Using data in the NHS: the implications of the opt-out and GDPR – The Kings Fund
Every time a patient has an interaction with an NHS organisation, information is collected about them. Clinicians and NHS administrators collect this information on an individual’s care – for instance, so that there is a record of treatments or drugs they are given or so that hospital consultants can share their test results with GPs. Key messages

Securing the future: funding health and social care to the 2030s – Institute for Fiscal Studies
This report is a collaboration between the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Health Foundation, in association with NHS Confederation. It aims to understand how and why spending on health and social care has risen over time, where the money is spent, how costs are likely to develop in the future, and how these costs might be met.

Measuring wellbeing inequality: what are appropriate indicators of wellbeing inequality? – New Economics Foundation (NEF)
This working paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of different measures of wellbeing inequality and to make a recommendation of a measure which could be reported by the Office for National Statistics alongside mean wellbeing. It also encourages researchers to reflect on which wellbeing inequality measure they choose and for a broader debate between key stakeholders on appropriate wellbeing inequality measures for different purposes.

NHSI and NHSE merger plans mark ‘profound shift’ in management – with potentially big risks – NHE | NEWS
NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSI) have announced plans to work closer together by establishing a new NHS Executive Group and an NHS Assembly, as well as aligning their current non-executive board committees – in a move that providers argue could “herald a profound shift in the way the NHS is led at national and regional level…

‘The world’s biggest quango’: the first five years of NHS England – The King’s Fund
This study, commissioned jointly by the Institute for Government and The King’s Fund, explores the fate of one of the central provisions of the Health and Social Care Act, NHS England, established as a statutorily independent board with the aim of distancing politicians from the day-to-day running of the NHS. It asks whether the objectives of establishing a statutorily independent board were fulfilled or disappointed.

Strengthening your nursing supply case study – NHS Employers 
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust has committed to strengthening its nursing supply, through the introduction of new roles, such as nursing apprenticeships, and mapping out career pathways so that staff can visually identify how they can develop their careers from apprentice through to chief nurse. The case study looks at how the trust has diversified its workforce and introduced new roles and education routes to support staff development and increase skills, staff experience and retention.

Good rostering guide – NHS Employers
The guide sets out ways in which good rostering practice can be used to develop rotas. It aims to support and create an effective training environment that also meets the needs of the service, while enabling flexibility for doctors and employers, both of whom have a stake in the process.

Quality improvement
The BMJ in partnership with, and funded by, the Health Foundation are launching a joint series of papers exploring how to improve the quality of health care delivery.  The quality improvement series will discuss the evidence for systematic quality improvement, provide knowledge and support to clinicians and ultimately will aim to help improve care for patients.

GP retention
NHS England has published two case studies relating to GP retention:

• GP Career Plus Scheme: Newham Health Collaborative Ltd – a ‘supply and demand’ staff bank helps retain experienced GPs, provides direct access to experienced clinicians and lowers costs for sessional staff
• GP Career Plus Scheme: Somerset Primary Healthcare Ltd – a facilitated peer support programme improves GP retention by reducing isolation and revitalising morale.

Health and social care in Cumbria
The Care Quality Commission has published Cumbria: local system review report.  This review has been carried out as part of a programme of 20 targeted reviews of local authority areas. The purpose of this review is to understand how people move through the health and social care system with a focus on the interfaces between services.

NHS pressures – winter analysis
The British Medical Association has published NHS pressures – winter analysis.  This analysis examines how NHS secondary care in England coped over the winter months of 2017/18 and examines how doctors working at the frontline experienced the winter.

Bulletins & newsletters

• Reward in the NHS newsletter – May 2018
• NHS Managers’ Bulletin – 17 May 2018
• Costing newsletter: May 2018