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• UHMBT awarded £80k to further improve the safety of services
  University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) have been awarded £80,000 following the government’s plans to make England […]
• Trust wins prestigious award
  University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) has won the Improving Value Through Innovative Financial Management or Procurement […]

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Legal change ‘needed for STP next steps  
  Legal change is needed for sustainability and transformation partnerships to be successful, a leading think tank has said.
• All A&Es to stay open under proposals for troubled health economy  
  Four acute hospitals in a troubled health economy will all retain their emergency departments, but look set to share more services and staff under proposals by local clinicians.
• ‘No way’ NHS should ask for extra funding before tackling waste  
  The surgeon leading the national programme to reduce clinical variation in the NHS says there is “no way” he would ask for extra funding until the service improves efficiency and quality of care.
• Nine hospitals singled out over cladding fears  
  Nine hospitals with the highest fire risks due to the use of external cladding have been identified for intensive support from NHS Improvement in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.
• Savings drive softened after ‘top-down pressure’ complaints  
  NHS regulators have moved to clarify instructions that were issued to struggling health economies after local leaders complained of excessive “top-down pressure” and unrealistic expectations of the financial savings they were expected to deliver.
• £30m tender to recruit GPs from overseas  
  NHS England is preparing to tender a framework worth £30m for companies to source 500 GPs from abroad to help tackle the NHS’s shortage, HSJ has learned.
• Thousands of private hospitals and care homes ordered to check fire safety 
  The Care Quality Commission has told more than 31,000 people working for care homes, independent hospitals and hospices to carry out urgent fire safety reviews following the Grenfell Tower fire.
• Acute and mental health trusts to combine leadership teams  
  An acute trust and a community and mental health trust will create a joint executive management team after agreeing to “formal collaboration”.
• CCG leader appointed director of troubled STP  
  A commissioning leader from the North West has been appointed as director for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent sustainability and transformation partnership, HSJ has learned.
• CQC criticises ‘unsafe’ digital GP service
  The Care Quality Commission has uncovered unsafe prescribing practises at another digital health provider, including a doctor prescribing sleeping disorder drug to keep a person awake for work.
• NHS struggling to maintain fire safety 
  NHS trusts face significant fire safety risks, research by HSJ has shown.
• Largest ever CCG merger paused for at least a year  
  The biggest ever proposed clinical commissioning group merger has been paused for at least a year, the three Merseyside CCGs involved have said.

Tackling variations in clinical care: Assessing the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme.  – The King’s Fund
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme aims to bring about higher-quality care in hospitals, at lower cost, by reducing unwanted variations in services and practices.

Delivery costs extra: can STPs survive without the funding they need? – British Medical Association (BMA)
This report analyses all 44 STP plans and highlights concerns around poor engagement with clinicians, patients and the public and the challenging timeline of STP implementation without upfront funding to deliver the plans. The report is also accompanied by a paper summarising each STP plan and a glossary of commonly used acronyms.

Capital collaborations between the NHS and local authorities  – HFMA
This briefing provides background on the local authority and NHS funding mechanisms, including the prudential code under which local authority treasury management and borrowing is determined. It sets out the problems that NHS bodies currently face in relation to capital funding and identifies some opportunities for working together on capital projects.

NHS RightCare Pathway: Diabetes 
The pathway defines the core components of an optimal diabetes service for people with or at risk of developing Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes that delivers the better value in terms of outcomes and cost. It allows commissioners to think about their existing diabetes service and compare it with an optimal diabetes service. It provides guidance for commissioners about the scale of improvements that could be delivered through optimization of local pathways

Winter warning: managing risk in health and care this winter – NHS Providers
This report highlights concerns from NHS leaders around the ability of the health system to respond to mounting pressures next winter. It argues that the extra £1bn social care funding committed to easing delayed transfers of care will not be sufficient with 91 per cent of trusts reporting a lack of capacity in social care. The report calls for a funding injection of £350m to ensure that there is enough capacity across the system and to ensure adequate resourcing.

Investigation: clinical correspondence handling at NHS Shared Business Services –  
National Audit Office (NAO)
In March 2016, NHS Shared Business Service (NHS SBS) informed NHS England and the Department of Health that it had discovered a backlog of approximately 435,000 items of unprocessed clinical and other correspondence. This report outlines the findings of an  investigation into how NHS SBS handled unprocessed clinical correspondence. As at 31 May 2017, the review of the backlog of correspondence has found 1,788 cases of potential harm to patients and NHS England have estimated that the cost of the incident will be at least £6.6 million.

Checklist for recruiting CCG lay members – NHS Clinical Commissioners
This checklist aims to support CCGs with recruiting lay members and provides a series of questions that can be asked to start conversations about both recruitment and succession planning.

The rising cost of clinical negligence: who pays the price? – Medical Protection Society (MPS)
This report estimates that clinical negligence costs in the NHS have increased by 72 per cent over the last five years and that costs could reach £2.6bn a year by 2022. It argues that there should be reasonable compensation for patients who suffer harm due to clinical negligence but that this must be balanced against society’s ability to pay. The report makes recommendations for legal reforms around clinical negligence compensation.

Each baby counts: 2015 summary report – Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG)
This report presents a detailed analysis of all stillbirths, neonatal deaths and brain injuries that occurred during childbirth in 2015 and it identifies key clinical actions needed to improve the quality of care and prevent future cases. The analysis finds that 76 per cent of cases which underwent local review might have had a different outcome with different care.

Principles of consent – RCN
The Royal College of Nursing has published Principles of Consent: guidance for nursing staff.  This document aims to provide information to registered nurses and other nursing staff to guide their practice around consent. It includes who can provide consent; what to do if the person does not consent; advance decisions; children and young people; professional accountability; who should seek consent and when;  Form of consent; duration of consent; and consent for sharing information.

Sustainability and transformation plans: a critical review
London South Bank University has published Sustainability and transformation plans: how serious are the proposals?  A critical review.  This report looks at the 44 sustainability and transformation plans and how they are set up to deliver the level, pace and scale of change required.  Overall the report finds that the STPs are not ready for implementation, with the plans lacking a secure grounding in the current situation, and a robust evidence base to the changes proposed.