Quality Accounts: 2011/12 audit guidance

The Quality Accounts audit guidance sets out what trusts will need to do to support the audit of their 2011/12 Quality Accounts.

Guidance on new national CQUIN goals

Two new national CQUIN goals have been introduced for use in 2012-13: the Dementia Goal and the NHS Safety Thermometer Goal.

Online benchmark for out-of-hours services

This tool aims to allow anyone with an interest in out of hours services – whether service user, provider or commissioner – to see how their local service is performing compared to others.

Arrangements for health emergency preparedness, resilience and response from April 2013

This document describes changes being made in health emergency preparedness resilience and response to reflect the new health system that will be established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Negotiation training for commissioners and service providers

This training will allow commissioner and service providers to focus on the reconciliation of differences, develop the skills to achieve optimum outcomes, achieve successful implementation and build sustainable relationships.

Guidance on influenza pandemic preparedness and response

This guidance is intended to support local preparedness and response planning in England during the transition period through to 2013.

QIPP long-term conditions year of care: early implementers

Early implementers are being invited to apply to test a potential new way of funding long-term conditions care. The LTC year of care funding model will be tested by six early implementer sites and prescribes a set approach for the purpose of national evaluation.

NHS performance framework

This guidance sets out the Department of Health’s approach to identifying underperforming NHS organisations and stipulates when intervention should occur in such organisations.

Compliance Framework

This framework sets out the approach that Monitor is taking in 2012/13 to assess the compliance of foundation trusts with their terms of authorisation.

Local Healthwatch – the policy explained

‘Local Healthwatch: A strong voice for people – the policy explained’ places the role of local Healthwatch within the overall context of the White Paper, and sets out functions, responsibilities, roles and relationships within the modernised health and care system.

A summary of the NHS Trust Development Authority (NTDA) consultation

The East and Midlands Strategic Health Authority has sent its response to the Department of Health on the consultation on the proposed establishment of two special health authorities (SpHAs).

Health and Social Care Act 2012

Now that the Health and Social Care Bill has received royal assent, Sir David Nicholson explains in a special issue of ‘the month’ what the new Act means to the NHS now and from 2013/14.

Quarter 3 report on NHS performance published

The quarter provides the definitive account of how the NHS is performing at national level against the requirements and indicators set out in the NHS Operating Framework 2011/12.

NHS Outcomes Framework 2010/11 indicators

The NHS Information Centre has published new details on 20 of the 30 NHS Outcomes Framework indicators, which measure the care patients receive. The figures provide a regional and local snapshot of how the NHS is performing against the Outcomes Framework and help to illustrate where there are variations in outcomes.

NHS reporting on sustainability is now mandatory

It is now mandatory for all NHS Trusts to report on sustainability as part of their annual reporting process. The NHS Sustainable Development Unit and the Department of Health have developed a template framework for Trusts to help them do this.

Leading large scale change support programme

The NHS Institute is offering a six-month programme designed to support teams of senior leaders working on transformational strategies to deliver massive change, within an organisation or across a healthcare system.

Research links online patient feedback and hospital performance

Independent research linking patient feedback left on the NHS Choices website and objective measures of hospital performance has been published by Imperial College London. Better-rated hospitals tend to have lower death rates and lower readmission rates. Hospitals rated as cleaner by patients have also been found to have lower MRSA rates.

Guidance on varying the 2012/13 NHS Standard Contract

This letter from David Flory, Deputy NHS Chief Executive, provides an update on guidance on 2012/12 NHS Standard Contract one year default contract duration.

New organisational models for delivering health and social care

This briefing paper pulls together information on the development of employee ownership and social enterprises in health and social care.

Promoting of personal injury legal services in NHS premises

Following recent media and parliamentary interest in advertising and other forms of promotion of the services of personal injury lawyers or claims management companies on NHS premises, David Nicholson has written to clarify that these should not be supported as they risk undermining the NHS’s relationship with, and responsibilities to patients.

Introducing a single operating model

Between February and May 2012, strategic health authority (SHA) clusters will be introducing a single operating model (SOM) to support and assure NHS trusts through their foundation trust (FT) applications. Drawing on best practice, the model will introduce one common set of tools, processes and guidance for FT development and application.

Sector regulation: a short guide to the Health and Social Care Bill

The Department of Health has produced a short guide, specifically for providers of NHS-funded services which outlines the proposals for the sector regulation regime; how Monitor’s current role as independent regulator for foundation trusts will expand.

Liberating the NHS: Developing the Healthcare Workforce - From Design to Delivery

The DoH has published details of the new policy framework for the education and training system. The Education Outcomes Framework will directly link education and learning to improvements in patient outcomes, to help address variation in standards.

Second stage of board governance guidance for aspirant foundation trusts published

The second stage of the board governance assurance framework – the development modules – is available. The modules cover quality governance, organisational strategy and values, and financial governance.

Code of Conduct for Healthcare Managers

The Good Governance Institute supports the new Code of Conduct for Healthcare Managers, just launched by the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM).

Can NHS hospitals do more with less?

This review of hospital efficiency from the Nuffield Trust has found that there are many ways in which hospitals could improve efficiency and reduce the need for cutbacks in services for patients.

Delivering sustainable cost improvement programmes

This new guide from the Audit Commission and Monitor summarises how successful organisations approach the delivery of cost improvement programmes.

Telehealth: what can the NHS learn from experience at the US Veterans Health Administration?

This report looks in detail at the learning which could be gained from the largest telehealth implementation in the world. It outlines how best to address telehealth at scale and deliver significant potential benefits.

Preventing emergency readmissions to hospital: a scoping review

This report draws on a rapid review of evidence presented in systematic reviews that have been published in the past 18 months for the evidence and potential for use of emergency readmissions within 28 days of discharge from hospital as an indicator within the NHS Outcomes Framework. Sixteen published studies suggest that between 5 and 59% of readmissions may be avoidable.

PM announces new focus on quality and nursing care

The Prime Minister and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have announced a new drive to free up nurses to provide the care patients and relatives. This will involve rolling out the NHS Institute’s ‘Time to Care’ initiative which will free nurses from non-essential paperwork and excessive bureaucracy.

Tripartite Formal Agreement (TFA) – Performance and escalation process

The TFA process will be a key part of the single operating model for provider performance management which is being developed to support NHS trusts through the application process to become an FT. The DoH has developed a new performance and escalation process to support the delivery of the foundation trust (FT) pipeline, as part of the work to ensure NHS trusts meet their agreed milestones laid out in their TFAs.

Referral to Treatment Waiting Times Performance

This letter from David Flory, Deputy NHS Chief Executive, reiterates the expected performance on referral to treatment waiting times in 2012/13. It also sets out good practice to ensure performance is improved and maintained.

Service-line management: can it improve quality and efficiency?

This report from the King’s Fund considers how successfully are trusts implementing service-line management? This paper considers what helps and what hinders this way of working and the potential benefits of using this approach.