Current Awareness Update No. 25

Date: 06 January 2012

KEYWORDS:NHS Reforms; Ambulance Services; Public attitudes to the NHS; NHS Pathways; Public Engagement; Finance; Quality;Performance; Public Engagement; Staff Engagement; Management of Change; clinician patient communication; Vulnerable Adults; Migrant Health; Veterans Health; Children and Young People; Telehealth; Atlas of Variation

WHAT’S IN THIS UPDATE:

NHS Reformscontinue to generate publications. The British Medical Association has set out its opposition to the reform process in a briefing document (British Medical Association, 2011). The Department of Health is beginning to set out the future structures for Public Health in England (Department of Health, 2012a), together with more detail on Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and joint health and wellbeing strategies (Department of Health, 2011a).

Ambulance Services The London Assembly published a strategic review of the London Ambulance Service(London Assembly: Health and Public Services Committee, 2011). Satisfaction with Ambulance Services is reported tohave gone up in the British Social Attitudes survey of public attitudes to the NHS(British Social Attitudes, 2010). NHS Connecting for Health, have released more information on the ongoing roll out of NHS Pathways on their website (NHS Connecting for Health, 2011).

Finance Quality and Performance The Department of Health published the quarterly update on the financial performance of the NHS(Department of Health, 2012b). The NHS Confederation (NHS Confederation, 2012) have produced a briefing on the NHS Operating Framework. The Department of Health published the NHS Out comes Framework 2012/13 which builds on the Operating Framework 2012/13 (Department of Health, 2012c). MONITOR published their six monthly review of NHS Foundation Trusts indicating financial risk ratings for NHS FT’s in England (MONITOR, 2011).

The Rand Corporation published an international overview of the use of performance measures in health care (Damberg et al., 2011). The Health Foundation also produced research that looked at clinician patient communication as a driver for improving quality (Fischer & Ereaut, 2011).

EngagementNHS Employers have produced a webpage and resources looking at how to engage staff during periods of change, including a toolkit (NHS Employers, 2012). The Department of Health have also published a study looking at barriers to the adoption of innovation in the NHS (Department of Health, 2011b). NHS Central Lancashire have produced a tool kit aimed at encouraging public engagement in the NHS (NHS Central Lancashire, 2011).

Patient Groups Department of Health have commissioned an extensive guidance document with case studies summarising the Law in England and Wales regarding safeguarding vulnerable adults published by SCIE (Mandelstam, 2011). The Health Protection Agency have updated their recent report on Migrant Health and infectious diseases (Health Protection Agency, 2011). Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust Library & Information Service publish a regular blog looking at issues related to Veterans Health(Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust Library & Information Service, 2012).

Children and Young People ChiMat publish a number of research studies published about and for young people on relevant health issues including Accidents and Emergencies (Child and Maternal Health Observatory, 2012). The NHS Information Centre have published the latest data from the Child Measurement survey looking at trends in child height and weight (NHS The Information Centre, 2012).

Telehealth Department of Health published the results of a whole system demonstrator project in Telehealth(COPD, diabetes and heart disease) reporting good early results (Department of Health, 2012d).

Atlas of Variation shows geographic variation inaccessing the NHSfor treatment including measures like alcohol related admissions and use of A&E(RightCare, 2012).

THIS MONTHS NEWSLETTERS AND BULLETINS

AHP Bulletin – from the Department of Health. Useful insight into the way DOH is thinking about Allied Health Professions

Allied Health Professionals Network North West – Latest News

AQuA Bulletin- your regular e-newsletter which keeps you up

to date with all the latest developments in AQuA.

Child and Maternal Health Observatory [ChiMat] – Newsletter and Update

End of Life Care Programme

Medical Directors Bulletin – from Department of Health

MONITOR NHS Foundation Trust Bulletin available from:

the week –from the Department of Health

the month - from the Department of Health

the quarter - from the Department of Health

STATISTICS

Ambulance Quality Indicators are available from:

Weekly Ambulance Statistics are available from:

MISSED AN UPDATE?

All items included in this and previous updates is

FULL TEXT ACCESS

Full references with links are below.To View:Click on the link using CTRL + click to follow link or Cut (CTRL C) and Paste (CTRL V) the link into your browser. Alternatively e-mail Matt.Holland [ for full text.

British Medical Association. (2011). Health and Social Care Bill. Why the BMA is opposing the whole Bill (pp. 1-5). London. Retrieved from

British Social Attitudes. (2010). NHS - Taking the pulse: attitudes to the health service. British Social Attitudes 28 (pp. 141-150). London: NatCen Social Research. Retrieved from

Child and Maternal Health Observatory. (2012). Research Summaries - young people’s health and well-being. Retrieved January 4, 2012, from

Damberg, C. L., Sorbero, M. E., Lovejoy, S. L., Lauderdale, K., Wertheimer, S., Smith, A., Waxman, D., et al. (2011). An Evaluation of the Use of Performance Measures in Health Care (pp. 1-70). Santa Monica, CA. Retrieved from

Department of Health. (2011a). Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and joint health and wellbeing strategies explained. Commissioning for populations (pp. 1-24). London. Retrieved from

Department of Health. (2011b). Accelerating adoption of innovation in the NHS. Department of Health. Retrieved from

Department of Health. (2012a). New public health system takes shape as more details published. London: Department of Health. Retrieved January 4, 2012, a from

Department of Health. (2012b). the quarter. Quarter 2 2011/12. An update from David Flory, Deputy NHS Chief Executive. the quarter, 2011/12(2), 1-64. Retrieved from

Department of Health. (2012c). The NHS Outcomes Framework 2012/13 (pp. 1-18). London. Retrieved from

Department of Health. (2012d). Telehealth trial shows early success. Department of Health. Retrieved January 4, 2012, d from

Fischer, M., & Ereaut, G. (2011). Can changing clinician – patient interactions improve healthcare quality? A scoping report for the Health Foundation (pp. 1-60). London. Retrieved from

Health Protection Agency. (2011). Migrant Health : Infectious diseases in non-UK born populations in the UK. An update to the baseline report - 2011 (pp. 1-115). London. Retrieved from

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust Library & Information Service. (2012). Veterans Mental Health. Retrieved January 4, 2012, from

London Assembly: Health and Public Services Committee. (2011). The future of the London Ambulance Service. A strategic review (pp. 1-63). London. Retrieved from of the LAS_final report.pdf

MONITOR. (2011). NHS foundation trusts : review of six months to 30 September 2011 (pp. 1-9). London. Retrieved from

Mandelstam, M. (2011). Safeguarding adults at risk of harm : A legal guide for practitioners. Adult’ Services SCIE Report 50 (pp. 1-299). London. Retrieved from

NHS Central Lancashire. (2011). Public Engagement: A toolkit for health commissioners and partner organisations (pp. 1-55). Leyland, Lancashire. Retrieved from

NHS Confederation. (2012). Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2012/13. Briefing December 2011 Issue 232 (pp. 1-8). London. Retrieved from

NHS Connecting for Health. (2011). New clinical assessment tool release pressure on ambulance and A&E — NHS Connecting for Health. Retrieved January 4, 2012, from assessment tool releasing pressure on ambulance and A&E

NHS Employers. (2012). Engaging your staff during periods of change. Retrieved January 4, 2012, from

NHS The Information Centre. (2012). National Child Measurement Programme: England, 2010/11 school year. Leeds: The NHS IC. Retrieved January 4, 2012, from

RightCare. (2012). Atlas of Variation: NHS Right Care. Retrieved January 4, 2012, from

Matt Holland

January 2012