
• Liver disease profiles – April 2018 update
• Physical activity data tool – April 2018 update
• Clostridium difficile infection: monthly data by CCG – February 2017 to February 2018
• MRSA bacteraemia: monthly data by CCG and by location of onset – February 2017 to February 2018
• MSSA bacteraemia: monthly data by CCG and location of onset – February 2017 to February 2018
• E.coli bacteraemia: monthly data by CCG – February 2017 to February 2018
• E. coli bacteraemia: monthly data by onset and CCG – February 2017 to February 2018
• Klebsiella spp. bacteraemia: monthly data by onset and CCG – April 2017 to February 2018
• P. aeruginosa bacteraemia: monthly data by onset and CCG – April 2017 to February 2018 

NICE Shared Learning

• Young adult diabetes: engaging to improve; outcomes of the young adult clinic restructure
• The new faecal calprotectin care pathway
• Reducing incidence of urinary tract infections by promoting hydration in care homes
• The scarred liver project: a new diagnostic pathway to detect chronic liver disease across primary and secondary care

NICE Quality Standards

 NICE Bulletins

• NICE News – March 2018
• NICE Update for Primary Care – March 2018
• NICE in Social Care – March 2018

Other Bulletins

• NHS Improvement Provider bulletin – 4 April 2018
• Improvement Update – March 2018
• Vaccine update – March 2018
• Health Economics News – March 2018
• NHS Workforce Bulletin – 26 March 2018
• NHS Managers’ Bulletin – 22 March 2018
• NHS Communications Bulletin – 28 March 2018

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Exclusive: Hunt orders new ambulance handover plan following ‘unacceptable’ delays 
  Jeremy Hunt has told system leaders to draw up new plans to tackle handover delays this month after efforts to curtail ambulance queues outside hospitals failed this winter, HSJ understands.
• NHS Improvement drops back office efficiency target 
  NHS Improvement has dropped a target in the Carter efficiency review for trusts to cut their back office costs, HSJ can reveal.
• NHS England misses international recruitment deadline for London 
  NHS England has missed its March deadline to begin international GP recruitment in London, HSJ can reveal.
• Medical school applications up but nursing numbers drop 
  Medicine and dentistry applications have risen by 8 per cent between 2017 and 2018 but the number of people applying to do nursing has fallen for the second year running, new data shows.
• Staff transferred after trust withdraws from controversial consortium 
  A West Midlands trust has withdrawn from a controversial mental health consortium to focus on its sustainability and transformation partnership.
• Exclusive: Months of delay to new NHS procurement model 
  The implementation of the government’s new purchasing and supply model for the NHS has been delayed, HSJ has learned.
• Six children affected by MRSA on same ward 
  Six babies in a neonatal intensive care unit have been found to be colonised with the same strain of MRSA – leading to staff being tested and three being identified as carriers of the bacteria.
• GOSH leadership rated requires improvement after high turnover of directors 
  A specialist trust that has seen a high turnover of directors in recent years has been rated requires improvement for leadership by the Care Quality Commission.

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

• Acute Hospital at Home management of bronchiectasis exacerbations at Dorset County Hospital At Dorset County Hospital we have developed an Acute Hospital at Home (AH@H) service, providing a number of aspects of inpatient care in people’s own homes, delivered by a full multi-disciplinary team. We have developed a clear pathway for management of patients with infective exacerbations of bronchiectasis, who require intravenous antibiotics at home (usually for […]
• ED assessment of those over 75 to determine frailty For most frail elderly, hospitalization triggers a cascade to dependency that results in functional decline, despite cure and in complications unrelated to the problem that caused admission. Avoiding unnecessary hospitalization of the frail and elderly, by ensuring they follow the correct care pathway, is crucial for patient centred care and appropriate use of NHS resources. […]
• Huge success at awards ceremony Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is pleased to announce that several members of our staff have been recognised for their outstanding work in research and innovation. Alison Birtle, Consultant Oncologist has won the prestigious award of Clinical Research Practitioner of the Year in the North West Coast Research and Innovation Awards this year. Alison […]
• First hospital service to achieve national accreditation Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has become the first hospital service in the country to achieve the highest level of NHS finance accreditation. Our finance team is the first hospital service, and one of just two NHS organisations in the UK to receive level 3 accreditation from Future Focused Finance. This accreditation reflects the […]
• Award for improvements to patient flow A member of staff at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been recognised for the improvements that she has made to patient flow. Sarah McMullan, Senior Sister for the Critical Care Unit at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals has been named as a finalist for the Sarah Brookfield award from the Critical Care Network for leading […]
• Staff celebrate 10 years of elective orthopaedics at FGH Staff and patients at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) marked a milestone birthday of the Elective Orthopaedic Unit at Furness General Hospital (FGH) last month. The unit was opened on 16 March 2008 to introduce the Enhanced Recovery Programme dedicated to providing a high quality experience for patients – requiring elective […]
• South cumbria community staff to join UHMBT The aspiration of providing integrated care across Morecambe Bay will take a step closer to reality this weekend as more than 500 staff working in community services in south Cumbria join University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT). The staff currently work for Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) joined with acute hospital […]
• Trust appeals to public to share memories of local healthcare As part of the celebrations to mark 70 years of the NHS, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) is appealing to the public to come forward and share any photos, memorabilia and their fondest memories of its hospitals – the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Furness General Hospital, Westmorland General Hospital, Morecambe’s Queen Victoria […]
• DME and Stroke Patient Activity Events Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust DME and Stroke Clinical Business Unit cares for 128 patients with our wards covering Acute Care, Rehabilitation, Stroke Care and a Frailty Assessment Unit. In order to prevent deconditioning and to improve the care we provide we started to arrange patient events each month. A number of our patients are medically fit and waiting for […]
• West Suffolk NHS Trust keeping staff hydrated at work. A Nursing Times study in 2015 found that 45% of staff at an NHS Trust were dehydrated by the end of their shift. Dehydration can cause symptoms such as feeling thirsty, dark yellow and strong smelling urine, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, feeling tired, dry mouth, lips and eyes and urinating less than four times per […]
• ‘Tea for Two’ and ‘Let’s Do Lunch’ #EndPJparalysis When patients are unwell and do not feel like eating or drinking it can be a challenge to help them meet their nutritional and hydration needs. ‘Tea for Two’ is an initiative at South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust which aims to encourage patients to drink more to stay hydrated to promote their physical wellbeing, and […]
• Trust makes significant progress in the management of sepsis Staff at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) have introduced a series of initiatives over the past year to improve performance against sepsis targets and the care given to patients, including: • Employing two full-time acute kidney injury (AKI) / sepsis specialist nurses across its three main hospitals • Educating ward and […]
• New team developed to tackle life threatening condition Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has developed a dedicated team to focus on a life-threatening condition. The sepsis team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals has been established with a focus on teaching and educating staff on wards about identifying and treating sepsis. Sepsis is a rare, but serious complication of an infection. Sepsis can be […]