BBC NHS performance tracker
The BBC has launched its NHS tracker project which enables people to see how their local service is performing on three key performance targets: four-hour A&E waits; 62-day cancer care and planned operations and treatments.  It will be updated throughout the year as new figures are published.

Staff quality improvement: case study
NHS Employers has published Making it better: staff engagement for quality improvement. This case study highlights work that the Sheffield Teaching Hospital has undertaken on staff engagement as part of its programme of quality improvement.

Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015-2020 – progress report 2016-17 – NHS England
According to this report, the NHS is on-track to transform cancer services in England by 2020/21. It details the investment the NHS is making in cancer transformation, including £130m over the period 2016/18 in new and upgraded radiotherapy equipment and £200m over the next two years to accelerate rapid diagnosis and enhance patients’ quality of life.

Regulation of nursing associates in England – Department of Health
This consultation is seeking views on amendments to the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, to regulate nursing associates in England. The closing date for comments is 26 December 2017.

Emergency department survey 2016 – Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The CQC asked people about their experiences of emergency departments. This report contains the analysis of the results. Patients were generally positive when answering questions about their interactions with staff. Positive responses were also received to questions asking about information provision and communication regarding care and treatment whilst in the emergency department. However, there were less positive results for questions asking about: receiving timely pain relief; emotional support; and information provision when leaving the emergency department.

Commissioning for quality and innovation: enhanced supportive care data tool – NHS England
This updated version of the tool should be used to collect baseline data and return data relevant to each quarter’s payment trigger within the Enhanced supportive care (for advanced cancer patients) commissioning for quality and innovation national goal.

Maintaining reciprocal healthcare for patients after Brexit – NHS Confederation
This briefing considers a post-Brexit scenario in which reciprocal health care arrangements no longer exist and estimates the cost of this at £500 million a year. It warns that travel insurance could become unaffordable for British citizens with pre-existing health conditions and that additional pressure could be placed on an already stretched health service if British people abroad could no longer access reciprocal healthcare.

New materials on prevention and diagnosis of FASD 
The National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome-UK (NOFAS-UK) has launched new materials designed to increase awareness about the risk of prenatal exposure to alcohol. The new materials include posters and a pre-release version of a booklet, which explains how to identify possible cases of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).

Dementia assessment and improvement framework

NHS Improvement has published Dementia assessment and improvement framework. This evidence-based framework contains eight standards to support and enable directors of nursing and medical directors to achieve ‘outstanding’ care standards for those living with dementia during their stay in hospital.

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Government revives plan for medical examiners to review deaths
  The government has revived plans for a national independent medical examiner service to review all deaths reported to coroners.
• Trust pulls out of contract amid whistleblowers’ safety concerns 
  An independent investigation has been commissioned into quality and safety concerns in prison health services in Liverpool, while the trust that runs them has given early notice on its contract.
• Southern Health prosecuted for third time 
  A third prosecution will be brought against Southern Health Foundation Trust after a patient was found dead in a hospital in Southampton five years ago.
• Tech suppliers must sign up to data sharing or risk funding 
  Providers supplying IT services to the NHS will have their access to the health service curtailed if they do not agree to feed patient records into a new data sharing scheme.
• Culture in all English maternity units to be assessed 
  EXCLUSIVE: The culture of every maternity unit in England will be assessed as part of a nationwide drive to improve safety, HSJ has learned.
• Cygnet named in new care model despite serious failings at hospital 
  NHS England named Cygnet Health Care as a partner in a new care model for young people’s mental health 10 days after inspectors found serious failings at its hospital in Woking that led to the temporary closure of its adolescents’ psychiatric intensive care unit.
• Second private hospital stops taking new patients after CQC concerns 
  A second mental health unit run by Cygnet Health Care closed to new admissions in July after the Care Quality Commission raised serious concerns, HSJ can reveal.
• Trust spends £2m to convert storage rooms into new bed space 
  More than £2m is being spent by the University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust to create 45 new hospital beds to help tackle its 133 bed shortage.
• Hospital trust may hire mobile morgue for winter 
  A hospital trust in the south of England may hire a mobile morgue and use local funeral directors’ facilities as part of its preparations for winter.
• A&E survey: Best and worst performing trusts revealed 
  Five trusts have been identified as offering a poor overall experience to patients in their accident and emergency departments, based on a new Care Quality Commission patient survey.

Our Fabulous NHS – Academy of Fabulous Stuff
***Get involved*** –  share your fab stuff!

• Let’s Talk about Death and Dying Why is it we find it so difficult to talk to each other, our older relatives, our grown up children, young people, children and our grandchildren about what worries we all have about dying? Or about others dying and what may happen to those left behind? Having conversations with people you love about dying and […]
• The Hope, Agency and Opportunity (HAO) Questionnaire: A Tool for Promoting Recovery in Mental Health Services Recovery describes the process of building a valued and socially engaged life, irrespective of mental health status. People with lived experience of mental ill-health identify hope, agency and opportunity for self-determination and social inclusion, as essential to recovery. • Hope – Believing that we can pursue our aspirations and goals, even with mental ill-health • […]
• The Lincolnshire Heart Centre (LHC) The Lincolnshire Heart Centre (LHC) came into existence in 2012 following a strategic review by the East Midlands Heart and Stroke Network. At this time, less than 5% of patients having a heart attack were treated with Percutaneous Primary Coronary Intervention (PPCI). This treatment involves opening a blocked artery in the heart (the cause […]
• New, expert service to help your patients: The Macmillan Virtual MDT(vMDT) Around 625,000 people experience long term consequences following their cancer treatment. Some of these are complex and highly debilitating and may benefit from expert advice from a range of specialities that you may not have access to at a local level. Macmillan, in partnership with the Christie, is testing the Macmillan vMDT platform to facilitate […]