Dalton tells Hunt to ‘do what is necessary’ on junior doctors’ contract – Health Service Journal
Sir David Dalton has written to Jeremy Hunt advising the government to do “whatever it deems necessary” after a final offer for junior doctors was refused by the British Medical Association.
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Acute Frailty Network – Dr Jack Hawkins – Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
Can we get a movement? The acute frailty network has been going for over a year now. It was born, sister of the successful ambulatory emergency care network, in the spring of Autumn of 2014. Cohort one is nearly over, and we have been impressed that the conversations we are able to have with ten different teams are broadly the same:

• Agree an aim, a vision for good care
• Get a team together, find our patients by using simple tools
• Do the same things with them every time (CGA) as early as possible
• Evaluate what we are doing and embed the good and leave what’s not working

Pathology Optimisation – Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
Pathology Optimisation is an innovative way of ensuring that patients receive the best care possible from the use of laboratory testing.  Overtesting is not without a risk of harm, either through incorrect further investigations, action, or patient worry. It has delivered using the model of existing medicines optimisation teams in CCGs, working on:

• clinical effectiveness,
• understanding variation,
• engagement.

Supporting Staff Innovation At Aintree Hospital With Directors’ Dragons’ Den – Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
There is a rumour that there are dragons lurking in Aintree University Hospital; mighty dragons they say, residing in a den with powers to change reality… That sounds like the beginning of a fantasy genre book but there is, in fact, an element of truth to this.   The dragons in question are the panel of the bi-annual Directors’ Dragons’ Den innovation fund. Aintree staff can bid for one-off funding of up to £25k to assist them with improvement work without impacting on department budgets, helping in our Trust vision of getting it right for every patient every time.

Sustainability in the NHS – Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
The HFMA surveyed its members to gather their thoughts on environment sustainability as it launches a new special interest group which focusses on aspects of wider sustainability in the NHS. This briefing summarises the findings. Please note that registration is required to download this document.

Top Tips to Avoid Death – Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
There are two national measure of mortality; HMSR and SHMI.  Traditionally Trusts focused on HSMR, however when SHMI was introduced, Aintree was highlighted as having one of the highest SHMI scores in the country. In response to this situation, Aintree Hospital Management Board approved a 12 month Project to focus on three key work streams; Acute Kidney Failure (AKI), Sepsis and Pneumonia as it is well documented that the implementation of time critical clinical interventions for these conditions can considerably reduce mortality.  The interventions are nationally known as Sepsis Six care bundle and AKI care bundle.

Breakfast club is a success on Scotter Ward – Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
A new breakfast club for patients is proving a success at John Coupland Hospital, Gainsborough.  Monday to Wednesday every week patients from a different bay enjoy making their own breakfast and cup of tea with support from therapy staff on Scotter Ward at John Coupland Hospital.

Winter pressures: what’s going on behind the scenes?   – Nuffield Trust
This latest analysis from QualityWatch, a joint Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation research programme, tracks performance across 29 different indicators over the past five years (from spring 2010 to autumn 2015) to shine a light on the pressure hospital services experience in winter.

Review of information technology in the NHS
The Department of Health and the National Information Board has announced details of a review Making IT work: harnessing the power of health IT to improve care in England. The review will examine the use of computer systems across the NHS looking at places where IT has worked well and those areas that need improving. It will also look at different ways to implement IT in healthcare as the NHS works towards being paperless by 2020.

NICE Quality Standard updated
NICE has issued an updated quality standard:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults (QS10).This quality standard was previously called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease quality standard. A new statement on emergency oxygen during an exacerbation has been added and the other quality statements have been updated.

Child health services
The Nuffield Trust has published The future of child health services: new models of care. This briefing describes the current state of child health and quality of care in the UK, including problems around increasing use of hospitals to treat conditions that could be dealt with in other settings; capacity issues in primary care; and the often disjointed care provided between hospitals and the community. It then looks some examples of new models of care which have been emerging both within the Vanguard scheme and inspired by it and how they are responding to these issues.

Public satisfaction with the NHS in 2015
The Kings Fund has published Public satisfaction with the NHS in 2015. The data taken from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) asked the public about their views on, and feelings towards, the NHS, health care and issues generally. The latest survey was carried out between July and October 2015 and asked a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 people about their satisfaction with the NHS overall, and of more than 1,000 people about their satisfaction with individual NHS services.

NICE Bites
The January 2016 NICE Bites bulletin from the North West Medicines Information Service covers Type 2 diabetes (NG28).  The aim of this publication is to provide healthcare professionals with a clear and succinct summary of key prescribing points taken from the NICE guidance, NG28.  This guideline covers the management of type 2 diabetes in adults.

Working with the NHS to ensure a healthy economy
The NHS Confederation has issued a flyer as part of a campaign to highlight the health sector’s increasing role in supporting local growth and regional prosperity.  Working with the NHS to ensure a healthy economy is the first in a host of resources for NHS and non-NHS audiences, which will focus on positioning the health sector as an important investment opportunity and helping non-health sectors understand how to work with the NHS.

Consultation on clinical commissioning policies and service specifications
NHS England has launched a thirty day public consultation on a number of proposed new products for specialised services, (including service specifications and clinical commissioning policies). There has already been extensive engagement on these national specifications and policies, as they have been developed with the support and input of lead clinicians and patient and public representatives. The consultation period runs until the 5 March 2016.  

Warning about rise in block contracts risking patient choice
The NHS Partners Network (NHSPN) has raised concerns about the number of block contracts commissioned by clinical commissioning groups for NHS-funded elective care procedures.  The procedures have risen by nearly one-third (32%) in one year, to nearly £2.8 billion, according to new data released by the (NHSPN). The network is warning that the rise of block contracts threatens the government policy that patients should be enabled to exercise their legal right to choose their healthcare provider for an elective operation.

NHS reference costs collection guidance
The Department of Health has published Reference costs guidance 2015 to 2016.  This document sets out requirements for the collection of 2015 to 2016 reference costs from NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts between 20 June and 29 July 2016. It follows feedback from the NHS on draft collection guidance.

Statistics

• NHS Safety Thermometer Report – England January 2015 – January 2016