Issue 27: 17 September 2015
Quality and Safety eBulletin
Welcome to the Quality and Safety eBulletin
This eBulletin brings you the latest news from key national agencies and initiatives across
the UK, under themed headings.
We welcome your feedback on the eBulletin. Please contact us at
qualityandsafety@rcn.org.uk.
Claire Constable, Sarah Raybone and Ross Scrivener
RCN Nursing Department
RCN highlights
Important changes to rules on lapsed NMC registration. The RCN is urging all nurse and midwife
members to keep on top of their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as new
rules come into force later this year.
Trade unions save the NHS at least £100 million every year- new research. Independent evidence
has revealed that staff turnover in organisations without union representatives is three times
higher than in those with union representatives. This equates to an annual saving in the NHS of at
least £100 million.
Experiments in autonomy: a nursing perspective. The past few months have seen an
extraordinary explosion of activity in health and social care reform. This briefing describes the
origins and provides analysis of two key aspects of that activity: NHS England’s Vanguard
programme, and the Devo Manc initiative in North West England.
Nurse innovators. RCN Scotland has launched a report illustrating the vital contribution of nurses
in senior clinical decision-making roles in improving outcomes for patients and the health service
as a whole. The report sets out what is needed to support, develop and invest in the advanced
nursing practice workforce to meet the needs of patients in Scotland.
The Shape of Caring review. The Shape of Caring review was commissioned in response to the
need to ensure that nurses and health care assistants receive consistent, high quality education
and training throughout their careers to enable them to deliver high quality care. To help us to do
this, we would value your input in answering the following questions. The survey is anonymous
and should take no more than ten minutes to complete.
NICE Consultation Gateway
The NICE consultation gateway pages provide information about the work that NICE does, current
NICE consultations and new topics for guideline and guidance development, and how you can get
involved. We will highlight these pages in every bulletin.
You can find out the latest on NICE consultations and new topics in development at Current
consultations and topics in development.
RCN events
The RCN organises an annual programme of events and conferences, including RCN Congress, to
support all health care professionals with their personal and professional development. See:

RCN national events

England regions and branches

Northern Ireland

Scotland

Wales.
Events
RCN Ophthalmic Conference 2015. This event will appeal to all Ophthalmic Nurse Specialists,
Nurse Practitioners and other health care professionals and educators who want to improve
ophthalmic nursing practice and provide the best eye care services.
RCN Continence Care forum conference and exhibition. 25 November 2015. This conference
provides the opportunity to meet other health care professionals who are passionate about
promoting healthy bladder and bowel management.
RCN Northern Ireland anaphylaxis update. 9-23 September 2015. These sessions are appropriate
for all registered nurses on all parts of the professional register. It is particularly appropriate for
those involved in administering influenza vaccinations and nurses giving immunisations as part of
their practice.
Time travelling operating theatre. 23 September 2015. RCN Library and Heritage Centre, RCN HQ,
London. Imperial College Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS) invite you to
come and travel through time, immersing yourself in operations taking place during 1884, 1984
and 2014. Find out what has and hasn’t changed in the operating theatre over this time –
technologically, socially, ethically, and beyond – and talk to current and retired clinicians, ethicists
and policy makers about what we can learn from the past to inform the future. To attend events
here at the Royal College of Nursing, visit the booking page for timings and to get your free ticket.
Quality improvement
Audit, reviews, legislation, inspections, regulation
BBC Health. Four week cancer diagnosis target. More details of plans to improve cancer care in
England have been revealed.
Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales. Launch of national inspection of care and support for
adults with learning disabilities. The CSSIW looking at the quality, efficiency and safety of the care
and support provided for adults with learning disabilities. The inspection will consider how good
local authority social services are at achieving outcomes that matter to people. It will also look at
the factors that drive good outcomes for people as well as the barriers.
Care Quality Commission (CQC). New ambitions for end of life care. A new set of principles for
ensuring consistent end of life care in hospitals, care homes and in hospices has been published.
New ambitions raise the bar for end of life care.
Department of Health. Review of NHS funding of nursing in care homes. Registered nursing care
for residents, who are assessed to be eligible, in nursing homes is funded by the NHS. The rate
payable for this financial year is currently £112.00 a week per resident.
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales. HIW publish Dignity and Essential Care Inspections 2014-15 –
Thematic Report. Healthcare Inspectorate Wales have published the Dignity and Essential Care
Inspections 2014-15 thematic report. “On the whole, patient feedback was very positive on the
provision of care they received from staff during their stay on wards across Wales. The vast
majority of feedback from patients also stated that staff on the wards were professional, friendly
and respectful. HIW also observed, in the majority of inspections, that staff were delivering
professional and compassionate care.”
Monitor. Nursing agency rules. This guidance outlines the new rules on nursing agency spend from
Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority for NHS foundation trusts and NHS trusts. The
rules come into effect on 1 September 2015 and apply to agency spend on registered nursing,
midwifery and health visiting staff only.
Guidance, innovation, tools
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Fourth Blood and Transplant Research Unit. The
NIHR is investing £15.1 million in new Blood and Transplant Research Units (BTRUs) that support
the future needs of donors, patients and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT).
Nuffield Trust. Improving the length of stay in hospitals. This report on length of stay by the
Nuffield Trust is part of a larger project undertaken by Monitor which aims to find the best ways to
improve quality of care across the health system in light of recent pressures on urgent and
emergency care.
Public Health England. Diabetic eye screening: assuring the quality of grading. This guidance
describes best practice for the delivery of consistent high quality grading in diabetic eye screening.
Public Health England. Identifying and responding to suicide clusters and contagion: a practice
resource. This toolkit, based on research of suicide clusters, is part of PHE's support for the
government’s suicide prevention strategy. It is aimed at people with responsibility for suicide
prevention in local authorities and their partner agencies. The steps required at local level to
prepare for a suicide cluster are described alongside suggested responses to possible suicide
clusters. Finally, best practice is provided on how to evaluate responses to a cluster, and on using
the experience to improve further suicide prevention measures.
Together for Short Lives. Joint commissioning for children’s palliative care. A new guide has been
released by leading children’s palliative care charity Together for Short Lives aims to help clinical
commissioning groups (CCGs), local authorities and health and wellbeing boards in England to
work together to improve commissioning for palliative care for children and young people.
Practice examples and case studies
Joseph Rowntree Foundation. On the journey to becoming a dementia friendly organisationsharing the learning. In 2013 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust
committed to becoming a more dementia-friendly organisation and employer. This paper shares
the lessons that have been learnt.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Developing a national user movement of people with dementia –
Learning from the dementia engagement and empowerment project (DEEP). JRF’s Dementia
without Walls programme started in June 2012, with a vision of making the UK a better place for
people with dementia. In 2013 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Housing
Trust committed to becoming a more dementia-friendly organisation and employer. This paper
shares the lessons that have been learnt.
Social Care Institute for Excellence. Thank you for the music: the role that singing can play in
supporting someone with dementia. Using music appropriately can lead to an improvement in
reality orientation, memory recall and social behaviour. As other experiences become confusing
and communication becomes difficult, the role and experience of music becomes even more
important.”
Reports, commentary, statistics
Department of Health (DH). Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) 2014: analysis of
growth in spend of medicines. This paper examines factors influencing the 5.19 per cent growth in
branded medicines under the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) in 2013 to 2014.
Department of Health. Reviewing the indicators in the Public Health Outcome Framework. The
Public Health Outcomes Framework sets out a high-level overview of public health outcomes, at
national and local level, supported by a broad set of indicators. The indicators cover the full
spectrum of what is understood as public health and what can be measured at the moment. This
consultation seeks views on whether government should remove, replace or revise the existing
indicators in the framework. The closing date for comments is 2 October 2015.
Department of Health. Draft national framework for children and young people’s continuing care for consultation. This framework is intended to provide guidance for CCGs and local authorities on
the process for assessing, deciding and agreeing packages of continuing care for children and
young people, whose needs cannot be met by universal or specialised services. It sets out the
principles and the process which should be followed by local commissioners. The 2010 framework
has been revised to take account of changes to commissioning and the new arrangements for
children with special educational needs and disability. The consultation closes on 23 October 2015.
Department of Health. From 2020, people with suspected cancer will be diagnosed faster. The
government has pledged that from 2020, people with suspected cancer will be diagnosed within 28
days of being referred by a GP.
Dods Research. The NHS in five years' time. This report examines the views of over 2,800 health
care workers on a range of key topics, including the impact of moving to a seven-day NHS and the
prospects for transforming care delivery over the next five years. Please note that free registration
is required to access this publication.
Health Protection Scotland (HPS). HPS national influenza report. This report provides an update
on influenza and other seasonal respiratory pathogen activity of the 2014/15 influenza season.
Health and Social Care Information Centre. National Head and Neck Cancer Audit 2014, DAHNO
Tenth Annual Report. This is the tenth Annual Report from the National Head and Neck Cancer
Audit. It describes a group of cancers (larynx, oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, nasopharynx,
major salivary gland nose and sinuses and cancer of the bones of the jaw) that have many
common features but also important differences in biological behaviour.
House of Commons Library. Alcohol: minimum pricing. This briefing paper provides an overview of
the issues surrounding the debate about minimum pricing for alcohol. It discusses the current
policies in both England and Scotland.
Monitor. A&E delays; why did patients wait longer last winter? The report’s main finding is that
trusts’ performance against this important standard fell sharply in the third quarter of 2014/15
because hospitals were too full.
NatCen Social Research Centre. Five years of coalition government: public reactions and future
consequences. This summary of NatCen’s 32nd British Social Attitudes report takes stock of the
public’s reactions to the last five years. How have the public responded to the coalition
government’s programme of public service reform and spending cuts? On the issue of health care,
the research finds that there is widespread acceptance that there is a funding crisis in the NHS,
but the public is not clear what should be done about it.
National Audit Office. A short guide to the Department of Health. This guide is designed to provide
a quick and accessible overview of the Department and focuses on what the Department does,
how much it costs and recent and planned changes.
National Audit Office. Managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups. The
Department recognizes the potential for conflicts of interest in the new system for NHS
commissioning. Public confidence that conflicts are well managed will be vital.
National Children's Bureau. Poor beginnings: health inequalities among young children across
England. This report is based on official data published by Public Health England and it looks at
four key measures of young children's health and wellbeing: obesity, tooth decay, accidental injury
and school readiness. It picture of the health of children under five years old living in England and
shows how growing up in different areas of the country can have an impact on the likelihood of
experiencing a poor health outcome before starting school.
National Palliative and End of Life Care Partnership. Ambitions for palliative and end of life care: a
national framework for local action 2015-2020. This national framework urges local NHS
organisations and local authorities to act to improve end of life care for people of all ages. It sets
out six principles for how people near the end of their lives should be cared for: each person is
seen as an individual; each person gets fair access to care; maximising comfort and wellbeing;
care is coordinated; all staff are prepared to care; and each community is prepared to help.
NHS England. The five year forward view: mental health. Public engagement findings.
NHS England. Friends and family test July 2015. The latest statistical data regarding the Friends
and Family Test has been published today by NHS England, which can be found here. The
information contains A&E, Inpatient and Maternity data.
NHS England. Chief Nursing Officer bulletin. The September 2015 issue now available.
NHS England. Healthy New Towns. NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens has launched a
new initiative together with Public Health England, to put health at the heart of new
neighbourhoods and towns across the country.
NHS England. Update on the current Cancer Drugs Fund list. The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) has
completed a further review of the effectiveness of treatments it funds to ensure it delivers the best
outcomes for patients.
NHS Improving Quality. Seven day services: evidence of enablers survey results. NHS Improving
Quality Seven Day Services team have been leading a service improvement programme across
England designed to support the transformational change required to deliver access to high quality
health and social care every day of the week.
There is still time to take part in the wider survey now underway.
Nuffield Trust. Improving length of stay: what can hospitals do? This report on length of stay by
the Nuffield Trust is part of a larger project undertaken by Monitor which aims to find the best
ways to improve quality of care across the health system in light of recent pressures on urgent and
emergency care.
Scottish Commission on Older Women. Older Women in Scotland – Looking to the Future. This new
report brings to the fore the experiences of older women seeking to remain in, or re-enter, the
labour market. Older women speak about their paid work and unpaid caring, and generously share
sometimes painful experiences of harassment and discrimination.
SCIE. SCIE bulletin. This issue includes updated training & consultancy offer from SCIE around
dementia awareness, co-production, Care Act and much more.
World Health Organization. Economic crisis, health systems and health in Europe: country
experience. The financial and economic crisis has had a visible but varied impact on many health
systems in Europe, eliciting a wide range of responses from governments faced with increased
financial and other pressures. This book maps health system responses by country, providing a
detailed analysis of policy changes in nine countries and shorter overviews of policy responses in
47 countries. It draws on a large study involving over one hundred health system experts and
academic researchers across Europe.
World Health Organization. Economic crisis, health systems and health in Europe: impact and
implications for policy. This paper summarises the findings of a joint study by WHO/Europe and
the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies analysing the impact of health policy
responses to the crisis in Europe from 2008 to 2013. It is a key part of a wider initiative to monitor
the effects of the crisis on health systems and health, to identify the policies most likely to sustain
the performance of health systems facing fiscal pressure and to gain insight into the political
economy of implementing reforms in a crisis.
Patient safety
BMC Health Service Research. Overcoming language barriers in health care. Miscommunication in
the healthcare sector can be life-threatening. This protocol outlines a hospital-based study
examining interactions between healthcare practitioners and their patients who either share or do
not share a first language.
BMC Medical Informatics & Decision Making. SEND: a system for electronic notification and
documentation of vital sign observations. Recognising the limitations of a paper-based approach to
documenting vital sign observations and responding to national clinical guidelines, this study has
explored the use of an electronic solution that could improve the quality and safety of patient
care.
British Medical Journal (BMJ). Increased mortality associated with weekend hospital admission: a
case for expanded seven day services? This article discusses the findings of an updated analysis of
weekend admissions and the implications for service design for acute care in the NHS. It finds that
patients admitted at the weekend are more likely to be in the highest category of risk of death and
estimates that around 11,000 more patients die each year within 30 days from admission
occurring between Friday and Monday compared with admission on the remaining days of the
week.
King’s Fund. Is the NHS delivering enough things right? Part three in Hugh Alderwick’s series of
blogs looks at the problem of preventable harm.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Drug Safety Update. This update highlights
important information and advice to support the safer use of medicines.
NHS England. National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPs). One of the
recommendations of the Surgical Never Events Taskforce report was to develop a set of high-level
national standards of operating department practice that will support all providers of NHS-funded
care to develop and maintain their own more detailed standardised local procedures. The National
Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures were published to support NHS organisations in
providing safer care and to reduce the number of patient safety incidents related to invasive
procedures in which surgical Never Events can occur. The NatSSIPs cover all invasive procedures
including those performed outside of the operating department.
World Health Organization. Child mortality rates plunge by more than half since 1990 but global
MDG target missed by wide margin. Child mortality rates have plummeted to less than half of what
they were in 1990, according to a new report released today. Under-five deaths have dropped
from 12.7 million per year in 1990 to 5.9 million in 2015. This is the first year the figure has gone
below the 6 million mark.
Evidence based practice
Monitor. Moving health care closer to home. Support for providers and commissioners to make
evidence-based appraisals of how the benefits compare with the costs of various approaches to
move care closer to home.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Antimicrobial resistance: changing riskrelated behaviours in the general population. This draft guideline aims to help change people’s
behaviour to reduce antimicrobial resistance and stop the spread of resistant microbes. It includes
steps that can be taken to help make people aware of the importance of using antibiotics correctly
and the dangers associated with their overuse and misuse. It also includes measures to prevent
and control infection that can stop people needing antibiotics or spreading infection to others.
NICE clinical guidelines. NICE has published the following clinical guidelines:

Coeliac disease: recognition, assessment and management. This guideline covers the
recognition, assessment and management of coeliac disease in children, young people and
adults. It updates and replaces NICE guideline CG86.
See also: Coeliac disease pathway and information for the public.

Antimicrobial stewardship: This guideline covers the effective use of antimicrobials
(including antibiotics) in children, young people and adults. It aims to change prescribing
practice to help slow the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and ensure that
antimicrobials remain an effective treatment for infection.
NICE quality standards. NICE has published the following quality standards:

Secondary prevention after a myocardial infarction. This quality standard covers secondary
prevention after a myocardial infarction (MI), including cardiac rehabilitation, in adults
(aged 18 years and over).

Cardiovascular risk assessment and lipid modification. This quality standard covers
identifying and assessing cardiovascular risk, and lipid modification for preventing
cardiovascular disease, in adults (aged 18 years and over).
NICE. NICE joins project to make development of new treatments more efficient. NICE is partner
of a new public-private project which aims to identify activities that can make the development
and regulation of medicines more efficient. Called the Accelerated Development of Appropriate
Patient Therapies (ADAPT SMART), and funded by the EU Innovative Medicines Initiative, the
project is a collaboration between 32 international partners that includes regulators, patients,
academia, and industry representatives.
National Institute for Health Research. Establishing and implementing best practice to reduce
unplanned admissions in those aged 85 years and over through system change [Establishing
System Change for Admissions of People 85+ (ESCAPE 85+)]: a mixed-methods case study
approach. The aim of this study was to identify system characteristics associated with higher and
lower increases in unplanned admission rates in those aged 85 years and over; to develop
recommendations to inform providers and commissioners; and to investigate the challenges of
starting to implement these recommendations.
Patient focus
Biomedical Health Services Research. Development and evaluation of a nurse-led, tailored stroke
self-management intervention. "Community nurses are well placed to promote and support stroke
survivors to engage in self-management. The aim of this study was to develop a stroke selfmanagement intervention that could be tailored towards stroke survivors’ self-management needs,
goals and levels of activation, in the first year post-stroke."
Guardian. 100 hospitals support John’s Campaign on dementia care. A campaign to persuade
hospitals to allow the loved ones of people with dementia to stay with them has signed up 100
hospitals to the idea. The figure marks a milestone in John’s Campaign – named after the father of
writer Nicci Gerrard, who launched her crusade in the Observer after his death last November.
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales. HIW publish Dignity and Essential Care Inspections 2014-15 –
Thematic Report. Healthcare Inspectorate Wales have published the Dignity and Essential Care
Inspections 2014-15 thematic report. “On the whole, patient feedback was very positive on the
provision of care they received from staff during their stay on wards across Wales. The vast
majority of feedback from patients also stated that staff on the wards were professional, friendly
and respectful. HIW also observed, in the majority of inspections, that staff were delivering
professional and compassionate care.”
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). Call for best practice patient and public
involvement case studies. HQIP is looking for new and innovative examples of patient and public
involvement in quality improvement initiatives, from which to create case studies to use within
forthcoming refreshed and renewed PPI guidance and online resources. This especially includes
best practice around: co-participation and patient-led quality improvement projects.
Monitor. Moving care closer to home. These resources aim to provide support for providers and
commissioners to make evidence-based appraisals of how the benefits compare with the costs of
various approaches to move care closer to home.
NHS England. The five year forward view mental health taskforce: public engagement findings.
This report summarises the views of more than 20,000 people on the top priorities for reshaping
mental health services, as part of a drive to develop a five year national NHS strategy for people of
all ages. Better access to high quality services, a wider choice of treatments, more focus on
prevention, more funding and less stigma were the top five calls for change by 2020.
NHS England. Self-Care week. NHS staff, patients and carers are being urged to support and help
raise awareness of Self Care Week next month.
NIHR HTA funded research benefits patients and improves service. Research funded for the NHS
has benefits for patients and improves service provision. This is the finding of a report looking at
the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Public Health England (PHE). Service user involvement: a guide for drug and alcohol
commissioners, providers and service users. This guide captures some of the progress made over
the last decade in service user involvement, and confirms that it remains a priority, making
suggestions for local service development and recommendations about how best practice may be
identified, replicated and built upon. It describes 4 different levels of service user involvement,
from co-developing one’s own care plan through to initiating and running recovery-focused
enterprises. The guide showcases a number of examples of unique services from across the
country that have been set-up by, or run by, former alcohol and drug users.
eHealth
BBC Health. Modelling the spread of hospital bugs. A new computer model predicts that multi-bed
hospital wards increase bacterial hand contamination by 20 per cent compared with single-bed
wards.
Department of Health. The vision for technology use across the NHS. Patients will be able to
access and interact with their GP record online within 12 months.
Department of Health. Health Secretary outlines vision for use of technology across NHS. The
Health Secretary challenged the NHS to make better use of technology so that patients can be
empowered to manage their own healthcare needs, while ensuring that their data remains safe at
all times. Mr Hunt made clear that by 2016 all patients should be able to access their own GP
electronic record online in full, seeing not just a summary of their allergies and medication but
blood test results, appointment records and medical histories. By 2018 this record will include
information from all their health and care interactions.
Digitalhealth.net. London to roll-out eRedbook. A handful of London trusts are about to start
trialling the eRedbook child health record, ahead of a capital-wide roll-out over the next couple of
years. Three or four London trusts will test the electronic version of the ‘Red Book’ given to all new
parents, in which immunisations, tests, and key developmental milestones are recorded.
Health and Social Care Information Centre. NHS National IT system marks first birthday with 21
million saving. The NHS has saved more than twenty million pounds in the last year alone after
one of its most critical IT systems was redeveloped by the Health and Social Care Information
Centre. Running costs of the new NHS Spine, which provides the foundation for 24/7 patient care
and handles up to 1,800 electronic transactions per second, have been cut by £21 million
compared to the predecessor system.
Health & Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). NHS IT wins two international awards for
excellence. 11 September 2015: An NHS IT system has been recognised for excellence at a global
IT event, with the HSCIC scooping two international awards at the iCMG World Summit.
Health in Wales. Landmark agreement boosts technology collaboration between Wales and
Scotland. A landmark agreement has been signed by NHS Wales and NHS Scotland, which will
focus on sharing technology developments and expertise. The new arrangement creates the Health
Informatics Service Alliance and provides a formal framework that builds on existing collaboration
between the two countries.
House of Commons Library. Accessing and sharing health records and patient confidentiality. This
briefing sets out current arrangements for accessing patient records and sharing confidential
patient information. It also describes statutory and public interest disclosures of patient
information; information sharing rules for people who lack mental capacity; and access to
information on hereditary conditions for relatives.
King’s Fund. Will NHS.UK be the next GOV.UK? ”NHS.UK is set to become the place we go, not just
for information about health and local services, but to book appointments, manage repeat
prescriptions and access health records and care plans”. James Higgott agrees this needs to be
done but doesn't think it's going to be easy.
My House of Memories. My House of Memories app allows you to explore objects from the past and
share memories together. It can be used by anyone, but has been designed for, and with, people
living with dementia and their carers.
NHS England. Local Digital Roadmaps. The Forward View into Action: Paper-free at the Point of
Care – Preparing to Develop Local Digital Roadmaps. Endorsed by the Five Year Forward View
members and produced by the National Information Board, the guidance outlines the actions that
CCGs need to take to support their health economies to become ‘paper-free at the point of care'.
The guidance also highlights the support available from the national leadership community. By the
end of October, each CCG in conjunction with local authorities and providers are asked to declare
the footprint for their digital roadmap, contributing membership and governance.
Digitalhealth.net. CCGs must plot IT roadmaps by April.
Nuffield Trust Blog. How are GPs adopting digital innovation? “New technologies will not be the
panacea for all things supposedly inefficient and bureaucratic in general practice. But when
implemented methodically, digital innovation can assist GPs to deliver consistent, high quality and
accessible care, at a time when unsustainable workloads and resource constraints are putting
pressure on services.”
Staff focus
Health Education England. Have your say on the future of nurse training. Health Education England
(HEE) will kick off its engagement programme on the recommendations made in the Shape of
Caring review with a series of events and Twitter chats throughout September and October. The
Shape of Caring review makes recommendations for changes to education and training in nursing
and supporting roles. It will help to meet future patient needs and aims to ensure that throughout
their careers nurses and care assistants receive consistent high quality education and training.
Events will take place across the country providing a great opportunity for people to have their say
on which of the review’s recommendations they think HEE should take forward.
Health Foundation. Communications in health care improvement- a toolkit. This toolkit is for health
care professionals working in improvement who want to understand and use communications to
better plan, implement and spread their work.
Health, Social services and Public Safety (HSC). Midwives and Medicines (NI): a guide to support
professional practice. This resource has been developed through a partnership arrangement with
midwives and pharmacists from Northern Ireland (NI). It has been adapted from NHS Education
for Scotland (NES) (2012) for use by midwives in NI.
Monitor. Nursing agency guidance. Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA)
recognise that agencies can perform an important role by helping align the supply of staff with
where they are most in demand.
NHS Employers. NHS Employers raises concerns over immigration rules. NHS Employers has
written to the Home Secretary Theresa May to raise concerns that current immigration rules are
compromising patient safety, cost controls and leaving shortages of nurses and doctors at a crucial
time.
Nuffield Trust. Nuffield Trust responds to nurse shortage warning.
NHS England. NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens has kick-started a major drive to
improve the health and wellbeing of 1.3m health service staff, in a bid to benefit both staff and
taxpayers. Mr Stevens has set out how NHS organisations will be supported to help their staff to
stay well, including serving healthier food, promoting physical activity, reducing stress, and
providing health checks covering mental health and musculoskeletal problems – the two biggest
causes of sickness absence across the NHS.
Nursing and Midwifery Council. Senior nursing and midwifery advisors appointed. The Nursing and
Midwifery Council (NMC) has appointed Donna Ockenden as a Senior Midwifery Adviser and Dame
Eileen Sills as a Senior Nurse Advisor.
Queen’s Nursing Institute. New guidance for nurses to improve foot health for those who are
homeless. This guidance covers the specific needs of people who are homeless and includes useful
advice that nurses can give to offer frontline care and treatment, connect patients with podiatry
services, address patient worries, and give practical advice about looking after feet in difficult
circumstances.
RCN. Important changes to rules on lapsed NMC registration. The RCN is urging all nurse and
midwife members to keep on top of their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council
(NMC) as new rules come into force later this year.
RCN. Shape of Caring online consultation.The Shape of Caring review was commissioned in
response to the need to ensure that nurses and health care assistants receive consistent, high
quality education and training throughout their careers to enable them to deliver high quality
care. The RCN is engaging across its membership to explore the implications of the
recommendations arising from the report, and to consider how this impacts on our current and
future work. To help us to do this, we would value your input in completing the survey. The survey
is anonymous and should take no more than ten minutes to complete. If you have any queries
about the survey, please email stephanie.aiken@rcn.org.uk. The survey will close at 9pm on
Sunday 20 September 2015.
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