Sir Ron Kerr review: empowering NHS leaders to lead

Sir Ron Kerr review: empowering NHS leaders to lead This review was led by Sir Ron Kerr and explored 3 challenges faced by executive leaders across the NHS:

• expectations and support available for leaders
• alignment of performance expectations at the organisational and system level
• level of administrative burden placed upon executive leaders

The review makes a number of recommendations to address these challenges. Department of Health and Social Care

See also:

• Ex-NHS chief finds 'bullying and discrimination prevalent' in official review Health Service Journal

Leadership in integrated care systems

Leadership in integrated care systems This paper, aimed at chief executives, directors and senior managers from the NHS, local authorities, housing organisations and voluntary and community sector, is based on findings from interviews with systems leaders and a review of the literature. The NHS Leadership Academy commissioned SCIE to undertake this research to further expand the understanding of systems leadership and leadership of integrated care systems. Free registration is required to access this document. Social Care Institute for Excellence

Health at a glance: Europe 2018

Health at a glance: Europe 2018 This report states that mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety disorders and alcohol and drug use disorders, affect more than one in six people across the European Union in any given year. Besides the impact on people’s well-being, the report estimates the total costs of mental ill-health at over EUR 600 billion – or more than four per cent of GDP – across the 28 EU countries. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust remains 'inadequate'

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust remains 'inadequate' England's worst performing mental health trust has been rated inadequate for a third time, with patients trying to take their lives waiting for care.

Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) had unsafe acute wards and was seriously understaffed.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said bosses repeatedly failed to protect patients and a charity has called for the government to intervene.

NSFT said it was disappointed but "determined to get things right". BBC News

See also:

• The lives lost in Norfolk and Suffolk's mental health crisis Eastern Daily Press

NHS no deal Brexit plans will be activated 'before Christmas' if MPs vote down May's deal, health secretary says

NHS no deal Brexit plans will be activated 'before Christmas' if MPs vote down May's deal, health secretary says Contingency plans to ensure the supply of medicines and other health services will be triggered before Christmas if Theresa May’s Brexit deal fails to get MP’s backing next month, the head of NHS England has admitted.

Simon Stevens, told the Commons Health Committee that plans for a no dealBrexit, some costing “tens of millions of pounds", would need activating within weeks if the transition plan is voted down on 11 December.

Contracts to take on additional warehouses and refrigerator capacity for drug stockpiles and other biological materials would be included in these expenses. The Independent

No more silk pyjamas: NHS cracks down on ineffective treatments

No more silk pyjamas: NHS cracks down on ineffective treatments Health service in England plans to stop eight treatments in attempt to save £68m a year

NHS England is to stop buying silk pyjamas for patients who have serious skin conditions as part of a crackdown on treatments it says are not proven to work.

The health service plans to no longer purchase silk nightwear and gloves for people with eczema and dermatitis because of a lack of evidence of their effectiveness.

Aliskiren, a blood pressure drug, saving an estimated £939,300

Amiodarone, for abnormal heart rhythms (£1.1m)

Dronedarone, given to patients with atrial fibrillation (1.7m)

Minocycline, prescribed for acne (£637,400) The Guardian

Pharma firm sold mesh implant despite pain warnings

Pharma firm sold mesh implant despite pain warnings A vaginal mesh implant made by one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firms was launched despite the company being warned it could shrink and harden inside the body, company documents reveal.

Internal emails between executives, shared with the Guardian, show staff at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) were concerned that the plastic material the mesh was made from had the potential to turn “hard as a rock” and roll up like a “folded potato chip” inside patients.

Despite this risk, the Prolift implant was made available in 2005 and marketed for seven years. In one exchange, staff discussed how “shrinkage of the mesh may lead to pain”.

See also:

• Pharma company 'KNEW vaginal mesh implant would leave women in pain' The Daily Mail

Attempts to divert patients from A&E make little difference

Attempts to divert patients from A&E make little difference Attempts to reduce pressure on Accident and Emergency departments by diverting the least sick do little to cut attendances or save money, new research suggests.

The study published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, found little evidence that schemes which try to weed out “low need” patients and send them to GPs and minor injuries units help to cut crowding in casualty units. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Interventions to improve patient flow in emergency departments: an umbrella review Emergency Medicine Journal

Cervical cancer screening rate falls to lowest for at least 21 years

Cervical cancer screening rate falls to lowest for at least 21 years The proportion of women attending cervical screening is the lowest for at least 21 years, new figures show.

The statistics show that just 71.4 per cent of women in England are attending screening - the lowest since 1997 - and a fall from 75.7 per cent in 2011.

Experts said difficulties getting GP appointments for a smear test were fuelling the decline.

The figures show screening coverage is higher among older women than younger women. The Daily Telegraph

See also:

• Cervical screening programme 2017-18 NHS Digital
• Record FIVE MILLION British women are overdue for life-saving smear tests The Daily Mail
• Women going to cervical cancer screening falls to 21-year low, official figures show The Independent

Why has it taken so long to wake up to the danger implants that caused 1,000 deaths?

Why has it taken so long to wake up to the danger implants that caused 1,000 deaths? Carl Heneghan, a professor of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University, details his shock and annoyance at the regulation of medical devices. The Daily Mail

Urgent care company collapse leaves GPs just 10 days to find out-of-hours cover

Urgent care company collapse leaves GPs just 10 days to find out-of-hours cover A number of GP practices are being forced to urgently seek replacement out-of-hours cover after the private company providing services on their behalf gave them just 10 days' notice of ceasing operations.

Primecare, which forms part of the financially struggling Allied Healthcare group, wrote last week to over 20 Birmingham GP practices for which it directly provides out-of-hours cover, informing them they would stop services by the end of the month.

The decison also affects a number of CCGs, which have been told the services they contract from Primecare will cease by mid-December.

NHS Walsall CCG, NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG, NHS Herefordshire CCG and NHS Nene CCG all hold out-of-hours and urgent care services contract with the company, while Primecare also forms part of a wider NHS 111 and out-of-hours contract covering more than a dozen West Midlands CCGs. Pulse

Cancer care: England still lagging behind the best

Unfinished business: An assessment of the national approach to improving cancer services in England 1995–2015 This report looks at progress in cancer care over two decades. It finds that progress has been made on reducing mortality, and improving the chances of survival and the experience of care, for people in England diagnosed with cancer.

However, despite persistent ambitions to be the best in Europe and the world, the gap in survival rates has not been closed.

The report sets out recommendations to help close the gap in survival between England and other comparable countries. The Health Foundation

See also:

• Radical rethink required to close gap on cancer survival between England and comparable countries The Health Foundation
• Cancer care: England still lagging behind the best BBC News

Shedding light on service design involving patients and the public

Shedding light on service design involving patients and the public One of the most satisfying aspects of patient and public involvement (PPI) is the ability to look back at a project and clearly see how the patient voice had meaningful impact. Using patient insight data to influence change is a lengthy process, with the ‘truth’ emerging slowly during systematic analysis of all the data that’s been gathered over the preceding weeks, months or years. Much rarer are the occasions when something emerges during a lone workshop or focus group that is clearly going to redefine the way you think about a particular problem; the 'lightbulb moment'. The King's Fund

Radical changes needed to tackle stalling health improvements

Radical changes needed to tackle stalling health improvements The King’s Fund has warned that, without radical change, progress in improving the population’s health is at risk of grinding to a halt.

Health improvements over the last century have meant that each generation has lived longer, healthier lives than their predecessors. But in a new report, The King’s Fund argues that this can no longer be taken for granted, highlighting a number of key measures against which progress has stalled.

Policing and mental health: Picking up the pieces

Policing and mental health: Picking up the pieces In 2017, we inspected all 43 police forces in England and Wales and the British Transport Police on their effectiveness, as part of our PEEL (police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy) inspection programme.

One of the main areas we inspect in effectiveness is how well the police protect those who are vulnerable, and support victims. For the first time within this area, we inspected how effectively police respond to and support people with mental health problems. This report sets out our findings. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services

See also:

• Police cannot fix a broken mental health system Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
• Mental health: Five people called Met Police 8,655 times in 2017 BBC News
• Police taking calls on mental health issues every two minutes, watchdog warns The Daily Telegraph
• Police 'picking up pieces of mental health system', says watchdog The Guardian
• NHS failings 'forcing police to respond to mental health incidents rather than crimes', report finds The Independent
• Police stepping in for struggling mental health services Sky News

Less than a third of doctors involved in winter planning, new RCP poll finds

Less than a third of doctors involved in winter planning, new RCP poll finds Less than a third of doctors (29%) responding to a poll by the RCP say they have been asked to take part in planning for winter, despite last winter being one of the worst on record for the NHS and extra pressure over summer due to the heatwave.

This low level of involvement may explain why over half (56%) of participants say they are worried or very worried about the ability of their service to deliver safe patient care this winter, with only 17% saying they are confident or very confident. Royal College of Physicians 

See also:

• Half of medical staff fear they will NOT be able to keep patients safe this winter, poll reveals The Daily Mail
• Most doctors fear hospitals won't cope this winter The Guardian
• Hospital staff fear for safety of NHS patients this winter, new poll reveals The Independent

Investigating recent developments in the commissioning system: final report

Investigating recent developments in the commissioning system: final report There is now a more complex local landscape of organisations all of which need to be involved in the planning of local services; and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) need to be able to find ways to engage with them effectively. This project investigated the initial stages of this process. The questions addressed by the research were: how are CCG internal processes of decision making changing?; what is the role of the individual CCG in the current commissioning landscape?; how is accountability maintained by CCGs in the current commissioning landscape?; how is competition and the current pricing regime relevant to CCGs’ commissioning decisions?; and how should commissioning develop? Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System

Safety concerns raised over breast implants

Safety concerns raised over breast implants An investigation has raised safety concerns about the most commonly used type of silicone breast implant in the UK.

Women in France are now being advised not to use "textured" silicone implants while authorities investigate links with a rare form of cancer.

British women are still having the implants put in and there has been no warning from the UK regulator to stop.

It says it will take action when it sees there is a problem. BBC News

LGBT+ people's health 'seen as less important to NHS', equalities committee warns

LGBT+ people's health 'seen as less important to NHS', equalities committee warns The NHS has been accused of treating the health needs of gay, transgender and other LGBT+ people as “less important” than the wider population by the head of parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee.

After receiving evidence from more than 60 groups as part of an inquiry into health and social care support for LGBT+ communities, the committee’s chair, Maria Miller MP, said the “NHS is not delivering”.

The committee is currently working on a report on the issue, but has published evidence on the “stark” inequalities that exist in access and health outcomes for LGBT+ people. The Independent

See also:

• Health and social care and LGBT communities inquiry Women and Equalities Committee

NHS to save £300m on cost of most expensive drug

NHS to save £300m on cost of most expensive drug The NHS is set to save a record £300m after negotiating deals with five manufacturers on low-cost versions of the health service’s most costly drug.

The saving – the biggest in NHS history from a single drug negotiation – could pay for 11,700 more community nurses or 19,800 more breast cancer treatments for patients.

The deal has come about through the introduction of “biosimilar” versions of adalimumab, which is prescribed to more than 46,000 patients for hospital-treated, serious conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis. The Independent