Category: NHS

Nursing under unsustainable pressures

Staffing for safe and effective care in the UK

Source: The King’s Fund

In March 2022, the RCN invited nursing and midwifery staff from across the UK to give their experiences of the last time they were at work. There were 20,325 responses to the survey. Eight in ten (83 per cent) said there weren’t enough nursing staff to meet all patient needs safely and effectively on their last shift. Just a quarter (25 per cent) of shifts had the planned number of registered nurses. Less than one in five (18 per cent) said they had enough time to provide the level of care they’d like. Read the report here.

How does the NHS work and how is it changing?

The King’s Fund Animation

Watch The King’s Fund new animation to discover the key organisations that make up the NHS and how they can collaborate with partners in the health and care system to deliver joined-up care.

Watch here: How does the NHS in England work and how is it changing? | The King’s Fund (kingsfund.org.uk)

Beds in the NHS

Royal College of Emergency Medicine Acute Insight Series

This report shows that an additional 13,000 staffed beds are required in the NHS across the UK to drive meaningful change and improvement. Meaningful change and improvement would constitute a significant improvement in A&E waiting times, ambulance response times, ambulance handover delays, and a return to safe bed occupancy levels.

Public Health

Current Awareness Bulletin

Systemic racism, not broken bodies: an inquiry into racial injustice and human rights in UK maternity care Birthrights, May 2022

(This year-long inquiry heard testimony from women, birthing people, health care professionals and lawyers outlining how systemic racism within maternity care – from individual interactions and workforce culture through to curriculums and policies – can have a deep and devastating impact on basic rights in childbirth. The report sets out five actions maternity services should take to drive forward concrete change. Please note that free registration is required to read this report)

Support at the end of life: the role of hospice services across the UK Eilís Keeble, Sarah Scobie and Rachel Hutchings, May 2022

(Covid-19 created huge disruption to end of life care services, with many thousands more people dying at home than previously. Hospices play a vital role supporting people and their families at the end of life, but little is known about how these services are being delivered and the issues they are grappling with. This analysis, based on a survey carried out by Hospice UK, provides a picture of a sector undergoing rapid change in the face of fast-changing circumstances.)

Drug misuse prevention review Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), May 18 2022

(The ACMD was commissioned in December 2021 to provide advice on preventing drug use among vulnerable groups of people, and how those groups can be prevented both from first using and from developing dependence on drugs. This report explores the factors that contribute to vulnerability, then examines general principles and specific approaches to prevention that are supported by the available evidence. It also considers the need for the delivery of interventions to be embedded properly in the wider system and context if their potential is to be achieved.)

Recruiting young people from care into NHS careers NHS Employers, May 19 2022

(The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) Looked After Children re-employment programme supports young people with a background in care and unaccompanied asylum seeker children, providing opportunities in NHS roles such as health care support, administration and ancillary. It was developed in partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Next Step and The Prince’s Trust.)

Medical emergencies in eating disorders

Guidance on recognition and management

Source: The King’s Fund

This report finds that signs that someone with an eating disorder is dangerously ill are often missed by health care professionals due to lack of guidance and training. The research finds that hospital admissions for eating disorders have increased by 84 per cent in the past five years, reaching a total of 24,268 admissions. Children and young people with eating disorders are the worst affected, with a rise of 90 per cent in the five-year period. This guidance is aimed at frontline staff so that people with eating disorders needing urgent care can be identified and treated earlier.

Digital Health

Supporting patients

Source: The King’s Fund

Putting patients first: championing good practice in combatting digital health inequalities

This report focuses on digital health inequalities and the impact that digital exclusion is having on health in the UK. It highlights different reasons for disparities in a person’s ability to access and use digital health technology and provides insights into the severity of the UK’s digital inequalities. It looks at four case studies demonstrating unique ways to combat digital health inequalities and improve access, and use of digital health technology for patients.

Patient engagement with digital health care: lessons from the Care City test bed

Health apps and digital tools have the potential to help alleviate some of the huge pressures the NHS faces from Covid-19, the backlog of care and rising demand. But introducing these tools into health care and supporting people to use them is never a quick fix, and they will not work for everyone. This summary provides a set of lessons for ensuring digital health innovations are applied in optimal ways for the people using them. The findings are based on a large-scale evaluation of digital technologies being implemented in health and social care in east London.

Lunch and Learn

Recovery college and wellbeing

Thank you to everyone who attended our May lunch and learn session with Suzie Smith who talked us through what goes on in the recovery college. She discussed the importance of working with NHS volunteers and how people can get involved with the college. There are a wide range of courses held for free by the college focusing on both mental health aspects and life skills (how to cope financially with the rising costs of living). If you or anyone you know may be interested then make sure you get in touch with Suzie or the Recovery College. They are open Monday to Friday 9-4:30 and are based at Minerva in Deepdale.

If you would like to catch up on the session, please feel free to watch our recording here:

Library-Lunch-and-Learn-May-2022-20220518_120334-Meeting-Recording-1Download

We really value your feedback, if you have a spare 2 minutes please complete our short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DN77CCD

Volunteering in NHS Trusts

A new strategic vision

Source: The King’s Fund

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the huge potential and contribution of volunteers and both the NHS Long Term Plan and the most recent workforce plan recognise and commit to maximising the value of volunteers in the NHS. There is now an opportunity for NHS trusts to consider the role of volunteers, develop a strategic approach to volunteering and identify how to move volunteering from an ‘added extra’ to making an integral contribution to the delivery of health care.

Their latest research draws on the current evidence, analysis of NHS trust volunteering and the experiences of trust volunteering services and is presented in two reports:

Lunch and Learn

May session reminder

Just a reminder that this month’s lunch and learn will be held this Wednesday the 18th May with our key speaker Suzie Smith who will be talking about the wellbeing hub at Minerva and the recovery team.

Please follow the Team’s link emailed to you to access the session or email katie.roper@lscft.nhs.uk to ask for an invite to the session.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

King’s Fund Podcast

Leading with compassion: supporting the health and wellbeing of NHS staff

In this new podcast episode the Director of Policy, Sally Warren, sits down with Annie Laverty, Chief Experience Officer at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and Steve Ned, Director of Workforce at Barnsley and Rotherham NHS Foundation Trusts, to explore the role of compassionate leadership in supporting the health and wellbeing of staff.

To listen click the image below: