NHS England says it cannot fund all cost-effective treatments promptly

NHS England says it cannot fund all cost-effective treatments promptly

Can the NHS still afford to fund all the treatments and technologies the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends? The answer, from NHS England, seems to be no – and it has now published, along with NICE, a set of ideas for how to handle that.

This is just one more example of the growing financial pressure on the NHS. It has big implications for how far the service will stay abreast of cutting edge, if sometimes only incremental, advances in medical technology in general, and pharmaceuticals in particular. This is a big issue.

It has come to a head because over the past year or two, as the money has got ever tighter, NHS England has held back on implementing a small number of recommendations from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence – despite the theory that the service, certain circumstances excepted, should implement all the cost-effective treatments that NICE recommends within 90 days.

Mental illness recovery linked to deprivation, report finds

Mental illness recovery linked to deprivation, report 

Official statistics show a strong link between deprivation and the likelihood of recovering from anxiety and depression.

NHS Networks

Does health literacy matter? – Jonathan Berry

Does health literacy matter? – Jonathan Berry

Jonathan Berry, Personalisation & Control Specialist in NHS England’s Person Centred Care Team, provides an update on the current work being done to transform health literacy and explains why it is so important and the positive impact it can have for patients. “Does health literacy matter?”. I am often asked this by clinicians and managers […]

NHS Commissioning

Proposals for changes to the arrangements for evaluating and funding drugs and other health technologies appraised through NICE’s technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies programmes

Proposals for changes to the arrangements for evaluating and funding drugs and other health technologies appraised through NICE’s technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies programmes

NICE and NHS England have launched a consultation on changes to the arrangements for evaluating and funding drugs and other health technologies appraised through NICE’s Technology Appraisal and Highly Specialised Technologies programmes. The proposed changes could benefit patients by providing access to the most effective and cost-effective new treatments more quickly and will help the life sciences industry by increasing the opportunities for companies to help manage the introduction of their new technologies into the NHS. This consultation sets out a number of ways in which NICE and NHS England can provide an environment that encourages the life sciences industry and the NHS to work together in the best interests of patients. The closing date for comments is 13 January 2017. 

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 
Consultation document
NICE - news

A rapid review of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of interventions to improve the oral health of children aged 0-5 years

A rapid review of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of interventions to improve the oral health of children aged 0-5 years

These resources were developed to support local authorities investing in the local commissioning of oral health improvement programmes for pre-school children. They were commissioned from the York Health Economics Consortium and developed in partnership with Public Health England.

Public Health England
Rapid review
ROI infographic
ROI interventions tool
Public Health England - publications

NHS England sets out funding for GP infrastructure, indemnity and mental health

NHS England sets out funding for GP infrastructure, indemnity and mental health

Nearly 300 GP practices will receive premises or technology investment this year as part of a plan to invest £900m in general practice infrastructure by 2020/21, NHS England has announced.

GP Online

• GP practices to benefit from new surgeries and upgraded clinics across England NHS Commissioning

How do people with psychosis use online health information, and do they tell their clinicians?

How do people with psychosis use online health information, and do they tell their clinicians?

Sarah Knowles reviews a recent qualitative study of online mental health information seeking behaviour by people with psychosis. 

The Mental Elf

Doctors 'know too little about nutrition and exercise'

Doctors 'know too little about nutrition and exercise'

Letter from medics and dieticians calls for improvement in training to reduce lifestyle-related deaths

Most doctors are ill-equipped to tackle Britain’s increasing frequency of lifestyle-related diseases because they know worryingly little about how nutrition and exercise can improve health, a group of prominent medics has claimed.

“There is a lack of knowledge and understanding of the basic evidence for the impact of nutrition and physical activity on health among the overwhelming majority of doctors. This has its roots in the lack of early formal training,” they state in a letter to the Medical Schools Council (MSC) and General Medical Council (GMC). 

Guardian
Continue reading...

How virtual reality is changing the game in healthcare

How virtual reality is changing the game in healthcare

UK hospitals are turning to simulation and the virtual world to train healthcare professionals in medical procedures
In a small operating theatre underneath University College London hospital, a team of cardiologists are in a race against time. They’re performing an angioplasty, a delicate and dextrous procedure where tiny wires are inserted into the heart to widen coronary arteries narrowed by plaque buildup. Things have gone badly wrong.
One of the wires has perforated the artery walls, causing a rapid leakage of blood. With fluid building up around the heart, the team must act quickly. A microscopic balloon has to be blown up inside the artery to stop further blood loss, before a drain is inserted through a tiny keyhole incision to remove the excess. This has to be done in less than five minutes to prevent the patient going into cardiac arrest. 

Guardian

Continue reading...