Cuts, closures and contraception – Advisory Group on Contraception
This report details the findings of an FOI audit of all 152 upper and unitary tier local authorities over the summer of 2017. It shows that local authority contraception budgets are being cut and that contraceptive care services have closed or are under threat in more than one third of English local councils since 2015, with the pace of closures accelerating.

The autumn budget: joint statement on health and social care – The King’s Fund
Nuffield Trust, the Health Foundation and The King’s Fund are urging the government to address the critical state of health and social care in its forthcoming Autumn Budget. The briefing calls on the government to recognise the immediate funding pressures facing the sector in 2018/19, which will see NHS funding growth fall to its lowest level in this parliament. The government must also act to close the growing funding gaps facing the health and care system, which are now having a clear impact on access to care.

NHS pension scheme: proposed changes to regulations 2018 – Department of Health
The Department of Health is consulting on proposals to change NHS pension scheme regulations. Proposed changes include: the removal of the need for a nomination form for unmarried or cohabiting partners to claim survivor pensions; ensuring access to the pension scheme for staff delivering services under new integrated care models; and making technical changes to improve the operation of scheme regulations. The consultation document describes these changes and gives details on how to submit a response. The closing date for comments is 29 December 2017.

Reducing noise at night on a hospital ward – NHS Improvement
Hospitals are noisy places at night which means patients do not always sleep well. This case study we illustrate how findings from interdisciplinary research informed a quality improvement project.

Photo at Discharge (PaD): improving information to patients  
The aim is to reduce non-elective admissions for surgical site infection and to improve surgical discharge.

There for us: a better future for the NHS workforce – NHS Providers
This report warns that uncertainty over international recruitment is threatening safe, high quality care for patients. It says there are no domestic “quick fixes” to the severe workforce shortages in the NHS, and that any significant reduction in the number of overseas staff in the next few years is likely to have a serious and damaging impact on services for the public. It calls for urgent steps to ease pressures on front line staff, and to develop an NHS workforce fit to meet the growing and changing needs of the population.

How will our future relationship with the EU shape the NHS? – Nuffield Trust
This briefing explores five key areas where the deals the UK government reaches with the EU – or lack of them – will impact upon health and social care.

Statistics

• Personal well-being in the UK: July 2016 to June 2017
• Alcohol-specific deaths in Great Britain: registered in 2016
• Wider Determinants of Health: November 2017 update
• Musculoskeletal Diseases Profile: November 2017 launch
• Local tobacco control profiles for England: November 2017 data update
• Liver disease profiles: November 2017 update
• Longer Lives: 2017 annual data update
• Local Alcohol Profiles for England: November 2017 update
• Public health outcomes framework: November 2017 data update
• General Pharmaceutical Services: England 2007/08 to 2016/17
• Cervical Screening Programme: England – 2016-17

NICE guidance

Clinical guideline (update)

CG71     Familial hypercholesterolaemia: identification and management

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Stevens invokes Brexit battle bus in pre-Budget funding call 
  Simon Stevens will today step up his calls for the government to increase NHS spending in coming years, suggesting voters will feel betrayed if promises made in the Brexit campaign are not delivered.
• Trust chief warns of unsafe staffing levels across NHS 
  A veteran NHS chief executive and former director general of workforce at the Department of Health has warned patients could die due to unsafe staffing levels unless action is taken on a national scale.
• NHS England picks Babylon for flagship patient app pilot 
  NHS England has picked two private digital services to pilot a new universal NHS patient app that provides access to health records, NHS 111 and privacy preferences through their smartphones.
• Government to announce single NHS workforce strategy 
  The health secretary will announce plans for a new national workforce strategy designed to help secure the long term supply of nurses and doctors for the NHS.
• Mackey issues budget warning to ministers 
  NHS Improvement chief executive Jim Mackey has warned ministers that if the NHS does not get more money in the budget there will be the need of a public debate about “what is actually possible to deliver” within the current funding envelope.