Month: November 2012

Improving GP services in England: exploring the association between quality of care and the experience of patients

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 30, 2012

By The King’s Fund (2012)

Using data from more than 8,000 general practices in England, this paper examines the association between patients’ perceptions about the non-clinical aspects of care and practice performance on measures of clinical quality. It identifies clinical effectiveness and patient experience as key domains of health care quality; that there is a correlation between positive patient experiences and higher QOF outcome scores; and that patients’ experience of using their GP services can affect their use and interaction with those services.

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CCGs Library

NHS better care, better value indicators

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 29, 2012

By the Institute for Innovation & Improvment (2012)

The Better Care, Better Value Indicators have been updated to include GP practice level data for the commissioning indicators.

The tool includes:

create your own practice peer group
compare your practice performance with PCT, CCG and peer practices
view a timeline of your performance across 12 months

Click here to view this tool

End of Life Care Library

My life until the end: dying well with dementia

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 29, 2012

By the Alzheimer’s Society (2012)

This report provides a broad overview of the key issues relating to end of life planning and end of life care as experienced by people with dementia. The report summarises existing evidence and presents new evidence from current carers, bereaved carers and people with dementia. It makes recommendations about planning for end of life and to improve co-ordinated care through to the end of life.

Click here to view this report

Good Practice Library Secondary Care Value

Can sustainable hospitals help bend the health care cost curve?

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 29, 2012

By The Commonwealth Fund (2012)

As policymakers seek to rein in the nation’s escalating health care costs, one area deserving attention is the health system’s costly environmental footprint. This study examines data from selected hospitals that have implemented programs to reduce energy use and waste and achieve operating room supply efficiencies. After standardizing metrics across the hospitals studied and generalizing results to hospitals nationwide, the analysis finds that savings achievable through these interventions could exceed $5.4 billion over five years and $15 billion over 10 years. Given the return on investment, the authors recommend that all hospitals adopt such programs and, in cases where capital investments could be financially burdensome, that public funds be used to provide loans or grants, particularly to safety-net hospitals.

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Library

Department of Health: the management of adult diabetes services in the NHS

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 27, 2012

By House of Commons (2012)

This report is based on evidence from expert witnesses and the Department of Health about the management of adult diabetes services in the NHS. It identifies a variation in service provision and quality of care in adult diabetes across the country and highlights the need for improvement in the quality of diabetes care.

Click here to view this report

Integrated Care Library Local Government

Government and the voluntary sector: investigating funding and engagement

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 27, 2012

By Compact Voice (October 2012)

This report details the responses of Freedom of Information requests from 14 government departments. The requests aimed to determine the way government is supporting the voluntary sector by looking at levels and changes to funding, and also engagement through consultation and impact assessment. However, the responses suggest that there are no systems in place to enable government departments to collect and compare this information.

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CCGs Commissioning Integrated Care Library

Integrated ambulance commissioning in the new NHS

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 27, 2012

By NHS Confederation (2012)

This briefing explains how ambulance commissioning currently works for clinical commissioners who may be new to this area. It is designed to support the smooth and efficient transition of ambulance commissioning responsibilities from PCTs to CCGs.

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Alcohol Substance Misuse Substance Use Tobacco & Drugs

Drug treatment 2012: progress made, challenges ahead

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 27, 2012

By National Treatment Agency for Substance Abuse (2012)

The NTA recently published a report analysing drug trends data for adult drug treatment. The report reflects long-term drug use and addiction trends amongst adults in England and shows that prospects for people starting treatment today are better than ever.

Click here to view this report

Commissioning Public Mental Health

A guide to interpreting and engaging with local change

Post author By Sarah Woodhall
Post date November 22, 2012

By British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (2012)

This report argues that NHS funding arrangements encourage acute hospitals to admit patients to hospital to service high fixed costs for staff and property rather than trying to treat patients at a community level or in the home. It also finds that by international standards patients in England with chronic diseases are more likely to be admitted to hospital and stay much longer once admitted.

Click here to view this report