Privatisation and independent sector provision of NHS healthcare – British Medical Association<\/b> The commissioning of specialised services in the\u00a0NHS –\u00a0 National Audit Office<\/strong> ‘Lack of grip’ across NHS blamed for sudden hospital shutdown – Health Service Journal<\/strong> NHS England preparing guidance on hospital closures – Health Service Journal<\/strong> Latest sickness absence figures published – NHS Employers<\/strong> NICE Shared learning NICE surveillance reports<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Bulletins<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nNHS providers and commissioners are facing unprecedented financial pressures. Every area where spending is increasing needs to be rigorously evaluated. Independent sector provision of NHS healthcare<\/a> has increased every year for the past five years. More attention needs to be paid to whether it provides value for money, comparable quality and safety to NHS patients, as well as what its impact is on other NHS services.<\/p>\n
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\nAccording to this report<\/a>, NHS England\u2019s spending on specialised services has increased at a much greater rate than other parts of the NHS. It concludes that, although NHS England took responsibility for commissioning these services three years ago, it still does not have an agreed overarching service strategy, consistent information from all providers on costs, access to services and outcomes or how efficiently services are being delivered.<\/p>\n
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\nThe \u201cfragmented\u201d structure of the NHS and lack of \u201cstrategic grip\u201d have been blamed for a crisis leading to the sudden closure of a psychiatric hospital.<\/p>\n
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\nNew guidance on how to handle the sudden closure of hospitals due to serious quality or safety concerns is being drawn up by NHS England.<\/p>\n
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\nThe latest figures<\/a> released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show that NHS staff sickness absence has fallen from December 2014, where it was 4.79 per cent, to 4.39 per cent in December 2015.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/strong><\/span>NICE has published the following shared learning case studies:<\/p>\n\n
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