Pressure ulcers: revised definition and measurement framework
NHS Improvement has published Pressure ulcers: revised definition and measurement.  The recommendations in this guide are intended to support board and senior leaders to deliver a consistent approach to defining and measuring pressure ulcers as well as help understand the level of pressure damage harm.  The recommendations are for implementation from April 2019.

Babies at risk of harm
The Children’s Commissioner for England has published A crying shame: a report by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner into vulnerable babies in England.  This report looks at how many babies may be vulnerable to death and serious injuries and presents the facts about the sort of risks very young children are being exposed to.  This document is accompanied by a technical report Estimating the number of vulnerable babies.

Digital, data and technology in health and care
The Department of Health and Social Care has published The future of healthcare: our vision for digital, data and technology in health and care.  This document proposes a modern technology architecture and a set of guiding principles that will together be the foundation for a new generation of digital services designed to meet the needs of the workforce and patients and people who use care services.  Additional link: DHSC news item

Re-use of medical equipment
NHS staff are being encouraged to accept patients’ unwanted medical equipment and re-use it where safe to do so.  The move is part of plans to reduce the NHS carbon footprint and put a stop to nearly-new crutches and wheelchairs being thrown away or left unused in homes, rather than re-used or recycled.

NHS energy efficiency fund for LED lighting – NHS Improvement
The government has made £46 million available through Public Dividend Capital funding for trusts to improve and expand the use of LED lighting across their services, to save the NHS money and provide a better experience for patients, staff and visitors.

The impact of integrated care teams on hospital use in North East Hampshire and Farnham – The Health Foundation
This briefing examines the early effects on hospital use of introducing multidisciplinary integrated care teams (ICTs) in North East Hampshire and Farnham.  There is evidence to suggest that the value of ICTs might lie in their potential to improve patients’ health, health confidence, experience of care and quality of life rather than reducing emergency hospital use

NHS Improvement case studies

• Developing a physiotherapy-led exercise group for older adults with frailty – Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• Falls specialist response vehicle – London Ambulance Service
• Discharge to assess: home in a day – Pennine Acute Hospitals
• Developing a therapy-led transitional unit to help discharge acute patients – South Warwickshire
• Setting up a therapy-led community ward – Nottingham
• Showing the effectiveness of emergency physiotherapy practitioners Derby and Burton
• Nutrition and hydration collaborative – improving nutritional care by increasing the accuracy of nutritional screening and the appropriateness of nutritional interventions

Statistics

• Direct access audiology waiting times – August 2018
• Seven-day services, England – April 2017–March 2018
• Learning Disability Services Monthly Statistics – Provisional Statistics (AT: Sept 2018, MHSDS July 2018 Final)

Bulletins

• NHS Improvement Provider Bulletin – 17 October 2018
• SCIELine e Bulletin – 10 October 2018