Knowledge @lert for Friday 10th January

January 9, 2020 CCG Daily News

Patient safety
NHS Providers has published Consequences for patient safety of the backlog of maintenance and repairs to NHS infrastructure. This House of Lords Briefing provides information for an oral question raised in the House of Lords to ask what assessment the government has made of the consequences for patient safety of the backlog of maintenance and repairs to NHS infrastructure.

Impact of line managers
NHS Employers has published The impact of line/middle managers on workplace performance: report summary. This summary report highlights key findings from a scientific review into the impact of line/middle managers roles and practice on workplace performance. The review found that line and middle managers substantially affect a wide range of organisational outcomes, making them an ‘indispensable link between the organisation’s top management and its frontline employees’.

Hospital Food Review
The Patients Association has been asked to collect patients’ opinions and experiences of hospital catering to feed into the NHS Hospital Food Review. The Patients Association has launched a short survey for people who have recently been in hospital to give their views on hospital food. The survey closes at the end of January.

Positive ageing
The Greater Manchester Older People’s Network has published Age proud: exploring positive ageing (pdf). This report brings together the thoughts and ideas of participants attending an Age Proud Event on 2 October 2019, held as part of the national #AgeProud campaign. It finds that the current narratives on ageing are overwhelmingly negative but also outlines how positive narratives can change the conversation to engage and empower older people.

DNA testing: critically ill babies
NHS England has announced it is providing a new form of DNA test capable of rapidly diagnosing rare diseases for critically ill babies and children, as part of its Long Term Plan. The technique, known as ‘whole exome sequencing’, doubles the chance of a diagnosis and can reveal what is wrong with patients in days rather than weeks. It is expected up to 700 babies and children will benefit each year.

Accelerating transformation
The NHS Confederation has published Accelerating transformation: how systems are funding and resourcing ‘engine room’ staff. ‘Engine rooms’ are a team of staff who sit below the executive leadership within STPs and ICSs and provide support to drive forward integration and system redesign. This report highlights the variation in how engine rooms are set up, showing how they are adapting to specific local circumstances and ways of working. However, it outlines that, despite a lot of positive work being undertaken in systems across the country, there are three key obstacles to effective engine room working that are common to STPs and ICS.

Immunisations: applying All Our Health
Public Health England has published Immunisations: applying All Our Health. This guide is part of ‘All Our Health’, a resource which helps health and care professionals prevent ill health and promote wellbeing as part of their everyday practice. The guide includes evidence and guidance to enable health and care professionals to promote the benefits of immunisation.

Shingles immunisation programme
Public Health England has published Herpes zoster (shingles) immunisation programme 2018 to 2019: evaluation reports. These reports provide an evaluation of the shingles vaccination programme in England from 2018 to 2019.

Ophthalmology services
The Getting It Right First Time programme has published Ophthalmology: GIRFT Programme National Specialty Report. This report seeks to address the challenge of rising demand for ophthalmology services due to an ageing population and provides an assessment of what is good practice and identifies where improvements could be made. It makes recommendations which have the potential to deliver cost efficiencies of up to £64m.

Diabetes Prevention Programme
NHS England has announced that people finishing the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme have lost the equivalent weight of 43 ambulances; 89,604 people have now finished the programme, losing a combined weight of 185,051kg. With expert advice on dieting, exercise and healthy lifestyle, the programme will double in size to treat around 200,000 people every year as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

NICE guidance

NG149

Indoor air quality at home

Technology appraisal guidance

TA616

Lusutrombopag for treating thrombocytopenia in people with chronic liver disease needing a planned invasive procedure

NICE consultations