Will STPs deliver the changes we wish see in our health and care services?

Will STPs deliver the changes we wish see in our health and care services? Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) are based on the notion that collective action is needed to address the significant pressures now facing health and care services in England. Thelogic of this is sound – but developing the plans has been far from easy, and implementing them will require leaders and organisations across a local STP footprint to work together in new ways. In our new report, Sustainability and transformation plans in the NHS, we make a number of recommendations as to how leaders and organisations might do this. The King's Fund

See also:

• Controversial plans right way forward for the NHS The King's Fund
• NHS bosses 'tried to keep cuts secret' BBC News
• Maternity units and A&Es under threat as the NHS tackle a budget crisis The Daily Mail
• 'Secret' plans to close A&E departments could put lives at  risk, leading doctors warn The Daily Telegraph
• STPs 'far from perfect' but NHS has no plan B, warns think tank GP Online
• Patients and staff shut out of NHS transformation plans, says thinktank The Guardian
• NHS plans to close hospitals and A&E departments kept secret from the public, investigation finds The Independent
• NHS cost-cutting plans 'kept secret from public and media' ITV News
• GPs 'least involved' in sweeping plans for NHS change, warns King’s Fund Pulse

Adult social care: market shaping

Adult social care: market shaping This guidance is aimed at people who buy social care services, including local authority and clinical commissioning group commissioners, as well as personal budget holders and people who fund their own care, care service providers and potential investors in the care sector.

The adult social care market refers to independent care sector providers and support organisations – those that provide Care Quality Commission regulated services, such as care and home care, as well as unregulated care, such as personal assistants, volunteers and communities and informal family carers, and wider support services. Department of Health

New case study - improving staff engagement through the workforce development strategy

New case study - improving staff engagement through the workforce development strategy Our new case study from Kettering General Hospital shares their experiences of how they've improved their staff engagement levels through the implementation of a workforce development strategy. NHS Employers

Using data to identify good-quality care for older people

Using data to identify good-quality care for older people This report describes the results of a pilot analysis of the effectiveness of using routine health care data to determine areas that have made quality improvements in the care of frail and older people over time. It focuses on a few indicators that were mainly derived from acute emergency hospital use and applies statistical analyses to them at the local authority area level. It concludes that there is scope to use these methods and approaches not only to track past change, but also as part of real-time monitoring of ongoing interventions. Nuffield Trust

The damage: care in crisis

The damage: care in crisis This report is based on a survey of more than 1000 home care, residential support and day services staff across the UK and it finds that budget cuts are having a direct impact on the quality of care. 63 per cent of staff surveyed report having less time to spend with their users due to staff shortages and 36 per cent said that the rationing of supplies had increased. UNISON

Delivering adult social care in challenging times

Delivering adult social care in challenging times This report outlines the issues and funding pressures facing county authorities in delivering adult social care. The results of a survey of county directors of adult social care reveals that 88 per cent believe their budgets to be 'severe' or 'critical' and 12 per cent report their current funding levels as 'manageable'. The report argues that social care pressures are most acute in county areas due to the fastest-growing elderly populations and the proportionately reduced funding in county authorities. City Councils Network

Dementia now leading cause of death

Dementia now leading cause of death Dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease, has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in England and Wales, latest figures reveal. BBC News

Cancer screening in the community

Cancer screening in the community Health services are attempting to reach deprived communities by offering them mobile cancer screening. BBC News

See also:

• Breaking the link BBC News

Virgin Care wins £700m contract to run 200 NHS and social care services

Virgin Care wins £700m contract to run 200 NHS and social care services Deal for Bath and north-east Somerset area sparks new fears about private firms’ role in providing publicly funded healthcare

Sir Richard Branson’s health firm Virgin Care has won a £700m contract to deliver 200 types of NHS and social care services to more than 200,000 people in Bath and north-east Somerset.

The contract, which was approved on Thursday, has sparked new fears about private health firms expanding their role in the provision of publicly funded health services. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Virgin Care given £700m health contract in Bath and North East Somerset BBC News

Revealed: dozens of children still treated on adult psychiatric wards

Revealed: dozens of children still treated on adult psychiatric wards Despite ‘scandalous’ practice being outlawed six years ago, vulnerable minors are still being treated in adult settings

Dozens of children and young people with mental health problems are still being treated on wards containing adults with sometimes severe psychiatric problems despite ministers having supposedly outlawed the practice in 2010, the Guardian can reveal.

Mental health campaigners condemned the persistence of the problem and said it was completely unacceptable for vulnerable minors to be subjected to what many find a “terrifying” experience. The Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb, who had responsibility for mental health care in the coalition government, said putting children on adult wards was scandalous and must be ended at once. Continue reading... The Guardian

One in three NHS hospitals are failing their stroke patients

One in three NHS hospitals are failing their stroke patients Thirty-two per cent of hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were given the bottom two grades of D or E for their stroke care between April and July this year. The Daily Mail

Patients to get instant tests at chemists to see if they need antibiotics under NHS plans

Patients to get instant tests at chemists to see if they need antibiotics under NHS plans Anyone with a sore throat should go to see their pharmacist instead of their GP to get an instant test to see whether they need antibiotics, the head of the NHS is to announce.

The plan, designed to stop antibiotic resistance and to alleviate pressure on family doctors, will ensure far quicker treatment for common ailments, Simon Stevens will say.

The revolution in “smart innovation” is part of a national plan to modernise the health service in the face of "unprecedented demand" and amid warnings that the health service is facing its toughest winter yet. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Sore throat sufferers urged to take pharmacy test BBC News
• Sore throats to be tested by pharmacists instead of GPs under NHS move The Guardian

‘I never imagined I could be run down wearing the uniform’ : Northampton paramedic

‘I never imagined I could be run down wearing the uniform’ : Northampton paramedic A paramedic whose leg was broken by a hit and run driver in Northampton has expressed amazement that he could have been mown down by someone who knew what he did for a living. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Reducing infections in the NHS

Reducing infections in the NHS Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has launched new plans to reduce infections in the NHS. He announced government plans to halve the number of gram-negative bloodstream infections by 2020 at an infection control summit.

E. coli infections – which represent 65% of what are called gram-negative infections – killed more than 5,500 NHS patients last year and are set to cost the NHS £2.3 billion by 2018. There is also large variation in hospital infection rates, with the worst performers having more than 5 times the number of cases than the best performing hospitals.

Infection rates can be cut with better hygiene and improved patient care in hospitals, surgeries and care homes, such as ensuring staff, patients and visitors regularly wash their hands. People using insertion devices such as catheters, which are often used following surgery, can develop infections like E. coli if they are not inserted properly, left in too long or if patients are not properly hydrated and going to the toilet regularly.

These new plans build on the progress made in infection control since 2010 – the number of MRSA cases has been reduced by 57% and C. difficile by 45%. Department of Health

Further guidance on managing complaints and incidents within homecare services

Further guidance on managing complaints and incidents within homecare services As home care is often a shared care arrangement involving multiple organisations, it is important that complaints processes which allow the sharing, reporting and learning from complaints is in place and integrated between all parties involved in order to ensure that complaints are received, recorded, investigated, acted upon and reviewed in order to support patient care. This guidance provides detailed practical advice on how reporting and learning systems should operate in home care services in order to meet the requirements of patients, carers, regulators and other stakeholders. Royal Pharmaceutical Society

25% rise in complaints about home care

25% rise in complaints about home care The number of complaints received by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) about care provided to vulnerable people at home in England has increased by 25% over the last year.

The complaints about home care include care workers being late, missing appointments, not staying long enough and not doing what they should, including not treating people with the dignity they deserve, says the LGO’s Review of Adult Social Care Complaints 2015/16. OnMedica

NHS loses court appeal over 'game-changing' HIV drugs

NHS loses court appeal over 'game-changing' HIV drugs Health service in England fails to overturn high court verdict that it can pay for PrEP treatments, which can prevent infection

NHS England does have the power to pay for drugs to protect thousands of people against HIV, the appeal court has ruled, but they may still miss out if it decides it does not have enough money to prioritise them over treatments for other conditions.

The court upheld an earlier judgment that it is within the power of NHS England to fund treatment known as PrEP – pre-exposure prophylaxis – which can protect the partners of people with HIV from infection. The case was brought by the National Aids Trust (NAT) after NHS England said responsibility for public health, including HIV prevention, had been passed to local authorities. Continue reading... The Guardian

See also:

• Update on PrEP NHS England
• NHS England has power to fund Prep HIV drug, court decides BBC News
• The 13 NHS treatments at risk because of a controversial HIV drug PrEP The Daily Mail
• NHS to consider funding 'game-changer' HIV drugs as High Court dismisses appeal The Daily Telegraph
• PrEP ruling: NHS can provide HIV prevention drug after it loses High Court case The Independent

NHS 'bedblocking' rises for sixth month in a row

NHS 'bedblocking' rises for sixth month in a row More patients are fit to leave hospital, but cannot be safely discharged, increasing pressure on government to tackle crisis

The number of patients in England who were medically fit to leave hospital but unable to be safely discharged has reached a new high for the sixth month in a row, increasing pressure on the government to tackle the social care shortage.

NHS and council leaders, and the Care Quality Commission (CQC), have recently called for action to prop up social care, and the chancellor, Philip Hammond, has been urged to increase funding in the autumn statement on 23 November. Continue reading... The Guardian

NHS hospital machines attacked by hackers who demand ransom cash

NHS hospital machines attacked by hackers who demand ransom cash All non-urgent operations and appointments were cancelled at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust for two days last month, after a malicious virus infected the IT system. The Daily Mail

Junior doctors lift strike threat and pledge to work with Government

Junior doctors lift strike threat and pledge to work with Government Junior doctors have lifted all threat of strike action and pledged to work with the Government to help introduce a controversial new contract.

The union made the climb down after a series of debacles and warring between medics who oppose the new deal.

It follows the resignation of the head of the union’s junior doctors’ committee (JDC) last weekend, after only being in the post for four months.

The BMA had already cancelled a string of strikes planned this winter, amid warnings from medics that the plans were too dangerous. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Junior doctors have CANCELLED all further plans for strike action The Daily Mail
• BMA surrenders junior doctor contract strike mandate GP Online
• Junior doctors remove threat of further strikes over contract The Guardian