Improving behavioral health care in the emergency department and upstream

This paper provides actionable guidance for hospital emergency departments and their community partners to create a compassionate, seamless, and effective system of care that is respectful of and works with patients with mental health conditions and substance use disorders who present to the emergency department. The paper includes: a framework for a better system of care that comprises four key components: processes, provider culture, patients, and partnerships; high-leverage changes and specific change ideas; suggested measures; practical tips and examples; and resources and tools. Free registration is required to access the document.

An unnecessary divide: the impact of pensions taxation on NHS trust leaders 
This report suggests concerns over taxation of pensions may lead to an exodus of NHS leaders in the next two years. It includes survey findings indicating almost half of all trust leaders plan to, or are considering, leaving the NHS because of the pensions crisis. Nine in ten respondents to the survey said that they and their organisation were concerned that differential arrangements for different staff groups – for example offering a solution to senior doctors and nurses but not managers – would also create divisions and harm culture and morale.

Research relating to coronavirus – free to access
The academic publisher Wiley has compiled 54 research articles relating to the coronavirus, listed them on a single page, and has made them free to read for the next few months.

BMJ Best Practice is also providing free access to an Overview of 2019 novel coronavirus

Maternity services survey 2019

The Care Quality Commission has published the results of its Maternity services survey 2019.  This survey looked at the experiences of over 17,000 women receiving maternity services during February 2019.  The report shows that overall, women reported many positive experiences of maternity care; there has been important improvement across a greater number of questions compared to 2018 and positive upward trends are evident over time in areas such as feeding choices and partner involvement.

Urgent Community Response teams

NHS England and NHS Improvement have announced that Urgent Community Response teams will be rolled out from April to support the ageing population and those with complex needs.  West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (Kirklees) is one of seven ‘accelerator’ sites where teams will give fast access to a range of professionals who can address both health and social care needs.  Further areas will receive extra funding to begin working to the new standards from 2021, with the whole country covered by April 2023.

Physical activity policies for cardiovascular health

The European Heart Network, in collaboration with the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, has published Physical activity policies for cardiovascular health.  The report reviews the role of physical activity in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases across Europe. It provides a concise summary of recent knowledge based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses as well as scientific and policy summary statements.

Workforce recruitment

NHS Employers has published the following documents:

• International Recruitment Toolkit – aims to encourage and enable good practices and processes for the recruitment of international staff across a wide range of professions.
• Step into Health – the Step into Health programme has launched a new online system to allow NHS organisations to connect directly with interested candidates from the Armed Forces community.

Statistics

• GP Contract Services, England 2019-20
• Practice Level Prescribing – November 2019
• Cancer registration statistics, England 2018
• Emergency presentations of cancer – April 2019 to June 2019 and an update of the one year rolling average
• Deaths registered by area in England and Wales, monthly provisional – December 2019
• Seasonal flu vaccine uptake in healthcare workers: 1 September 2019 to 31 December 2019.

Bulletins

• NHS Workforce Bulletin – 20 January 2020
• Vaccine update – January 2020