Trusts named to test new nursing associate role – Health Service Journal
Health Education England has named the trusts to lead work piloting the new nursing associate role, and confirmed double the number of people will be trained for the new position than originally planned.

How is the NHS performing? September 2016: Quality Monitoring report
R Murray, J Jabbal, J Thompson, D Maguire. The King’s Fund
“This is the 20th report and aims to take stock of what has happened over the past quarter and to assess the state of the health and care system. It provides an update on how the NHS is coping as it continues to grapple with productivity and reform challenges under continued financial pressure.”

Over-ambitious STPs risk ‘blowing up’ because of scary funding shortfall – NHE
Local health economies are developing “vastly over-ambitious” sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) to try to meet multi-million pound funding shortfalls, the chief executive of NHS Providers has told MPs. Speaking at a Health Select Committee inquiry yesterday afternoon, Chris Hopson said that health providers were…

NHS high-risk maintenance backlog increases by 70% – NHE
NHS trusts are increasingly struggling to address serious maintenance concerns with their estate, new figures from NHS Digital show. The level of investment needed for NHS building repairs, used as a measure of the buildings’ quality, increased in the most high-risk areas between 2014-15 and 2015-16. The cost of the high-risk…

No ‘easy fix’ to problems facing NHS finance, despite new planning guidance – NHE
Paul Briddock, director of policy at the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), discusses the new two-year operational planning guidance. Last month, NHS England announced its first two-year operational planning guidance, and set out strict new requirements for providers to meet the challenges facing the NHS in 2017-18 and…

Understanding patient flow in hospitals –Nuffield Trust
This briefing warns that the NHS can no longer find enough bed space to move patients through hospitals quickly and meet key A&E targets – and that its practice of counting patients at midnight means that the true scale of the squeeze is being missed. It estimates that 5.5 per cent of beds need to be free for cleaning and preparation if patients are to be moved through quickly enough to meet the commitment to admit or transfer emergency patients within four hours.

New care models
The King’s Fund has published New care models: Emerging innovations in governance and organisational form. This report looks at the different approaches being taken by multispecialty community provider (MCP) and primary and acute care system (PACS) vanguards for contracting, governance and other organisational infrastructure. It focuses on developments at five sites: Dudley; Sandwell and West Birmingham (Modality Partnership); Salford; Northumberland; and South Somerset (Symphony Project).

End of life care
A collaborative effort between all NHS Wales health boards and trusts has resulted in the TalkCPR’ project being launched. The project aims to improve communication and dialogue between patients and their healthcare professionals with regard to do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) orders. Initially, two videos (in English and Welsh) were produced for patients and carers who wanted to know more about this topic and to help shared decision-making with their clinical team.  The impact of these videos on patients, nurses and doctors was measured through pre- and post-video surveys. The results showed a significant increase in the confidence of staff to openly

Trusts required to publish agency spend details – NHE
NHS trusts and FTs will face greater accountability over their spending on agency staff in the latest financial control measures. In a letter to all NHS trust chief executives and finance directors, Jim Mackey, the chief executive of NHS Improvement, said that although the NHS had met its efficiency targets in the first quarter since a…discuss DNACPR with patients and carers.

Provider bulletin: 12 October 2016 – NHSI
This fortnightly newsletter is sent to NHS trust and foundation trust chairs, chief executives, finance, medical and nursing directors, and foundation trust board secretaries.