Welcome to the new style Quality and Safety e-Bulletin
The e-Bulletin brings you the latest news from key national agencies and initiatives across the UK, arranged under themed headings.
The Bulletin will be taking a short break over the summer period. The next issue will be on 30 August 2012.
Your feedback on the e-Bulletin is welcome. Please contact us at .
Ross Scrivener, Claire Constable and Deborah Fisher
RCN Quality, Standards and Innovation Unit
RCN highlights
RCN works with doctors to improve patient safety. The Royal College of Nursing has joined forces with the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) to launch a new universal patient safety system. The National Early Warning Score (NEWS) consists of a standardised bedside chart and uses universally recognised terminology to make it easier for clinical staff to recognise and respond to a patient whose condition is deteriorating. The system can be used in both acute and community care settings. The RCN led on the development of a key part of the work, an e-learning portal, for use by all staff groups, from health care assistants to hospital consultants. A film about NEWS is also available.
National Early Warning Score (NEWS) online training resource.
Royal College of Physicians: National Early Warning Score (NEWS): Standardising the assessment of acute-illness severity in the NHS.
‘This is nursing’ film.The film supports the RCN’s This is Nursing work and offers an insight into the critical role nursing staff play in restoring the health and wellbeing of their patients. It reflects the challenges and huge rewards that a career in nursing can bring and shows nurses and health care assistants offering care and support in various clinical areas and in both acute and community settings. More on the This is nursing initiative will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
New Policy Briefings from the RCN Policy and International Department:
· Policy briefing 16/12 Personal health records and information management (PDF 303.KB). This briefing summarises the RCN vision for personal health information management, how ICT can support this vision and what needs to be done to overcome barriers to achieve the changes required. It is intended to inform all aspects of records development, record standards development and nursing educational programmes.
· Policy briefing 17/12 NHS failure regime (PDF 422.1KB). The RCN is deeply concerned that some organisations in the NHS could fail. Failure could be where: patients cannot be treated safely; an organization is no longer financially sustainable; both of these. This briefing provides an overview of the current and future approaches to an NHS failure regime.
· Policy briefing 18/12 New Monitor in England. (PDF 177KB). This briefing note sets out how the role of Monitor is changing under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Although much is still unknown about how Monitor will implement the changes set out in law, this briefing provides an overview of what we know and raises some issues for nurses.
· Policy briefing 19/12 Clinical Commissioning Groups: an overview of the authorisation process (PDF 97.6KB). The Health and Social Care Act 2012 includes radical reform of the way that health care is commissioned in England. This RCN factual briefing is intended as a user-friendly summary of the authorisation process for CCGs, focusing in particular on the nursing role in the new commissioning landscape.
· Policy briefing 20/12 Social Care Reform (PDF 3481.KB). This briefing examines the detail of the white paper, draft bill and funding progress report and reflects on the positives and negatives in relation to the RCN’s positions and how changes will impact on service users and patients, their families and carers, and care and support staff.
Lightbulb innovations: Easing the pain of hip fractures. In Poole, nurse Mandy Layzell and her team developed a service to reduce pain for patients who have fractured their hip, by providing a nurse-led femoral block service, delivered by injection. As soon as possible after a patient arrives in A&E, the team makes an assessment, obtains consent and performs the block.
President and deputy president re-elected. RCN President Andrea Spyropoulos and Deputy President Cecilia Anim have been elected unopposed for their second two-year terms of office.
New Chair of RCN Governance Support Committee. Kevin Bell, RCN Council Member for Northern Ireland, has been elected as the new Chair of the RCN Governance Support Committee. This committee has responsibility for ensuring the governance of the RCN is fit for purpose, and supports effective, timely decision making informed by RCN members’ views.
RCN members shine in Olympic ceremony. In a performance celebrating the role of the NHS in British society, RCN members joined other health care staff in a dance routine, thrilling the crowd in the Olympic stadium and a global television audience of millions.
Catch up with the RCN Bulletin. The August issue of the RCN Bulletin is now available to read online. It includes an article on the National Early Warning Score developments.
NICE consultation gateway
The NICE consultation gateway pages have been updated and include all the details about current consultations and how to get involved that previously appeared as a separate section within this bulletin. We will highlight these pages in every bulletin. You can find out about the NICE consultations the RCN is involved in atCurrent consultations.
NICE seeks nurses for diabetes group. NICE is looking for community diabetes specialist nurses and nurse practitioners who work in primary care to apply for places on the guideline development group for type 2 diabetes. The group will meet every six to ten weeks for approximately 18 months from October. Travel and subsistence costs will be reimbursed. Interested practitioners will be required to provide a copy of their CV, a completed equalities form and a declaration of interest form. NICE seeks members for its independent advisory committee on the use of medical technologies.
NICE seeks nurses for technologies group. NICE is recruiting members for its independent advisory committee on the use of medical technologies. Applications are particularly welcome from nurses with experience of technologies aiming to promote more independent living and/or out-of-hospital treatment.Experience of research and of interpretation of complex data from work in an academic setting would be an advantage. The application deadline is 24th August 2012.Further details at NICE is recruiting members to join its Medical Technologies Advisory Committee (MTAC).
RCN events
The RCN organises an annual programme of events and conferences, including RCN Congress, to support all health care professionals with their personal and professional development. See:
· RCN national events
· England regions and branches
· Northern Ireland
· Scotland
· Wales.
RCN Scotland: Supporting Better Care September to October 2012. RCN Scotland is hosting a development programme for all Health Care Support Workers/Care Assistants to enhance their knowledge and practice and therefore extend their competence and confidence in direct care. This programme is free of charge to HCSW RCN members and an Independent Learning Allowance (ILA) is available for the programme. For further information on the programme please contact Susan Watt by email at or or by telephone on 0131 662 6152.
See also RCN accredited events and conferences.
For further information about accreditation and endorsement processes see RCN accreditation.
Quality and safety news
News highlights are:
BBC Health: Hinchingbrooke Hospital's bosses claim improved care. The first private company to run an NHS hospital claims it has cut waiting times, improved care and delivered savings in its first six months.
DH: Structure of Public Health England. This factsheet sets out the proposed structure for when Public Health England comes into being in April 2013.
DH: Consultation on joint strategic needs assessment and joint health and wellbeing strategy guidance. Proposals for the duties of health and wellbeing boards have been published. The draft guidance, on which views are being sought, provides a framework for NHS and local government to work together to undertake joint strategic needs assessments(JSNA) and joint health and wellbeing strategies (JHWS). The consultation closes on 28 September 2012.
Guardian: Labour puts pressure on Lansley over nurses cleaning wards. Labour has put pressure on health secretary Andrew Lansley to investigate after it emerged that nurses at a cash-strapped hospital are being forced to clean wards.
Nurses wash wards as cover for cleaners at cash-strapped hospital. Nursing staff at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust forced to clean wards despite warnings it would divert them from patient care.
Health in Wales: Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Jewell retires. Dr Jewell has spent six years in the role, providing independent professional advice and guidance to the First Minister and the Welsh Government on health and healthcare matters.
NHS Commissioning Board: Strategic clinical networks. The NHS Commissioning Board Authority has set out its plan for a small number of national networks to improve health services for specific patient groups or conditions. Called strategic clinical networks, these organisations will build on the success of network activity in the NHS which, over the last 10 years, has led to significant improvements in the delivery of patient care.
NHS Improvement: Cardiovascular diseases outcomes strategy survey. The strategy will set out what needs to be done to deliver improved outcomes for CVD – from prevention, through to diagnosis and treatment, long-term support and end-of-life care and will need to take into account demographic changes such as an aging population and increasing obesity. The survey closes on 28 September 2012.
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC): Appointment of Mark Addison as Chair of NMC. Mark Addison who is a non-executive Director at the National Archives and has previously held several senior positions in the Civil Service, will take up his post in the autumn and the appointment will be for 18 months initially.
RCN: RCN seek meeting with new NMC Chair. The Royal College of Nursing is to seek a meeting with the newly-appointed Chair of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a matter of urgency.
Welsh Government: NHS WalesChief Executive’s annual report 2011/12. NHS Wales has made “significant advances over the past 12 months in improving access to treatment and delivering improved quality of care”, according to the annual report from Chief Executive, David Sissling.
Health in Wales: NHS reducing hospital admissions for chronic conditions. Figures from the annual report show emergency admissions for heart disease, respiratory conditions and diabetes fell by almost 12 per cent overall in 2011/12 compared to the previous year.
Welsh Government: Health Minister proposes a new relationship between the Government, the NHS and the public. Health Minister Lesley Griffiths has launched a conversation around how the NHS, the public and the Government in Wales can work better together on improving health and health services. The consultation is asking people to offer their views to help drive improvements faster. How can services be improved? How can the NHS improve the way it works with communities and offers advice to individuals? Can people be better helped to manage their own health and health problems? The consultation closes on 24 October 2012.
Quality improvement
Audit, reviews, legislation
Diabetes UK: Over 80 hospitals lack specialist footcare teams. Based on data from the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit, there are over 80 hospitals in England and Wales that do not have the specialist diabetes footcare teams that are widely recognised as being important for preventing diabetes-related amputations.
BBC Health: Diabetic foot care 'appalling’.
DH: Guides to monitoring quality during transition. A series of “How to” guides to assist current NHS organisations, and their supervisory and regulatory bodies, to respond to quality risks and failures within a simple and single framework during this transition year has been produced. Two earlier guides are also signposted. The three published in July by the National Quality Board are:
· How to: organise and run a rapid responsive review (PDF 758.2)
· How to: quality impact assess provider cost improvement plans (PDF 3.4MB)
· How to: organise and run a risk summit: 2012/13 (PDF 295.2KB).
DH: New NHS internal audit standards published. The issue of these standards ensures that those responsible for establishing, delivering and reviewing internal audit across the NHS continue to do so within a consistent framework.
Guardian: Cancer care varies widely depending on postcode, says survey. Data from the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) has shown the rate of urgent GP referrals to hospital for patients with suspected cancer ranges from under 830 to more than 2,550 in every 100,000 patients a year.
NCIN press release: Wide variation in number of patients GP refer with suspected cancer (PDF 87KB).
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales: Nursing & Midwifery Council Report on the HIW's Local Supervising Authority 2012. The purpose of the review was to examine the function of the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) Local Supervising Authority (LSA). The Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) has a responsibility to assess that all the requirements regarding supervision of midwives are in place and monitored by the LSA.
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP):Child diabetes multi-site audit releases parent leaflet. The project team for the multi-site audit has released an information leaflet aimed at parents of children with the condition, What care to expect when your child is admitted into hospital. The publication follows the report from the HQIP-commissioned multi-site audit, released in February this year.
See also the audit report atInpatient Audit of Children with Diabetes (PDF 221KB).
HQIP: DH asks local clinical audit staff for data burden feedback. In an effort to try and reduce future data request burdens, the DH is asking relevant clinical audit staff to complete cancer audit-specific short surveys in order to feedback on the time and input required to complete national audits locally. The surveys, created by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care which is coimmissioned by HQIP to carry out the audits, relate to the national Bowel, Head and Neck, Lung and Oesophago-gastric cancer audits. If successful, similar surveys may be carried out for all NCAPOP audits.
HQIP: HQIP Stakeholder Survey 2012. From 27 February to the 2 April 2012, HQIP ran its second survey abouttheir work, asking for feedback on what was done well and where improvements could be made and received 255 responses. The vast majority of respondents – 77 per cent– were clinical audit staff.