Meeting the quality challenge: sharing examples of best practice from clinical leaders in emergency departments – Care Quality Commission (CQC)
This report provides practical examples of positive action that some trusts are taking to help meet the challenges of managing capacity and demand. The examples cover a range of areas including ambulance arrivals, initial patient assessments, staffing, managing deteriorating patients and specialist referrals.

Ambulance handover delays
NHS Improvement has published Addressing ambulance handover delays: actions for local A&E delivery boards.   This document sets out the main points from recent guidance document relating to ambulance handover delays.  It separates the points into actions to be embedded as part of normal working practice, and actions to be taken should ambulances begin to queue. It is aimed at Commissioners, GP practice, community services and ambulance services.

Guidance for CCGs on items not to be routinely prescribed
NHS England has published Items which should not routinely be prescribed in primary care: guidance for CCGs. This guidance is addressed to CCGs to support them to fulfil their duties around appropriate use of prescribing resources supporting CCGs in their decision-making, to address unwarranted variation, and to provide clear national advice to make local prescribing practices more effective.

Literature searching e-learning
Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare has launched e-learning modules to support clinical and non-clinical staff to find evidence for their work and study.  The three modules cover an introduction to searching, where to start a search and how to develop a search strategy.  Face to face training continues to be available from the Hanley Library – contact 

Investigation of stillbirth
The House of Commons library has published The Investigation of Still birth. This briefing document deals with the way stillbirth is investigated at present and the Government announcement about independent investigations in future.

NICE guidance

• MIB132  Point-of-care and home faecal   calprotectin tests for monitoring treatment response in     inflammatory bowel disease

Statistics

• CCG Prescribing Data:  July to September 2017
• GP Practice Prescribing Presentation-level Data:  September 2017
• Venous thromboembolism (VTE) – Q2 2017/18
• Past and projected data from the period and cohort life tables: 2016-based, UK, 1981 to 2066
• Seasonal flu vaccine uptake in GP patients: monthly data, 2017 to 2018

NICE consultations

• Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups: promoting health and preventing premature mortality: Quality standard consultation. Closing date for comments 8 January 2018
• Eating disorders: Quality standard consultation. Closing date for comments 8 January 2018
• Hearing loss in adults: assessment and management: Draft guidance consultation. Closing date for comment 12 January 2018

Bulletins

• Provider bulletin – 29 November 2017
• NHS Communications Bulletin – 29 November 2017

HSJ Roundup (contact the Library for further details)

• Merger of three trusts paused by NHS Improvement 
  A merger of three trusts in the West Midlands has been put on hold by NHS Improvement.
• Chief coroner warning over ‘lacuna in the law’ for death reporting 
  The chief coroner for England has warned of a gap in the law over when doctors should report deaths to a coroner.
• CCGs facing ‘significant financial risk’ after generic drug price surge 
  Clinical commissioning groups are facing “significant financial risk” this financial year due to supply issues pushing up the prices they have to pay for generic drugs.
• Trust fined £600,000 for late payments of supplier 
  A £412m turnover hospital trust has been fined more than £600,000 over the late payment of a supplier in the last three financial years.
• Three CCGs move towards merger 
  Three West Midlands clinical commissioning groups will will hold their governing body meetings and share the majority of their members ahead of a possible merger in 2019.
• Revealed: Seven trusts breaching break even duty until 2022 
  Seven NHS trusts believe they will not technically break even for five years or more, with two requiring until 2026, HSJ analysis reveals.
• CCGs backtrack on £10.5m contract after legal challenge 
  Three clinical commissioning groups pulled out of a £10.5m fertility contract just weeks before the service was meant to start, after a legal challenge to the decision.
• Healthwatch warns Hunt over deep funding cuts 
  Statutory public involvement groups have seen such deep cuts they are failing to fulfil basic functions, Healthwatch England has warned the government.
• The NHS trusts not breaking even until 2026 
  Seven NHS trusts believe they will not break even for five years or more, with two requiring until 2026, HSJ analysis reveals.
• Funding talks still ‘ongoing’ for A&E workforce plan, says top doctor
  The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said talks are ongoing over funding for a much vaunted national plan to address the emergency department workforce, despite national officials saying it had already been agreed.
• Nursing vacancies top 36,000, official analysis reveals 
  There are at least 36,000 vacancies for registered nurses in the English NHS, according to a new official analysis which has provided the first accurate picture of the issue for several years.
• Cash-strapped trust withdraws community outpatient services 
  A cash-strapped teaching hospital trust has announced it will stop providing outpatient services at a community hospital because they are not financially viable.
• Cancer workforce shortages having ‘direct’ impact on patient care 
  Workforce shortages across cancer care are having a direct impact on the treatment of patients, Cancer Research UK has warned ahead of the publication of a major NHS workforce strategy for the sector.