Making the NHS payment and pricing system work

The Foundation Trust Network has proposed changes to the NHS payments system to help NHS foundation trusts and trusts manage the financial risks expected in 2015/16. It highlights ten issues NHS England and Monitor need to take into account in setting this year's payment and pricing system and five enablers for ensuring this process works effectively.

End of life care profiles for CCGs

The NEoLCIN has published end of life care profiles for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for the first time. The profiles draw together a wide range of information to give an overview of variations in cause and place of death, by age and sex, for each CCG in England. 

2015/16 national tariff discussion paper

Monitor has published a discussion paper on potential changes to the tariff in 2015/16. This provides the healthcare sector with an early opportunity to influence Monitor’s thinking as it develops its methodology for setting nationally determined prices.

Flu plan: winter 2014/15

Public Health England has published the flu plan for next winter in England. The national plan is designed to help NHS and local government organisations to develop their own local operational plans. This year the flu plan also includes details of the extension of the flu vaccination programme to children.

Publication of staffing data

NHS England has written to trusts about their progress in collecting staffing data following guidance issued with the Care Quality Commission on 31 March 2014.  The guidance outlined a number of milestones for this first phase, focusing on all inpatient areas including secondary care, community, mental health, maternity and learning disability services.

A&E performance: England 2013/14

This briefing presents key statistics on A&E performance in England. It looks at the number of people who have attended A&E, the pattern of A&E attendance over the year and how different NHS trusts compare on waiting times.

How is the NHS performing? April 2014

This is the eleventh in a series of quarterly monitoring reports on how the NHS is coping as it grapples with the evolving reform agenda and the more significant challenge of making radical improvements in productivity.

Balancing quality and finance

A crucial issue facing the NHS today is how the health service can balance the imperative to provide better care with the need to reduce costs overall. This briefing brings together the views of NHS leaders and highlights the key messages arising from a roundtable held at the end of last year. 

Hospital stays improving, finds CQC

The results of the national survey of hospital patients, published by the Care Quality Commission, suggest that people are generally having a better experience in hospital compared to a year ago.  The findings also show there’s room for improvement, with some variation in the quality of people’s stay.