Contact the Library for further information on any of the topics listed below.

Isle of Wight Trust drops FT bid – Health Service Journal
Isle of Wight Trust has dropped its bid for foundation trust status.  Last week the trust’s board agreed to close down its programme to become an FT, which was launched in 2012.

Women’s hospital proposes relocation to acute trust site – Health Service Journal
Liverpool Women’s Foundation Trust has concluded that its hospital needs to be relocated to a site that offers adult acute services. Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group will now lead a review of women’s and premature babies services ahead of an anticipated public consultation later this year.

Trust warns of ‘significant’ quality and safety risks if private provider keeps contract – Health Service Journal
The loss of a £126m contract to another provider could cause multiple staffing and patient care issues, a trust has said.  An impact assessment prepared by Kent Community Health Foundation Trust said if it lost the work in north Kent there would be a “significant risk in terms of either financial, reputational, safety or quality of patient care”.

700 community staff to be transferred twice in months – Health Service Journal
More than 700 community staff in Greater Manchester will have to transfer to a new employer twice in quick succession.

Nurses and midwives are busy preparing for revalidation – NHS Employers
The majority of nurses and midwives, who are due to revalidate in April, have begun their applications. Is your workforce prepared?

• Visit our revalidation pages on the Library website

Improving the quality and safety of patient care – DOH
“This brochure outlines some of the initiatives the UK is currently pursuing, and the organisations which are leading the way in standards of safety. The different sections also provide information on the partners who can best help you achieve your goal of safer, better healthcare.”

Patient safety is not a luxury – The Lancet
Editorial: The fundamental tenet of medicine, first do no harm, seems obvious for the provision of high quality health care. Yet in the UK alone, on average, one incident of patient harm is reported every 35 seconds. Since the publication of the US Institute of Medicine report To Err is Human in 1999, improving reporting of harm and implementing measures to improve patient safety have been prioritised by health-care providers worldwide. However, statistics such as those reported in the UK clearly show that more needs to be done.

New patient safety body to carry out ‘no blame’ investigations – Health Service Journal
The new body to examine clinical errors in the NHS is expected to operate within a “safe space” with evidence protected to encourage the service to cooperate with investigations, it has emerged. Evidence submitted to Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch could be protected to create a “safe space” for learning Mike Durkin says HSIB will rely on NHS Improvement for “pay and rations” HSIB will develop “exemplar model” of investigations for NHS organisations to follow locally.

All NHS staff to get 1 per cent pay rise – Health Service Journal
All NHS staff will receive a 1 per cent pay rise in 2016-17 after the Department of Health accepted the latest pay review body recommendations.

• Department of Health accepts overall 1 per cent pay rise for all NHS staff
• NHS Pay Review Body raises concerns over use of agency caps for NHS staff
• Review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration says it may target pay in future

Integrating services to improve patient care
The Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of General Practitioners have published Patient care: a unified approach.  This document contains nine case studies where GPs and physicians have worked closely together to produce new and integrated services. The case studies span a wide range of services in England and Wales, covering different specialties, different population groups and different ways of addressing complex issues.

Pay circular: Agenda for Change
NHS Employers has issued a new pay circular for Agenda for Change staff.  This pay and conditions circular informs employers of pay from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 for staff whose contracts of employment incorporate nationally agreed pay provisions in the NHS terms and conditions of service handbook (Agenda for Change).

Encouraging electronic referrals to hospital
NHS England is encouraging CCGs to support GPS and hospitals to adopt the practice of electronic referrals and will release up to £55m of funding to encourage all referrals to made digitally by 2018.  Currently around 50% of patients are referred for hospital appointments electronically.  It is intended this will increase to 60% by September 2016, 80% by 2017 and 100% by 2018.  NHS England and NHS Improvement also plan to consult on a proposal that by 2018 NHS commissioners and providers will no longer be paid for referrals made by paper.