Local price setting and contracting practices for NHS services

Monitor has published a new research paper which assesses just how effective local contracts have been in delivering more for patients, with the focus being on national price setting.

NHS won’t meet £20bn improvement target

The NHS will struggle to meet its target of delivering £20bn in productivity improvements by 2015 according to the latest quarterly monitoring report from the King’s Fund. 

Patients are at the centre of new ward inspection regime

NHS England has published findings from its patient-led inspections of hospitals.

Quality and safety in the NHS

This study of NHS cultures and behaviours found that the quality of care in the English NHS is too often compromised by a lack of clearly defined goals, too much regulation and highly variable staff support

Consultation on the 2014/15 national tariff

New rules will come into force next year allowing local experiments in ways of paying for NHS-funded services to develop new models of care for patients.

Monitor clarifies process on awarding foundation trust status

Monitor has reaffirmed that it will not grant foundation trust status to any further NHS trusts until it receives robust assurance from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that applicants are providing a good quality of care for patients.

Monitor has also updated Applying for NHS foundation trust status: Guide for applicants

New EU Directive on public procurement

This briefing provides an overview of key aspects of the new EU public procurement Directive and its implications for the health service

Predicting hospital admission: an observational study

This study aimed to test the performance of new variants of models to identify people at risk of an emergency hospital admission.

NHS written complaints figures released

NHS organisations received more than 162,000 written complaints during 2012/13, the equivalent of over 3,000 complaints a week, according to figures released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

‘Care left undone’ during nursing shifts: associations with workload and perceived quality of care

This report aims to examine the nature and prevalence of care left undone by nurses in English National Health Service hospitals and to assess whether the number of missed care episodes is associated with nurse staffing levels and nurse ratings of the quality of nursing care and patient safety environment

Tool for measuring adverse events

This tool provides an easy-to-use method for accurately identifying adverse events and measuring the rate of adverse events over time. This paper provides step-by-step instructions for using the tool to accurately identify adverse events and measure the rate of adverse events over time.

Commissioning children’s palliative care: a guide for CCGs

This document describes the population of children who need palliative care; the services and professionals who provide it; and recommendations for the commissioning of children’s palliative care.

The Shared Learning collection

The Shared Learning collection on the NICE website is a portfolio of quality-assured examples of implementation of NICE guidance and the use of quality standards to change local practice

NHS England puts patient data to better use

NHS England is introducing a modern information service on behalf of the NHS called care.data. The service will use information from a patients’ medical record to improve the way that healthcare is delivered for all.

Finance managers recommend changes to NHS payments system

NHS finance managers acknowledge the benefits of payment by results (PBR) the current system governing payments, but argue that the current system is in need of reform. The findings are explained in a joint briefing by the Healthcare Finance Managers’ Association and the King’s Fund.

Variations to NHS standard contracts

NHS England has published technical guidance on the process through which commissioners can effect local variations to electronic and paper contracts

Performance data for surgeons published

Surgery-specific data has been published on the NHS Choices website.

Keogh review of hospital care

More networking to share good practice and real-time patient feedback beyond the friends and family test area among the recommendations of Sir Bruce Keogh’s report on quality and standards of care at the 14 hospital trusts identified as below the line.

Chief inspector of hospitals announces inspection plans

CQC’s new chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards is introducing radical changes to the way hospitals in England are inspected.

First results from NHS Friends and Family test published

New data from the NHS Friends and Family survey, which asks patients whether they would recommend A&E and inpatient wards to their nearest and dearest based on their own experience, has been released.