The NHS Performance Framework 2012/13: update

The Department has published an update to annex A of NHS Performance Framework 2012/13 relating to the VTE risk assessment indicator.

How patient choice affects treatment location, England, 2003-2011

This report from the Nuffield Trust considers the extent to which patients or their referring doctors have been choosing a different location of care since 2006.

Future trends overview

This briefing from the Kings Fund summarises some of the most significant trends and drivers that will potentially affect health and social care services over the next 20 years.

NHS Outcomes Framework 2013 to 2014

The NHS Outcomes Framework 2013 to 2014 sets out the outcomes and corresponding indicators that will be used to to account for improvements in health outcomes.

The NHS Confederation has produced a “mind map” bringing together on one page all the indicators for each of the five domains in the 2013/14 Outcomes Framework.

Design and Use of Performance Measures to Decrease Low-Value Services and Achieve Cost-Conscious Care

This paper provides specific examples of possible measures to assess use of low-value services and discusses how these measures can be used in clinical practice and policy.

Providers to collect AHPs’ referral-to-treatment information

From April 2013 there will be a requirement for general and acute providers to collect allied health professions’ referral-to-treatment (AHP RTT) information as set out in the new commissioning data set (CDS) v6.2.

Fair Playing Field Review – for the benefit of patients: Discussion Paper

Monitor is carry out an independent review of “matters that may be affecting the ability of providers of NHS services to participate fully in improving patient care”. The purpose of this document is to outline progress and invite comments on specific issues that have arisen.

New standards for NHS boards

Standards for members of NHS boards and governing bodies in England have been published by the Professional Standards Authority. They put respect, compassion and care for patients at the centre of leadership and good governance of the NHS.

Radiotherapy Services in England 2012

This new report from the National Radiotherapy Implementation Group (NRIG) explains what the data really tells us about radiotherapy services across the country and assesses whether the metrics for radiotherapy services remain current.

Calculating Quality Reporting Service FAQs

Connecting for Health has produced a list of FAQs for the new Calculating Quality Reporting Service (CQRS) system which will replace QMAS from next year.

‘Ofsted-style’ ratings system for hospitals and care homes considered

The DoH has ordered a review into the way information on NHS and social care services is given to patients and the public. The study, to be completed by the end of March 2013, will assess the merits of an ‘Ofsted-style’ system of ratings for hospitals and care homes.

Updated never events policy framework and data published

The never events policy framework has been reviewed and updated in order to address areas of uncertainty and provide greater clarity about never events and the recommended response to them following feedback from stakeholders.

Cold Weather Plan for England

The Cold Weather Plan 2012 provides advice for individuals, communities and agencies on how to prepare for and respond to severe cold weather.

Implementing emergency preparedness arrangements

This letter from the NHS Commissioning Board provides additional instructions and information to support implementing the revised emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) arrangements in the NHS.

Launch of the national capabilities survey 2012

Emergency planning officers and emergency planning liaison officers are advised of the launch of the national capabilities survey 2012. The survey applies to both category 1 and 2 health responders.

The Quarter

David Flory’s quarterly report for Q1 (April to June) 2012/13 provides a summary of the NHS financial position and performance against the national priorities set out in the NHS Operating Framework 2012/13.

Rethinking urgent care

This Primary Care Foundation report highlights that the significant queues some Urgent Care Centres allow to build up are often associated with a process described as "triage and wait" in which patients wait once to be prioritised and then wait again for a full consultation. The report urges urgent care centres to move to a “see and treat” model that is more effective at providing a rapid response.

In hospital at home: Redditch and Bromsgrove opens virtual ward

Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG have calculated that identifying and effectively managing patients at high risk of hospital admission using the virtual ward approach should largely wipe out a projected deficit for 2012/13 of £1.4m by reversing a rise in non-elective activity at its main acute provider.

A new approach to priority setting can improve patient care and save money

This report from the Health Foundation describes how NHS Sheffield used a new approach, called Star (‘socio-technical allocation of resources’), to re-allocate resources within its eating disorder services

Ten challenges in improving quality in healthcare: lessons from the Health Foundation’s programme evaluations and relevant literature

The authors of this study aimed to integrate lessons from evaluations of the Health Foundation’s improvement programmes with relevant literature to offer insights for those who undertake improvement work in healthcare. 10 key challenges were identified and suggestions made as to how best to respond to these challenges.

Design and Use of Performance Measures to Decrease Low-Value Services and Achieve Cost-Conscious Care

This paper provides specific examples of possible measures to assess use of low-value services and discusses how these measures can be used in clinical practice and policy.

Identifying “value opportunities”: service reviews and business process engineering

West Cheshire PCT and CCGs have used Right Care principles to identify “where to look” for service improvements that can generate savings for re-investment and service quality and outcomes improvements. They have combined the use of spend and outcome tools, analysis of variation and Programme Budgeting with Service Reviews and Business Process Engineering techniques to take reform, innovation and efficiency proposals through to successful delivery, generating £7m across three service areas in one wave of service reviews, as part of a successful £15m QIPP programme.

Right data, right payment: annual report on the Payment by Results data assurance programme 2011/12

The Audit Commission has published the key findings from the 2011/12 Payment by Results (PBR) data assurance programme. It assesses how well NHS trusts and foundation trusts have delivered on recommendations made in previous audits.

PCT CCG Spend and Outcome Factsheets and Tool (SPOT)

The latest version of SPOT (the Spend and Outcome Tool which enables commissioners to examine the relationship between expenditure and a range of health outcomes by disease area, now includes CCG level data. 

2011-12 programme budgeting guidance

Guidance documents for the 2011-12 programme budgeting data collection are now available.  It is aimed at supporting commissioners and NHS providers in completing their 2011-12 data return.

Quality profiles

These practice profiles enable commissioners to compare the relative quality of their providers, to enable providers to benchmark their performance against the national average, and to share with patients and the public information on the quality of the services being provided.

Preparations for winter planning and reporting set out

David Flory, Deputy NHS Chief Executive and Shaun Gallagher, Acting Director General, Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships have set out preparations for winter planning and reporting, which this year will run from 6 November to the end of February 2013.

Publication of organisation patient safety incident data

This latest data release includes details of patient safety incidents in England and Wales that occurred between 01 October 2011 and 31 March 2012 were submitted to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) by the end of May 2012.

Acute trust quality dashboards

Published quarterly by Midlands and East Quality Observatory (MEQO) the acute trust quality dashboards aim to show quality of care in a statistically sound but easy to understand way using a set of indicators that encompass a range of trust services.

NHS financial year 2011/12

Report summarising the findings from the 2011/12 audit of primary care trust (PCT), NHS trust and strategic health authority (SHA) accounts. 

Takeover: Tackling failing NHS hospitals

This report from Reform finds that the Government should drive the takeover of up to 30 NHS hospitals in this Parliament. Instead of encouraging mergers between failing NHS hospitals, private companies and the best NHS hospitals, should take over troubled hospitals because that is the surest way to turn them around.

Dealing with financially unsustainable providers

This paper from the King’s Fund explains why a failure regime is required in the NHS. It outlines how the failure regime for NHS trusts (currently being applied in South London) works and how the failure regime for foundation trusts introduced by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 will work in future.

How is the NHS performing? September 2012

This quarter's report aims to take stock of how the NHS is performing, 18 months into the Nicholson Challenge.  The report finds that NHS performance is continuing to hold up well, but there is concern that quality of care may suffer as financial pressures bite from next year.

The health and care system from April 2013

This diagram gives an overview of the new health and care system from April 2013.

Engaging people in sustainable healthcare: guide to resources

The NHS Sustainable Development Unit has helped develop a new tool to help NHS organisations think through how they build staff, public and patient engagement into their work on sustainability. It provides evidence of what works and brings together the latest learning and evidence from a variety of healthcare organisations, including emerging clinical commissioning groups across the country.

Arrangements for emergency preparedness, resilience and response

The Department of Health and the NHS Commissioning Board have published further information on implementing the arrangements for emergency preparedness, resilience and response, including the establishment of local health resilience partnerships (LHRP) while maintaining current resilience arrangements

Measuring outcomes: a guide for commissioners

These two slide sets from the King’s Fund aim to help CCGs make the best use of measurement to support them to commission for improved outcomes.  The first set of slides introduces general concepts; the second set looks specifically at how commissioners can build up sets of measures along whole pathways of care.

Explaining variation in use of emergency hospital beds by patients over 65

This report explores the contribution made by patient demand and broader system relationships to the significant variation in the use of hospital beds by patients over 65 admitted as an emergency.

Looking for value in hard times

This report describes a new approach to priority setting called Star. It works by producing visual models, developed interactively with stakeholders, so that those involved can understand the nature of the choices to be made - and the disadvantages of not changing current practices.

Monitor publishes review of annual plans for NHS Foundation Trust Sector

Monitor has set out the main challenges facing foundation trusts in its review of the sector’s annual plans.  The review of NHS foundation trust plans (2012/13) shows that the sector still faces challenges in meeting greater demand and more challenging health care targets while delivering significant savings each year.

National Quality Board set out how to improve quality in the new health system

The National Quality Board (NQB) has published a report setting out how the new health system will work together to maintain and improve quality and safety, ensuring patients receive the best care possible.

Implementing the next stage in the transition to the new health and care system

In these letters, NHS Chief Executive, David Nicholson sets out arrangements to ensure stability and resilience for the current system through transition to the new health and care system from April 2013.

An analysis of hospital activity by day of the week

This analysis from CHKS found that for elective admissions, discharges and caesareans and for most procedures and diagnostics, there is a significant drop in activity at the weekend.

Foundation Trust toolkit

The NHS Commissioning Board has developed and road-tested a toolkit which looks at the processes involved in becoming a foundation trust (FT) and how CCGs might work with local providers.

Resource pack published for local health resilience partnerships

New arrangements for local health emergency preparedness,resilience and response (EPRR) will start from 1 April 2013. A key feature of which is the formation of local health resilience partnerships (LHRPs) for which this resource pack has been produced.

Strategic clinical networks

The NHS Commissioning Board Authority has set out its plan for a small number ofnational networks to improve health services for specific patient groups or conditions: cancer;  cardiovascular disease; maternity and children’s services; Mental health, dementia and neurological conditions.

Preparing for the Francis report: how to assure quality in the NHS

In this report, the King’s Fund sets out its views on how the system of quality assurance, including regulation, needs to evolve, the principles on which it should be built and how it should operate.

New NHS internal audit standards published

New NHS internal audit standards have been published by the Department of Health and take effect from 1 April 2011.

Quality of data across health and social care

A new report from the NHS Information Centre finds that the error rate in PbR data ranged from zero to more than 20 per cent; 4,500 duplicate patient care records; and the recording of valid NHS numbers by hospitals was above 98 per cent for inpatient and outpatient services but  only at 93 per cent for accident and emergency services.

The NHS Performance Framework 2012/13 update to patient experience annex B

The patientexperience annex (annex B) has been changed.  This update includes details of the thresholds against which data will be measured, based on averages calculated from the 2011/12 CQC Inpatient Survey.

The Year 21011/12

In this annual report, Sir David Nicholson reviews the NHS achievements of the previous 12 months and considers the challenges to come.

CQC publishes first full analysis of performance and risk in health and social care

The Care Quality Commission has published a comprehensive ‘snapshot’ of the performance of health and social care providers in England, based on unannounced inspections of over 14,000 locations. The online version of the Market Report contains interactive graphs and maps, and allows you to see how the different sectors it regulates are performing and which areas are causing concern.

NHS Outcomes Framework indicators - June 2012 Release

A new indicator has been published comparing age and sex standardised mortality rate in people with serious mental illness to the general population.

PbR update nine – June 2012

The June update includes information on: PbR in 2012-13; Gearing up for the collection of 2011-12 reference costs; Maternity pathway payment system; and PbR for sexual health services.