Thursday 27 October 2016

The UK nursing labour market review 2016

The UK nursing labour market review 2016

This report finds that two thirds of NHS students have had to take on work on top of their studies in order to supplement their income.

The proportion of medical and health students taking on extra jobs has risen from 61% to 68% in the last decade and 64% of those surveyed say that working extra hours is affecting their ability to study. More....
NHS Networks

Recruiting for values and behaviours in social care toolkit

Recruiting for values and behaviours in social care toolkit

Values based recruitment and retention is about finding and keeping people who have the right values, behaviours and attitudes to work in social care and know what it means to provide high quality care.

A toolkit from Skills for Care has guidance, suggestions and practical resources to help with recruitment.
NHS Networks

Final apprenticeship funding arrangements announced

Final apprenticeship funding arrangements announced

Details of the final rules for how apprenticeships will be funded in the future are now available. These changes will take effect from May 2017. 
NHS Employers

The government response to the House of Commons Health Select Committee report on primary care

The government response to the House of Commons Health Select Committee report on primary care

The government’s response to the Health Select Committee primary care report explains the measures which have been put in place to support primary care and improve patients’ access to services. These include increasing funding for primary medical care; greater incentives to increase the growth rate in number of GPs; and the implementation of new models of care. 
Department of Health (DH)
Response
DH publications

Sustainability and climate change: opportunities for PHE

Sustainability and climate change: opportunities for PHE 

This document outlines PHE’s plans to adapt to environmental threats such as climate change and to reduce the impact on the nation’s health. It also provides an update on the progress made so far by the Sustainability and Climate Change Programme Board.

Public Health England (PHE)

Report

PHE publications

Lack of investment in new services puts NHS plan at risk

Lack of investment in new services puts NHS plan at risk

The absence of ring-fenced funding for investing in new services could jeopardise plans to improve patient care outlined in the NHS five year forward view (Forward View), according to a new report from The King's Fund.

£2.1 billion has been allocated this year to a Sustainability and Transformation Fund (STF), which ministers said would enable the NHS to transform services and meet the ambitions set out in the Forward View. However, £1.8 billion of this funding is being used to reduce deficits among NHS providers, leaving just £300 million to invest in new services this year.

New guidance published by NHS England states that £1.8 billion has also been set aside to cover deficits in 2017/18 and 2018/19, leaving little to invest in transforming services. The King's Fund's report warns that this could put the plans outlined in the Forward View at risk.

The report argues that most progress in implementing the Forward View has been made in the new care models programme, in work on sustainability and transformation plans, and in plans to devolve more responsibility to public sector leaders in Greater Manchester. But with two out of the five years covered by the Forward View already elapsed, much remains to be done to align national policies with the improvements in care it is seeking to bring about.

More rapid progress is needed in the development of payment systems to support new care models, such as capitated budgets, in the regulation of care systems as well as organisations, and in the use of contracts to support primary and acute systems and multispecialty community providers. The law on procurement and tendering also needs to be clarified to avoid unnecessary delays and cost in implementing new care models.

The report argues that national leaders must allow time for the changes outlined in the Forward View to become established, with a continuing emphasis on these changes being led from within the NHS rather than being imposed top down.

Chris Ham, Chief Executive of The King's Fund, said:

'The future of the NHS depends on being able to implement the changes outlined in the Forward View.

‘New care models hold out the prospect of moderating rising levels of demand, including through better integration of health and social care and more investment in community services to provide alternatives to care in hospitals or care homes. These models are still under development, but the most advanced hold out real promise.

‘The challenge is that developing new care models requires investment, which is currently in short supply, as well as time. National leaders should hold their nerve, continue to support innovations now well under way, and work to remove legislative and policy barriers to progress.

‘By ring-fencing £1.8 billion for the next two years to reduce deficits, national NHS bodies are effectively leaving the NHS without the investment needed to deliver the transformation of services set out in the Forward View.’
Kings Fund

Doctors' low morale 'puts patients at risk'

Doctors' low morale 'puts patients at risk'

There is a "state of unease" in the UK medical profession that risks affecting patients, the GMC warns. 
BBC News

Pharmacy access to GP summary records slashes admin by 80%

Pharmacy access to GP summary records slashes admin by 80%

Granting local pharmacists access to summary information from GP patient records alleviates strain on GP practices and cuts admin time dealing with pharmacists up to 80%, NHS Digital has said. 
GP Online

Patients must understand options, says Royal College of Surgeons

Patients must understand options, says Royal College of Surgeons

New guidance represents end of ‘paternalistic’ approach to inform-and-consent between surgeon and patient, after law change

Surgeons should stop being “paternalistic” and simply lay out all the options to “let patients choose” whether to undergo surgery, according to radical new guidance for medics. 

NHS drug suppliers investigated over prices

NHS drug suppliers investigated over prices

Competition watchdog launches investigation after claims prices of 32 drugs rose 1,000% in five years

The competition watchdog has launched an investigation into drug companies accused of charging the NHS excessive prices.

If the companies are found by the the Competition and Markets Authority to have broken the law, they could face fines of up to 10% of their turnover. 

NHS staff lay bare a bullying culture | Sarah Johnson

NHS staff lay bare a bullying culture | Sarah Johnson

A shocking four-fifths of respondents to a Guardian survey reveal they have been bullied, and a third have lost jobs as result

Bullying is a pernicious problem in the NHS. That’s the stark finding from exclusive research by the Guardian. The online survey of more than 1,500 doctors, nurses and other health workers in hospitals, primary care and community settings, found that 81% had experienced bullying and for almost half of them (44%), it is still ongoing. Close to nine out of 10 bullying victims who responded have been left with their cases unresolved.

Although the survey on bullying was self-selecting, the findings underline the results of the official annual NHS staff survey. The 2015 survey of nearly 300,000 healthcare professionals across England found that a quarter of staff in NHS trusts had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse in the previous 12 months.

Respondents who have been bullied take on average 108 days off work and a third have contemplated leaving their jobs. 

British study suggests test on toddlers could 'stop 600 heart attacks a year'

British study suggests test on toddlers could 'stop 600 heart attacks a year'

A British study suggests simple tests could identify at least 2,500 children in the UK each year with an inherited condition that puts them at severe risk of heart disease, preventing 600 heart attacks a year. 
Daily Mail