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

NHS Five Year Forward View Recap briefing for the Health Select Committee – NHS England
Following the Health Select Committee evidence session yesterday, NHS England are publishing the technical briefing that sits alongside the Five Year Forward View financial assessment of the NHS.

Outpatient services and primary care: scoping review, substudies and international comparisons, Health Services and Delivery Research, Vol:4, Iss:15
For many conditions, high-quality care in the community can be provided and is popular with patients. There is little conclusive evidence on the cost-effectiveness of the provision of more care in the community. In developing new models of care for the NHS, it should not be assumed that community-based care will be cheaper than conventional hospital-based care. Possible reasons care in the community may be more expensive include supply-induced demand and addressing unmet need through new forms of care and through loss of efficiency gained from concentrating services in hospitals. Evidence from this study suggests that further shifts of care into the community can be justified only if (a) high value is given to patient convenience in relation to NHS costs or (b) community care can be provided in a way that reduces overall health-care costs. However, reconfigurations of services are often introduced without adequate evaluation and it is important that new NHS initiatives should collect data to show whether or not they have added value, and improved quality and patient and staff experience.

NHS England reveals breakdown of £22bn savings plan – Health Service Journal
More than £6.5bn of the £22bn efficiencies the NHS needs to make by 2021 will come from “national” interventions like continued pay restraint and cuts to the community pharmacy contract, according to NHS England figures released on Monday afternoon.

Hunt admits health funding was not protected in spending review – Health Service Journal
Jeremy Hunt has acknowledged that the full health budget was not protected in the government’s spending review.

End of life care
The Care Quality Commission has published a suite of documents under the collective title A different ending: addressing inequalities in end of life care.  The documents have been produced as part of the CQC end of life care thematic review and are designed to be read in conjunction with each other.  They include an overview report, people’s experience briefings and examples of good practice case studies.  The review looks at ‘how dying patients are treated across various settings’. In particular, it focused on end of life care for people who may be less likely to receive good care, whether because of diagnosis, age, ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or social circumstances.

Research publication by Trust staff:

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Extended Brief Intervention for Alcohol-Dependent Patients in an Acute Hospital Setting. Alcohol Alcohol. 2016 May 5;Authors: Owens L, Kolamunnage-Dona R, Owens A, Perkins L, Butcher G, Wilson K, Beale S, Mahon J, Williamson P, Gilmore I, Pirmohamed M
AIMS: To determine whether alcohol-dependent patients in a hospital setting benefit from extended brief interventions (EBI) delivered by an Alcohol Specialist Nurse.
METHODS: Alcohol-dependent patients recruited via screening at the emergency department (ED) (n = 267), whether or not admitted to hospital, were randomized to EBI (up to six counselling sessions offered) or control. At 6 months, 84.2% of patients were assessed by a researcher blinded to the intervention. The primary outcome was a fall in Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire.
RESULTS: There was no difference between groups in the primary outcome [odds ratio (OR) 1.02; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38, 2.75, P = 0.97]. Secondary outcomes including alcohol consumption and readiness to change did not show a significant difference between groups. However, all secondary outcome measures improved, on average, in both arms.
CONCLUSIONS: Although EBI can be delivered in an ED or inpatient setting, it was not shown to be an advantage over screening and usual management (which included advice on alternative services), with patients in both groups showing an average improvement.

Regional review of medical education and training in the East of England: 2015-16 –  General Medical Council (GMC)
This report outlines the findings of a review into medical education and training organisations in the east of England and it highlights a number of areas of good practice such as the University of East Anglia’s programme designed to encourage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to consider a career in medicine. The review found the main challenge in hospitals was the increasing workload, which made it difficult to ensure high quality training as it decreased the time available for on-the-job learning in wards, clinics and theatre. It also reduced the time available for doctors in training to attend teaching.

Apprenticeship standard for health promotion assistant role – NHS Employers
A survey for employers will gauge interest in developing an apprenticeship standard for the role of health promotion assistant.

Little progress by ‘integration pioneers’, DH’s study finds – Policy Innovation Research Unit
An independent evaluation of the initiative, which was designed to bring about joined up care, found that many of its sites have scaled back their ambitions. And, it said the wider health policy environment had become less supportive of transformation since the pioneers launched.

Optimal hospital payment rules under rationing by random waiting –  Centre for Health Economics (CHE)
This paper derives optimal rules for paying hospitals in a public health care system in which providers can choose quality and random patient demand is rationed by waiting time.