By The Health Foundation (2013)
This report contains the independent evaluation of the second phase of our Co-creating Health improvement programme. The evaluation, conducted by Firefly, provides valuable insight into how to sustain changes in clinical practice to more effectively support people with long-term conditions.
By Local Government Association (2013)
These frequently-asked questions (FAQs) have been produced by the Local Government Association (LGA) and Public Health England (PHE). They address a number of transitional issues relating to the transfer of responsibility for commissioning NHS Health Check to local government.
By The Nuffield Trust (2013)
From 2014, personal health budgets will be offered to people in receipt of continuing care. This report looks at what they are, how they will work in practice, and the issues they raise.
By Primary Care Commissioning (2013)
Asthma is one of the most challenging long term conditions for patients and the NHS – with the UK having the highest prevalence of asthma in the world. To help improve asthma care, PCC has produced a good practice guide with input from the major professional bodies, patient groups and health service managers. It sets out the 15 points that good asthma services need to include, with detailed advice for commissioners and service developers together with examples of good practice.
By The King’s Fund (2013)
The project focuses on five case-study sites that have developed innovative approaches, and this week we publish the results from the first two sites, Midhurst Macmillan Community Specialist Palliative Care Service and the Sandwell Esteem Team.
By Primary Care Commissioning (2013)
This guidance aims to help guide commissioners, service developers and providers on best practice asthma care. It sets out the 20 points that good asthma services need to include, and highlights what commissioners can do to drive improved asthma care at each part of the care pathway, with examples of good practice at each step.
By Public Health England
This review argues that checking 40-74-year-olds’ blood pressure, cholesterol, weight and lifestyle could identify problems earlier and prevent 650 deaths, 1,600 heart attacks and 4,000 cases of diabetes a year. Before local authorities took over responsibility for commissioning health checks in April, there was considerable variation in how widely they were offered. PHE, which leads the NHS Health Check programme, has now launched a ten-point plan to help councils roll them out to 20 per cent of their eligible local population a year –15 million people by 2018/19.
By KPMG International (2013)
This report argues that ring-fencing budgets may not be enough to help the NHS deliver the support required by an ageing population, as unhealthy lifestyles and the number of patients suffering from multiple long-term conditions continue to take their toll on the UK’s healthcare services. It states that a complete overhaul of the healthcare operating model is needed if the NHS is to deliver better patient outcomes and care at lower costs. Key to this transformation, as pressure also increases to deliver higher quality care for less, will be the life sciences sector aligning its interests by partnering to share costs, data and risk to improve the value and effectiveness of the therapies offered to patients.
A Cochrane Systematic Review (2012)
General health checks involve multiple tests in a person who does not feel ill with the purpose of finding disease early, preventing disease from developing, or providing reassurance. Health checks are a common element of health care in some countries. To many people health checks intuitively make sense, but experience from screening programmes for individual diseases have shown that the benefits may be smaller than expected and the harms greater. One possible harm from health checks is the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that were not destined to cause symptoms or death. Their diagnosis will, therefore, be superfluous and carry the risk of unnecessary treatment.
The NHS Health Check programme aims to help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease and certain types of dementia. Everyone between the ages of 40 and 74, who has not already been diagnosed with one of these conditions or have certain risk factors, will be invited (once every five years) to have a check to assess their risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes and will be given support and advice to help them reduce or manage that risk.
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning the NHS Health Check risk assessment. However, the programme requires collaborative planning and management across both health and social care. Health and wellbeing boards will therefore be vitally important in the local oversight of this mandated public health programme.