Tuesday 27 August 2013

Association between chronic disease related hospitalisations and primary health care resourcing

"Measuring hospitalisations, that could potentially be avoided with high quality and accessible primary care, is one indicator of how well primary care services are performing."

A systematic review of evidence on the association between hospitalisation for chronic disease related ambulatory care sensitive conditions and primary health care resourcing
OR Gibson, L Segal, RA McDermott
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:336

Read more here.

Monday 26 August 2013

The time is ripe for evidence-based child policy in the EU

"This brief discusses some of the reasons why decisionmakers in the field of child policy in the EU may wish to employ evidence-based resources to support decisions."

The time is ripe for evidence-based child policy in the EU
RAND Europe
August 2013

Read more here.

Exploring the system-wide costs of falls in older people in Torbay

"This paper uses Torbay’s unique patient-level linked data set to explore the cost of the care pathway for older people admitted to hospital as a result of a fall by tracking their care costs in the 12 months before and after their fall."

Exploring the system-wide costs of falls in older people in Torbay
Y Tian, J Thompson, D Buck, L Sonola
The King's Fund
August 2013

Read more here.

Making recovery a reality in your community

"Building recovery in your local community should be a focus for local strategies both because it is the right thing to do and because it is smart and cost effective commissioning."

Making recovery a reality in your community: a briefing for commissioners of mental health, drug and alcohol services
Alcohol Concern, DrugScope, Centre for Mental Health
August 2013

Read more here.

Barriers and facilitators to implement shared decision making in multidisciplinary sciatica care

This paper identified new barriers and facilitators for shared decision-making in the multidisciplinary care of sciatica and proposes that an effective implementation of SDM in a multidisciplinary setting should focus on these.

Barriers and facilitators to implement shared decision making in multidisciplinary sciatica care: a qualitative study
SN Hofstede, PJ de Mheen, MM Wentink, AM Stiggelbout, CLA Vleggeert-Lankamp, TPM Vlieland, L van Bodegom-Vos
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:95

Read more here.

The secrets of success? How charitable funders use and share evidence in practice

"This paper looks at how a small group of UK funders use and share evidence in practice. What evidence they draw on, how they find and use it. And how they share evidence to inform the future decisions of others – funders, practitioners, policymakers."

The secrets of success? How charitable funders use and share evidence in practice
C Ravenscroft
Alliance for Useful Evidence
July 2013

Read more here.

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Research for universal health coverage

"Universal health coverage, with full access to high-quality services for health promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, palliation and financial risk protection, cannot be achieved without evidence from research."

Research for universal health coverage
World Health Organization
August 2013

Read more here.

The Mandate

"The Mandate [from the Government] to the NHS Commissioning Board sets out the objectives for the NHS and highlights the areas of health and care where the Government expects to see improvements:

  • helping people live longer
  • managing ongoing physical and mental health conditions
  • helping people recover from episodes of ill health or following injury
  • making sure people experience better care
  • providing safe care."


The Mandate
Department of Health
August 2013

Read more here.


Recommended content of referral letters from GPs to specialised mental health care

"Compared with general guidelines and guidelines for somatic care, the results of this study suggest that the referral letter to specialised mental health care should have a larger emphasis on the overall treatment plan, on the specific role of specialised health care in the continuum of care, and on patient involvement."

Recommended content of referral letters from general practitioners to specialised mental health care: a qualitative multi-perspective study
M Hartveit, O Thorsen, E Biringer, K Vanhaecht, B Carlsen, A Aslaksen
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:329

Read more here.

The Care Process Self-Evaluation Tool

"Patient safety can be increased by improving the organization of care. A tool that evaluates the actual organization of care, as perceived by multidisciplinary teams, is the Care Process Self-Evaluation Tool (CPSET)."

The Care Process Self-Evaluation Tool: a valid and reliable instrument for measuring care process organization of health care teams
D Seys, S Deneckere, W Sermeus, E Van Gerven, M Panella, L Bruyneel, T Mutsvari, R Camacho Bejerano, S Kul, K Vanhaecht
BMC Health Services Research
2013, 13:325

Read more here.

Monday 19 August 2013

Comparison of experiences of the surgical safety checklist in hospitals

"Consistent use, completion and fidelity of checklist deployment are not straightforward in any setting, but may be higher in the two UK hospitals compared with the hospital in a low-income country."

A qualitative study comparing experiences of the surgical safety checklist in hospitals in high-income and low-income countries
EL Aveling, P McCulloch, M Dixon-Woods
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003039

Read more here.

Thursday 15 August 2013

Commissioning children's palliative care

"This resource is designed to support CCGs to effectively commission palliative care for children and young people. It covers the following:

  • What is children’s palliative care?
  • Who needs children’s palliative care?
  • Who provides children’s palliative care?
  • How should children’s palliative care be commissioned?"

Commissioning children's palliative care: a guide for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)
Together for short lives
August 2013

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

NICE Quality Standard: Familial hypercholesterolaemia

"This quality standard covers the identification and management of heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) in adults, young people and children."

QS41 Familial hypercholesterolaemia
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
August 2013

Read more here.

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Nurse staffing ratios and hospital readmission

"Children with common conditions treated in hospitals in which nurses care for fewer patients each are significantly less likely to experience readmission between 15 and 30 days after discharge."

An observational study of nurse staffing ratios and hospital readmission among children admitted for common conditions
HL Tubbs-Cooley, JP Cimiotti, JH Silber, DM Sloane, LH Aiken
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2013, 22:735-742

Read more here.

Commissioning women's health services: introduction to new digital resource

"The aim of this guidance and the digital resource is to support commissioners and health service managers with commissioning and providing high quality women’s health care."

Commissioning women's health services: advice for Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
July 2013

Read the guidance here and access the digital resource here.

Sunday 11 August 2013

European cross border healthcare

"This document provides commissioners and commissioning support services with an update on the roles and responsibilities of different organisations in relation to European cross border healthcare."

European cross border healthcare: information for commissioners
NHS England
July 2013

Read more here.

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Psoriasis: support for commissioning

"This document reviews the potential cost impact and implications for commissioners and service providers of the NICE quality standard for Psoriasis."

QS40 Psoriasis: support for commissioning
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
August 2013

Read more here.

Reducing cardiac arrests in the acute admissions unit

"Through adoption of a shared goal, application of improvement methodology including the model for improvement to test new innovations, and promotion of a safety culture in the AAU, cardiac arrests were successfully reduced to <1/1000 admissions per month with an associated significant fall in mortality. This was achieved with negligible cost."

Reducing cardiac arrests in the acute admissions unit: a quality improvement journey
DJ Beckett, M Inglis, S Oswald, E Thomson, W Harley, J Wilson, RC Lloyd, KD Rooney
BMJ Quality & Safety, 2013, 7(17)

Read more here.

Systems to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making

"Some of the identified supports may increase the use of research evidence by decision-makers, which may then lead to more informed decisions, and hopefully to a strengthened health system and improved health."

What supports do health system organizations have in place to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making? a qualitative study
ME Ellen, G Leon, G Bouchard, JN Lavis, M Ouimet, JM Grimshaw
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:84

Read more here.

Care pathways across the primary-hospital care continuum

"Care pathways across the primary-hospital care continuum enhance the components of care coordination."

Care pathways across the primary-hospital care continuum: using the multi-level framework in explaining care coordination
S Van Houdt, J Heyrman, K Vanhaecht, W Sermeus, J De Lepeleire
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:296

Read more here.

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Improving the safety of patients in England

"Place the quality of patient care, especially patient safety, above all other aims."

A promise to learn - a commitment to act: Improving the safety of patients in England
National Advisory Group on the Safety of Patients in England
August 2013

Read more here.

Monday 5 August 2013

Relationship between quality of care and choice of clinical computing system

"Clinical computing systems have been promoted as a means to improve the quality of healthcare, holding advantages over paper-based systems of improved data recording, integration and accessibility."

Relationship between quality of care and choice of clinical computing system: retrospective analysis of family practice performance under the UK's quality and outcomes framework
E Kontopantelis, I Buchan, D Reeves, K Checkland, T Doran
BMJ Open, 2013, 3:e003190

Read more here.

Associations with workload and perceived quality of care

"There is strong evidence to show that lower nurse staffing levels in hospitals are associated with worse patient outcomes."

‘Care left undone’ during nursing shifts: associations with workload and perceived quality of care
JE Ball, T Murrells AM Rafferty, E Morrow, P Griffiths
BMJ Quality and Safety Online First, published on 29 July 2013

Read more here.

Health and homelessness

"This report is based on consultation with six services providing health care to homeless people, 17 case studies showing the range of presenting health issues and use of health services by homeless people, and analysis of five case studies illustrating the financial impact of this pattern of service use."

Health and homelessness: understanding the costs and role of primary care services for homeless people
St Mungo's
July 2013

Read more here.

Commissioning for carers

"Commissioning well for carers can:

  • Reduce admissions to hospital and residential care.
  • Reduce the costs of delays in transfers of care.
  • Reduce carers’ need to access primary care as a result of their caring role.
  • Reduce overall spending on care."

Commissioning for Carers: Key principles for Clinical Commissioning Groups
Carers Trust
July 2013

Read more here.

Read a summary from the Commissioning Elf here.

NICE support for commissioning and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

"This document reviews the potential cost impact and implications for commissioners and service providers of the NICE quality standard for Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder."

QS39 Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: NICE support for commissioning
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
July 2013

Read more here.

Designing and commissioning services for children and young people with asthma

"Delivering excellent child-centred services requires co-operation and partnership between clinicians, children’s professionals in health and education, strategic leaders in local services and children, young people and families."

Designing and commissioning services for children and young people with asthma: a good practice guide
Primary Care Commissioning
August 2013

Read more here.

Allocating scarce resources to reduce heart failure readmissions

"An electronic medical record-enabled strategy that targeted scarce care transition resources to high-risk HF patients significantly reduced the risk-adjusted odds of readmission."

Allocating scarce resources in real-time to reduce heart failure readmissions: a prospective, controlled study
R Amarasingham, PC Patel, K Toto, LL Nelson, TS Swanson, BJ Moore, B Xie, S Zhang, KS Alvarez, Y Ma, MH Drazner, U Kollipara, EA Halm,
BMJ Quality and Safety Online First, published on 31 July 2013

Read more here.

2012-13 update on indicators of financial sustainability in the NHS

"This update focuses on the financial sustainability of the NHS trusts and foundation trusts that provide community, secondary and tertiary health services, and on the primary care trusts that commissioned those services up to the end of 2012-13."

2012-13 update on indicators of financial sustainability in the NHS
National Audit Office, Department of Health
July 2013

Read more here.

Co-ordinated care in primary mental health

"This case study is part of a research project undertaken by The King’s Fund and funded by Aetna and the Aetna Foundation in the USA to compare five successful UK-based models of care co-ordination."

The Esteem Team: Co-ordinated care in the Sandwell Integrated Primary Care Mental Health and Wellbeing Service
V Thiel, L Sonola, N Goodwin, DL Kodner
The King's Fund
August 2013

Read more here.

Better procurement, better value, better care

"The more transparent we can make procurement performance, the more it will drive behaviours to improve."

Better procurement, better value, better care: a procurement development programme for the NHS
Department of Health, NHS England
August 2013

Read more here.