Issue 17: 16 April 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
RCN. Frontline First. Fragile frontline. The RCN's final report before the General Election, Frontline
First: The fragile frontline, finds that there are fewer nurses than in 2010 and that an already
over-stretched workforce is being forced to carry out even more work, with serious implications for
patient care and staff welfare. Analysis of the workforce numbers finds that while the total number
of posts has increased by 6,434, the true picture is less positive. The increase in the total nursing
workforce (excluding midwives, health visitors and school nurses), is actually only 1,470. While the
number of FTE posts has increased, the number of people filling those posts has fallen by 1,845,
meaning that fewer nurses are providing more care. The reality on the ground is that there are
fewer nurses, providing more care.
Full report.
Apprentices, trainees and nursing students. This RCN publication has been designed to give RCN
learning representatives an overview of the new young learner roles and give guidance on what
good practice looks like in relation to supporting young learners.
Important guidance for care of people with diabetes. The RCN’s new guidance for nurses caring for
people with diabetes aims to ensure that in those circumstances care is kept safe for the patient,
and that alongside this, nurses are aware of the legal position around undertaking such treatment
and their own liability.
Channelling Support. The RCN has fought for an improved nursing pay offer in Jersey and is
currently representing members as the modernisation plans that followed are implemented.
Congress 2015: booking is now open. Bookings are now being taken for RCN Congress 2015,
which will be taking place in Bournemouth from Sunday 21 to Thursday 25 June. Attendance at
Congress is free and open to non RCN members.
Nursing counts. The RCN is calling on all political parties to protect patient care across the UK by
defending the nursing profession from cutbacks as it launches its manifesto ahead of this year’s
general election.
RCN Library & Heritage Centre newsletter. For information on events, exhibitions and services in
the RCN Library & Heritage Centre, sign up to our quarterly newsletter.
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
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Wales.
Events
Discussion groups: specialist nursing and advanced nursing practice – at a venue near you!
Key discussion groups are being organised across the UK with advanced nurse practitioners and
specialist nurses stakeholder groups. These groups will held at local venues in Scotland, Northern
Ireland, Wales and regions across England. As part of RCN work exploring advanced and specialist
nursing practice these groups will help the college explore levels of advanced nursing practice,
required clinical experience and qualifications, and the generic attributes of advanced nursing
roles. All knowledge will be collated and used to identify future needs in terms of positioning
advanced nursing in the future healthcare landscape, in refining the education preparation for
advanced nursing and in the future positioning of career pathways for advanced nurse
practitioners.
If you are interested in attending a discussion group close to you please contact
karen.rapley@rcn.org.uk or call her on 01635 232804 for further information.
RCN Annual International Nursing Research Conference and Exhibition 2015. 20 April 2015 - 22
April 2015 - East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2RJ, UK. The RCN Research
Society is particularly interested in receiving abstracts concerning the health care needs of groups
of people who are traditionally underrepresented in research, such as the black and minority ethnic
(BME) and "seldom heard" communities. We particularly welcome papers which use research to
reflect on the current 'crisis' faced by nursing in many countries e.g. changing workforce profiles,
staffing and other organisational issues, healthcare reform, 'caring' and compassion, workforce
morale, nursing in the media.
Lunchtime Lectures: Patient safety and human factors. This short lunchtime talk explores leading
nursing research and topical issues around nursing practice. For the first of this series, RCN
Knowledge and Resources Manager Ross Scrivener explores patient safety, from guidance around
sleep and nutrition and hydration to the ‘Stop the pressure’ campaign on preventing pressure
ulcers. This thirty minute talk will be followed by a chance to ask questions and discuss the topic
with experts.
Create nurse leaders and innovators. Learn how to conduct an economic assessment and publish a
case study showing the value of your service. A free development programme jointly run by the
RCN with the Office for Public Management to build your capacity is looking for applications from
across England. Read about the benefits that previous participants gained and apply for cohort six
by 28 April 2015.
RCN Children and Young People’s Nursing conference, 28 to 30 April 2015. The RCN Children and
Young People’s Nursing conference is being held alongside the RCPCH Annual Conference 2015 on
28 – 29th April 2015 at the ICC, Birmingham.
A force for change: what is the modern nurse? 13 May 2015, RCN HQ, London. To celebrate
Nurses’ Day 2015, join an expert panel of nurse leaders, health correspondents and politicians to
explore nursing as a force for change in modern healthcare. From the career ward nurse to the
nurse consultant; from the health visitor to the military nurse, the range of health care roles is
truly phenomenal.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN). SIGN Diagnosis and Management of Epilepsy
guideline. SIGN is holding an Implementation event in Glasgow on 18 June 2015 for the SIGN
Diagnosis and Management of Epilepsy guideline. The event will take place at: Scottish Epilepsy
Centre 20 St. Kenneth Drive, Glasgow G51 4QD. Registration and further details are available,
contact Lesley.forsyth@nhs.net for further information.
Save the date: RCN Congress. RCN Congress And Exhibition 2015, and the AGM, will take place in
Bournemouth from Sunday 21 to Thursday 25 June. The call for agenda items is open and
submitting entities have until 23 January to suggest topics for resolutions and matters for
discussion. After elections earlier this year, Stuart McKenzie is Chair of Congress and BJ Waltho
Vice Chair.
RCN Looked after children’s nurses’ networking event. 2 July 2015, RCN HQ, London. This event
aims to reinvigorate the RCN Looked After Children’s Nurses community network and provide an
opportunity for sharing of best practice and professional development.
Critical Care Nursing workshop. 4 July 2015, RCN HQ, London. This one day workshop, hosted by
the RCN Critical Care and In-Flight Nursing Forum, is essential for all nurses and health care
professionals working in the field of critical care.
Quality improvement
Audit, reviews, legislation
Care Inspectorate. Excellence in Care short films. The Care Inspectorate has announced changes
to the way they inspect and have produced a series of three short animations to help explain the
changes.
Care Quality Commission (CQC). Our approach to regulating: health and social care in prisons and
young offender institutions, and health care in immigration removal centres. In October 2014 the
CQC published a signposting statement, Inspecting Together, developing a new approach to
regulating healthcare in prisons, young offender institutions and immigration removal centres.
Since then they have engaged with internal and external stakeholders to develop a joint inspection
framework with HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) and are now formally consulting on that
approach. This joint approach will support CQC and HMIP to develop a holistic and coherent view
of health within secure settings. The consultation closes on 24 May 2015.
Clinical Audit Support Centre (CASC). eNewsletter. Issue 72, April 2015 now available.
Local Government Association. Public health transformation twenty months on: adding value to
tackle local health needs. This collection of case studies shows how local authorities are making
progress on improving health and wellbeing and tackling health inequalities.
National Audit Office. Modelling of maternity services in England. This series of papers summarises
the methodological approaches we have taken in carrying out innovative or novel analysis. Such
analysis is conducted under our statutory authority to examine and report to Parliament on the
economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which government departments and other bodies have
used their resources. The Audit insights papers are methodological summaries and do not make
new observations about value for money.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) (2014) Management of osteoporosis and the
prevention of fragility fractures. This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations for best
practice in the management of osteoporosis and prevention of fractures. It addresses risk factors
for fracture, commonly-used tools for fracture risk assessment, approaches to targeting therapy,
pharmacological, and non-pharmacological treatments to reduce fracture risk in different patient
groups, treatment of painful vertebral fractures and systems of care.
The Scottish Government. Refreshing the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland and Scottish
Government Partnership Agreement: External Review. This review of the impact of the Health and
Care Alliance Scotland, its future role, and the strengths and weaknesses of the current working
and funding model with the Scottish Government was carried out between July and December
2014.
Guidance, innovation, tools
HSC Public Health Agency. Age appropriate hearing assessment diagnostic testing guidance. This
guidance, issued by the Regional Newborn Hearing Screening Quality Improvement Group in
Northern Ireland relates to parental or professional concern regarding a young child’s hearing.
Health Innovation Network. Dementia peer support resource tool. The Health Innovation Network
has launched a dementia peer support resource tool, developed in partnership with The
Alzheimer’s Society, AGE UK and Innovations in Dementia. The tool promotes and encourages the
set up and running of peer support opportunities for people with dementia, both in the community
and care setting.
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership. Latest joint replacement patient guides launched.
The National Joint Registry for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (NJR) is delighted to launch
the latest editions of its public and patient guides. These editions have undergone a further refresh
and review process with the NJR Patient Network and the information, across five joint
replacement procedures, is now provided in individual editions.
Monitor. NHS Trusts: apply for NHs foundation trust status. Monitor assesses NHS trusts before
they can become NHS foundation trusts to ensure they are well led so they can deliver good
quality care for patients on a sustainable basis. This guide provides an overview of the NHS
foundation trust assessment process. It takes account of changes to the process introduced since
an updated Guide for applicants was published in October 2013.
NHS Confederation. Briefing shares personal health budget innovations. Innovative examples of
how personal budgets are being used in mental health can be found in a new briefing published by
the NHS Confederation. The briefing details innovations from across the country.
OPM and Royal College of Nursing. A guide to economic assessment in nursing. This guide to
economic assessment in nursing supports the work of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and
OPM, who are working together to provide training in how to perform economic assessments and
use economic evidence to demonstrate the value of nurse-led innovation. It is a collection of
articles that explain some of the principles of economic assessment and describe the most
common approaches in the context of nurse-led service innovation. The series aims to enable
readers to critically examine economic assessments in the context of nurse-led service innovation.
It introduces a tried-and-tested methodology, with associated tools and templates, used to
conduct economic assessments in nursing.
PHG Foundation. Health innovation manifesto: capitalising on science and technology to build a
more active and efficient NHS. This manifesto sets out actions for the next government in order to
make the best use of health innovations in the NHS. It argues that more needs to be done to
ensure that ongoing investment and our excellence in science and technology does not go to
waste. Concerted action can make innovation in these areas yield rich dividends for health in this
country, benefiting the NHS, patients and populations, and over-burdened health budgets too.
Reports, commentary, statistics
Breast Cancer Care. Almost a fifth of women with breast cancer wait more than a month to see
their GP about a breast symptom. Nearly a fifth (17 per cent) of women who have been diagnosed
with breast cancer after spotting a potential symptom wait over a month before seeing their GP,
equating to an estimated 6,000 women every year in the UK, according to calculations based on
new YouGov figures released from Breast Cancer Care.
British Medical Association (BMA). The future of general practice 2015. This briefing outlines key
findings from an opinion poll of over 15,000 GPs. The poll also found that almost all GPs feel that
their heavy workload is having a negative impact on the quality of patient services and many GP
practices doubted they had the ability to provide blanket seven day opening.
Care Quality Commission (CQC). Celebrating good care, championing outstanding care. This report
examines what underpins high quality care. It includes a collection of short case studies illustrating
some of the qualities shown by care providers that are rated good or outstanding overall. It also
shares the views of some people responsible for care quality and what they do to drive
improvement.
Centre for Health Economics, University of York. Productivity Of The English NHS: 2012/13
Update. Productivity is one of the key measures against which NHS achievements can be judged
and is the focus of this report.
Department of Health. Commissioning services to support women and girls with female genital
mutilation. This document sets out what some elements of a successful and safe service to support
women and girls with female genital mutilation (FGM) might look like. It has been developed in
partnership with healthcare professionals currently involved in providing healthcare services, and it
aims to highlight what commissioners might want to consider when developing a new service.
DH. Female genital mutilation risk and safeguarding: guidance for professionals. This document
provides guidance to support an NHS organisation when they are developing or reviewing
safeguarding policies and procedures around FGM.
Health Foundation. Swimming against the tide? The quality of NHS services during the current
parliament. This briefing summarises trends in the quality of NHS care in England since the 2010
general election. It examines the quality of NHS care in relation to five key dimensions: patient
safety; waiting times; mental health care; person-centred care; and international comparisons
with other systems. This briefing is accompanied by topic overviews which provide more detailed
figures and references relating to key areas of quality.
Health Foundation. Evolution, revolution or confusion? Competition and privatisation in the NHS.
The precise role of private sector organisations providing NHS-funded care is a dividing line for the
political parties. This briefing considers key questions relating to the role of competition and the
role of non-NHS providers within the NHS.
Health Foundation. Head, hands and heart: asset-based approaches in health care. This report
summarises the theory and evidence behind asset-based approaches in health, care and wellbeing
and gives details of six case studies, describing these approaches in action.
The Health Foundation. Hospital finances and productivity: in a critical condition? This report
examines the financial performance of NHS providers, focusing on hospitals. The NHS in England
faces the huge challenge of meeting rising demand in a period of sustained financial pressure.
Health Protection Scotland. Publication of quarterly reports on Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)
and Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemias (SAB). This is the first joint report covering both CDI and
SAB. The report provides CDI and SAB data for the fourth quarter of 2014 in 14 NHS boards and
one NHS Special Health Board.
House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee. Care services for people with learning
disabilities and challenging behaviour. This report finds that despite the agreed aim that people
with learning disabilities should live and receive care in the community, there has been no closure
programme for large mental health hospitals. It noted that the availability of places in mental
health hospitals has reduced the pressure on local commissioners to revise their strategies to
expand the capacity and capability of local community services.
London School of Economics (LSE). Equity in the provision of palliative care in the UK: review of
evidence. This report, funded by Marie Curie, finds that a significant minority of people – at least a
fifth of everyone who dies – are not receiving the palliative care they need. It argues that there is
need for investment to extend palliative care provision to everyone who would benefit from it.
Whilst the evidence examined in this study does not indicate how much it would cost to implement
more equitable provision, it does indicates that once services are in place, patients and families
not only have better outcomes (including better-managed symptoms and dying in their preferred
place), but the costs of providing palliative care are offset by fewer emergency hospital admissions
and fewer avoidable hospital deaths.
NHS England. Chief Nursing Officer bulletin. April 2015 issue now available.
Public Health England. Updated guidance for NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme. Public
Health England has published updated handbooks and guidance for the NHS Fetal Anomaly
Screening Programme. The programme gives women high quality information and access to
support, enabling them to make important choices at an earlier stage of their pregnancy.
Social care institute for excellence (SCIE). This new guide and accompanying film from the Social
Care Institute for Excellence shows how using a strengths-based approach in assessment should
put people at the centre of understanding their own needs.
Welsh Government. Wales: a dementia supportive nation. The Minister for Health and Social
Services has announced his priorities for dementia in the year ahead and the steps Wales will take
to support each of these: Dementia risk reduction; Dementia diagnosis rates; Post-diagnostic
support; Care in general hospital settings; Public awareness and support; and a National Dementia
Vision for Wales. This report highlights the support and advice available to anyone diagnosed with
dementia.
Patient safety
BMJ Quality and Safety Online. Developing person-centred analysis of harm in a paediatric
hospital: a quality improvement report. “In the quest for improved patient safety, healthcare
providers need to include the patients as equal partners in the detection of harm. Vincent and
Davis29 call for the integration of patient involvement in safety monitoring systems. This is
imperative if one is to apply a proactive approach to introduction of the framework for the
measurement of patient safety”.
BMJ Quality and Safety Online. Can staff and patient perspectives on hospital safety predict harmfree care? An analysis of staff and patient survey data and routinely collected outcomes. “Patients
have the potential to provide feedback on the safety of their care. Recently, tools have been
developed that ask patients to provide feedback on those factors that are known to contribute to
safety, therefore providing information that can be used proactively to manage safety in hospitals.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether the safety information provided by patients is
different from that provided by staff and whether it is related to safety outcomes”
Department of Health. Government response to the House of Commons Health Select Committee
fourth report of session 2014-15 'Complaints and Raising Concerns'. The report outlines the way
the government wants to create long lasting cultural change across the health and social care
system. The government believes that improving the way in which the NHS manages and responds
to complaints will help shape a culture that listens to and learns from patients and service users,
and ends a culture of defensiveness.
General Medical Council (GMC). The handling by the General Medical Council of cases involving
whistleblowers. This is the final report of an independent review commissioned by the GMC which
recommends that organisations referring concerns about a doctor’s fitness to practise to the GMC
should declare whether the doctor has raised concerns about patient safety. It argues there is
evidence that those who raise concerns may suffer, or believe that they suffer, reprisals from their
employer or from colleagues. It proposes a series of recommendations for GMC investigations to
make sure that such whistleblowers are treated fairly.
House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee. Investigating clinical incidents in the
NHS. This report calls on the incoming Secretary of State for Health to act immediately to start to
establish a national independent patient safety investigation body. It argues that the cost of this
body will be relatively small, compared to the costs and liabilities arising from clinical incidents at
present.
London School of Economics (LSE). Thousands miss out on palliative care due to unfair health
system. The UK’s palliative care system needs a major overhaul according to an LSE report which
reveals widespread inequities and a lack of services for non-cancer patients. Thousands of
palliative care patients often fail to receive sufficient pain relief and respite from other distressing
symptoms, exposing gaps in services, poor communication and unclear roles and responsibilities.
NHS England. Patient safety alert – Managing risks during the transition period to new ISO
connectors for medical devices. A Patient Safety Alert has been issued by NHS England to raise
awareness of the introduction of new medical device connectors. The connectors are being
introduced to prevent the danger of connecting the wrong types of medical devices together. All
NHS providers who use medical devices affected by the change are asked to ensure that staff are
aware and that action plans are being developed to minimise risks during the transition to the new
connectors.
NHS England. NHS England publishes revised Never Events Policy and Serious Incident
frameworks. NHS England has revised two important patient safety documents. The revised Never
Events Policy and Framework includes changes to the definition of a Never Event and adjustments
to the Never Events list. The revised Serious Incident Framework provides renewed guidance to
help organisations recognise, investigate and respond to Serious Incidents appropriately to
minimise the risk of the incident happening again.
See: Never events
and: Serious Incident Framework
Welsh Government. Meningitis B vaccine to be made available to all babies in Wales. The Welsh
Government has announced £7.7m of funding so all babies in Wales will be vaccinated against
meningitis B. The vaccine will now be added to the national childhood immunisation programme in
Wales – babies will receive the first meningitis B vaccine at two months old, followed by two
further doses.
World Health Organization (WHO). From farm to plate: make food safe. A safe and nutritious food
supply is essential for good health. Unsafe food can lead to a range of health problems, with new
threats to food safety constantly emerging. WHO helps countries on food safety in line with the
Codex Alimentarius, a collection of international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice
covering all the main foods and processes. Together with the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), WHO alerts countries to food safety emergencies through an international
information network.
World Health Organization. Close the immunization gap. The World Immunization Week, which will
be held from 24 to 25 April 2015, will signal a renewed global, regional, and national effort to
accelerate action to increase awareness and demand for immunization by communities, and
improve vaccination delivery services. This year’s campaign focuses on closing the immunization
gap and reaching equity in immunization levels as outlined in the Global Vaccine Action Plan, which
is a framework to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through universal access to vaccines for
people in all communities.
Evidence based practice
BBC News. Breath test ‘could give clues to stomach cancer risk’. An early study has shown that a
simple breath test could predict whether people with gut problems are at high risk of developing
stomach cancer. It detects chemical compounds in people’s breath, in an attempt to distinguish
unique “breath prints” in those with risky pre-cancerous changes.
Health Innovation Network. Dementia Peer Support Resource Pack. The Health Innovation Network
worked with The Alzheimer’s Society, Innovations in Dementia and community groups across
South London to produce a Resource Pack to promote the importance of peer support
opportunities for people with dementia. It brings together in one place evidenced based resources
to help community groups and funders set up and run peer support groups, as well as guidance on
how to make older people groups more dementia friendly
Implementation Science. Perceptions of national guidelines and their (non) implementation in
mental healthcare: a deductive and inductive content analysis. “National guidelines are being
produced at an increasing rate, and politicians and managers are expected to promote these
guidelines and their implementation in clinical work. However, research seldom deals with how
decision-makers can perceive these guidelines or their challenges in a cultural context.”
Implementation Science. The Guideline Implementability Decision Excellence Model (GUIDE-M): a
mixed methods approach to create an international resource to advance the practice guideline
field. “Practice guideline (PG) implementability refers to PG features that promote their use. While
there are tools and resources to promote PG implementability, none are based on an evidenceinformed and multidisciplinary perspective.”
NICE. Ensuring people with autism get the best treatment and care. Health and social care
practitioners can ensure they are delivering the best treatment and support for people with autism
by following NICE’s quality standard, according to a leading expert.
NICE Evidence updates. NICE has published evidence updates on ‘Occupational therapy and
physical activity interventions to promote the mental wellbeing of older people in primary care and
residential care’ and ‘Promoting physical activity for children and young people’.
NHS Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Helping people with severe mental illness stop smoking.
The proportion of people with severe mental illness who smoke is two to three times higher than
the rest of the population. This trial recruited nearly one hundred patients who were then
randomly assigned to either a Bespoke Smoking Cessation (BSC) service or the services available
through their GP or mental health specialist. The trial found the BSC service had a positive effect
on those patients attempting to stop smoking with a higher number more likely to have stopped
after 12 months than those who had followed the usual smoking cessation services.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network. SIGN 144 – Glaucoma referral and safe discharge.
This guideline provides recommendations based on current evidence for best practice in the
primary-care assessment and referral of patients with suspected glaucoma of any subtype, from
the community into secondary-eye-care services and the safe discharge of patients from
secondary-eye-care services back into the community.
Patient focus
BBC News. Hospital patients to be asked about UK residence status. Patients could be made to
show their passports when they use hospital care in England under new rules introduced by the
Department of Health. Those accessing new treatment will be asked questions about their
residence status in the UK. Hospitals will also be able to charge short-term visitors from outside
Europe 10 per cent of the cost of treatment.
Campaign to End Loneliness. Hidden citizens: how can we identify the most lonely older adults? In
2013, the Campaign to End Loneliness consulted over 100 frontline service providers about what
they needed to improve their support. Nearly half said they wanted a tool or information that could
help them to identify people experiencing – or at risk of – loneliness. This report explores what
was already known in both research and practice about identifying people experiencing loneliness.
It looked at current approaches to identifying loneliness and searched for insights into how
services can improve their outreach and support.
Care Quality Commission (CQC). CQC ratings to be displayed across care services. The CQC has
announced that people using health or care services will soon be able to see first-hand if they have
been judged as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate. New rules mean health
and care providers will have to make arrangements to prominently display their CQC rating,
helping people make more informed choices.
Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE). Partnering to improve quality and safety: a framework
for working with patient and family advisors. To truly transform care, hospitals and care systems
must effectively engage patients and their families. This guide presents a framework for one
powerful way to engage patients – as advisors on quality and patient safety initiatives. The
Symposium for Leaders in Healthcare Quality developed this guide to help hospitals and care
systems build and sustain partnerships with patient and family advisors, specifically to improve
quality and safety.
Law Society. Deprivation of Liberty: a practical guide. The Law Society has issued comprehensive
guidance on the law relating to the deprivation of liberty safeguards. The safeguards aim to ensure
that those who lack capacity and are residing in care home, hospital and supported living
environments are not subject to overly restrictive measures in their day-to-day lives. The guidance
was commissioned by the Department of Health and aims to help solicitors and frontline health
and social care professionals identify when a deprivation of liberty may be occurring in a number
of health and care settings.
National Institute for Health Research. Going the extra mile. A strategic review of public
involvement in the National Institute for Health Research assesses its' successes in achieving
public involvement to date and recommends a direction for the NIHR for the future that builds on
these achievements.
NHS Citizen. NHS Citizen is a project that aims to answer a simple question: what is the best way
for NHS England to take into account the views of all the public when it makes decisions? The
design of NHS Citizen includes a set of tools and processes that help citizens to take part in NHS
England decision making, called the NHS Citizen system.
NHS England. Paving the way for citizens to have their say. NHS England’s Head of Public Voice,
Olivia Butterworth, introduces the design of NHS Citizen. This work started initially with a concept
of a ‘Civil Society Assembly’ – a way for organisations and public leaders to take part in frank and
honest conversations with the Board of NHS England.
NHS England. New toolkit launched to help reduce poor in-patient care. A new toolkit has been
published by NHS England to help commissioners reduce poor experience of in-patient care. The
toolkit has been co-designed with the help of a number of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)
so it could be tested for its ease and usability.
Welsh Government. More than just words… The strategy’s first annual report sets out the work
currently ongoing to improve the use of the Welsh language. This is part of Wales’ commitment to
deliver high quality services centred on users’ needs, including the language needs of Welsh
speakers.
eHealth
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. A mixed methods study of how clinician ‘super
users’ influence others during the implementation of electronic health records. This article looks at
the potential for electronic health records (EHRs) to improve patient safety and quality of care.
Enlisting clinician super users to provide frontline support to employees has been recommended to
foster EHR implementation success.
ehi news. ‘Lab in a bag’ backed by NHS England. A portable diagnostics service will transform the
way patient care is provided, NHS has said. The Labkit Near Patient Diagnostics service –
described as a ‘lab in a bag’ – allows health care professionals to deliver laboratory-standard test
results outside of a hospital.
Health in Wales. ‘One Drink One Click’ app launch. A new mobile application has been launched to
make the Welsh public ‘stop and think’ about their level of alcohol consumption. Public Health
Wales, in partnership with Alcohol Concern, has developed the ‘One Drink One Click’ app to help
people anonymously monitor how much they are drinking. Users can input the number of alcoholic
drinks consumed, find out how many units this equates to and measure their data against healthy
consumption guidelines.
Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR). Long-Term Outcomes of a Web-Based Diabetes
Prevention Program: 2-Year Results of a Single-Arm Longitudinal Study. “Digital therapeutics are
evidence-based behavioral treatments delivered online that can increase accessibility and
effectiveness of health care. However, few studies have examined long-term clinical outcomes of
digital therapeutics.”
JMIR. Cost Analysis of In-Home Telerehabilitation for Post-Knee Arthroplasty. “Rehabilitation
provided through home visits is part of the continuum of care after discharge from hospital
following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). As demands for rehabilitation at home are growing and
becoming more difficult to meet, in-home telerehabilitation has been proposed as an alternate
service delivery method. However, there is a need for robust data concerning both the
effectiveness and the cost of dispensing in-home telerehabilitation.”
NHS England. Engaging with children and young people through NHS ‘digital badges’. NHS England
has worked with children and young people to develop 12 digital badges for 5 to 16 year olds.
They are a fun way for children and young people to find out more about health care, share their
views, get involved in their own health and gain recognition for their achievements.
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). New guidance to support the Code. To coincide with and
support the new Code, the NMC has published the following revised guidance:
Raising concerns - this has been updated to reflect both the Code and changes to whistleblower
legislation, which means that students are now protected by the law if they make a disclosure to
us.
Social Media - Social media is now addressed in the Code. Using social media responsibly is the
focus of new guidance that explains in detail how to be careful when sharing information online.
Staff focus
BBC News. GP workload harming care, British Medical Association poll shows. Better funding and
more time with patients are needed to improve services, according to a survey of GPs. The BMA
poll of more than 15,500 UK GPs found nine in ten believed a heavy workload had a negative
impact on the quality of care.
British Medical Association (BMA). The future of general practice – survey results. This briefing
outlines key findings from an opinion poll of over 15,000 GPs. The poll found that almost all GPs
feel that their heavy workload is having a negative impact on the quality of patient services and
many GP practices doubted they had the ability to provide seven day opening.
Civitas. Training our NHS health workers: should the UK train more of its staff? This report finds
that the NHS is reliant on overseas health workers who often stay less than a year, as well as
agency staff who work on a temporary basis at extremely inflated costs. It also finds that many
posts in specialities such as emergency medicine are currently vacant and there is a growing GP
recruitment crisis. It suggests that these job and training vacancies and the reliance on agencies
and overseas staff prove that fears of possible unemployment amongst medical professionals,
were training to be increased, are unjustified. It argues that an increased number of UK trained
staff might in fact bring increased competition for posts and thereby help fill positions in less
desirable specialities as well as in more remote locations around the country.
Health Education England (HEE). A framework for accredited scientific practice (ASP) in healthcare
science: a strategic approach to continuing personal and professional development. This
framework and accompanying implementation guidance, describe the arrangements for ASP and
provide practical guidance for the service, professional bodies, and universities to support the
establishment of employer-led programmes, supported by the National School of Healthcare and
the Academy for Healthcare Science.
NHS Employers. Military March – new resource for employers. NHS Employers have released new
resources and web information for employers of health care professionals and non-clinical staff
who are also members of the reserve forces including blogs, case studies and podcasts.
NHS Employers. Nursing Times Awards 2015. The Nursing Times Awards are an opportunity to
showcase and celebrate the excellent work being done to shape and improve nurse-led care in the
NHS. Entries are now open for all 20 categories.
NHS Employers. Latest staff sickness absence figures published. NHS staff sickness absence has
increased by 0.06 per cent in the year to November 2014. The latest figures released by the
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show an increase in overall sickness absence,
rising to 4.48 per cent in November 2014 from 4.24 per cent in November 2013.
NHS Employers. Terms and conditions handbook – Updated. The updated NHS terms and
conditions of service handbook has been published. The updated handbook is available for
download along with an updated record of amendments.
http://www.nhsemployers.org/news/2015/04/terms-and-conditions-handbook-update
Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Legal change will protect nursing and midwifery students
who raise concerns. The NMC welcomes a change to legislation which will protect student nurses
and midwives from retaliation or victimisation when they raise concerns. The Public Interest
Disclosure Act enables nurses and midwives to make ‘protected disclosures’ to the NMC and other
organisations. From 6 April 2015, student nurses and midwives who are in practice settings as part
of their education programmes will be given the same level of protection.
RCN. Frontline First. Fragile frontline. The RCN's final report before the General Election, Frontline
First: The fragile frontline, finds that there are fewer nurses than in 2010 and that an already
over-stretched workforce is being forced to carry out even more work, with serious implications for
patient care and staff welfare. Analysis of the workforce numbers finds that while the total number
of posts has increased by 6,434, the true picture is less positive. The increase in the total nursing
workforce (excluding midwives, health visitors and school nurses), is actually only 1,470. While the
number of FTE posts has increased, the number of people filling those posts has fallen by 1,845,
meaning that fewer nurses are providing more care. The reality on the ground is that there are
fewer nurses, providing more care. See the full report.
Guardian. Lack of nurses ‘is causing crisis in community care’. The Royal College of Nursing report
says panic drive to fill hospital posts after NHS scandals has left home-based services dangerously
understaffed.
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