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.

Ripping off the sticking plaster: Whole-system solutions for urgent and emergency care

Mounting pressures on England’s urgent and emergency care services have been well documented in local and national media over recent months. This report from the NHS Confederation acts as a roadmap to the fundamental changes required to create a sustainable and high-quality urgent and emergency care system that can meet the needs of patients now and in the future.

Health and care systems fit for an ageing population

This report published by the Kings Fund sets out a framework and tools to help local service leaders improve the care they provide for older people.

NHS standard contract supporting documents

NHS England has published documents for use with the NHS standard contract. They include agreements for collaborative commissioning, and agreements and guidance covering contract variations.

Challenges and improvements in diagnostic services across seven days

Hospitals and primary and community care organisations are working together to look at ways of delivering safe and effective care seven days a week. NHS IQ has published a report on the potential improvements in diagnostics and scientific services.

CQC new approach to hospitals inspection: initial findings from wave 1 inspections

This report contains findings from 18 pilot hospital inspections completed in 2013, the first step in a change to the CQC's approach to inspections. Inspectors found significant variations in quality between trusts and even between services within trusts, and that apart from critical care and maternity, most services cannot demonstrate whether they are delivering effective care or not.

Review of CQC approach to inspecting hospitals

The Care Quality Commission has published findings from an independent review of its new approach to inspecting hospitals.

Better reporting of medical incidents

These alerts from NHS England and the MHRA instruct providers on steps to improve data report quality and the need for national networks to share learning and develop guidance.

New Foundation Trust documents

Monitor has recently published the following documents for foundation trusts:

· NHS Foundation Trust Annual Reporting Manual 2013/14

· Your duties: a brief guide for NHS foundation trust governors

· Revised: NHS Foundation Trust Accounting Officer Memorandum

Special measures update report

Progress report on turning around trusts in special measures, published jointly by Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority.

Review by Monitor of the provision of walk-in centre services in England

Monitor has identified some common themes in its review the provision of walk-in centre services in England.

Approved costing guidance

Monitor has updated its guidance to costing principles, costing standards, reference costs and Patient-Level Information and Costing Systems (PLICS) collections for 2013/14. The guide also gives details of the requirements that providers of NHS-funded services will need to comply with to meet the pricing conditions of the NHS provider licence