Lab tours for young patients receives innovation of the year award

The Guardian|April 2018 | VIP lab tours for child patients is healthcare innovation of the year

This year’s winner of the Advancing Healthcare Awards, Malcolm Robinson received the award for providing child patients with VIP tours of medical laboratories where their blood samples are analysed (via The Guardian). 

The award recognises the biomedical scientist’s work with Harvey’s Gang, a charity that was established after Harvey- a young patient- asked Malcolm lots of questions about what happens to his blood after it had been taken.  Malcolm arranged for him to have a tour of the lab and gave him a white coat to wear.

The charity  enables young people with long-term health conditions and needle phobias to visit laboratories and what scientists do with their blood. To date it has run tours for over 200 youngsters in 50 trusts.

Full details of the news story are at The Guardian

Related:

The Guardian A boy with leukaemia visited my lab – I had no idea what it would start

 

Allied Health Professions supporting patient flow

This quick guide demonstrates how NHS emergency care, in particular patient flow through the health and care system, benefits from allied health professionals | NHS Improvement

Bringing the AHP workforce into patient flow planning can improve quality, effectiveness and productivity.

Each section gives a brief overview of the contribution that AHPs have made to deliver safe, effective patient care and flow, followed by case studies which demonstrate how AHPs:

• work in the community keeping people safe and well at home
• ‘front door’ assess, diagnose and treat patients in emergency departments, ambulatory care and assessment units
• support avoidance of hospital admission
• enable early rehabilitation and reducing overnight admissions
• drive ‘Home First’ (discharge to assess) to avoid in-hospital deconditioning of frail, older people.

Full detail: Quick guide: allied health professions supporting patient flow

Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Plan 2018/19

Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Plan 2018/19 | National Institute for Health Research

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has published Patient and public involvement and engagement plan 2018/19.  This document sets out NIHR plans for working with patients, carers and the public to improve the quality and relevance of the research they commission and to raise public awareness of research.

In 2017, five national priorities for involvement and engagement in research were  identified as the focus for NIHR-wide delivery over the next 12 to 18 months. This plan reflects those national priorities and they are:

• Voice: To ensure patients, carers and the public have a voice in how the NIHR works
• Feedback: To ensure patients, carers and the public get feedback on how they have made a difference
• Standards:  To define what good public involvement and engagement looks like
• Impact / Getting results: To understand and show the impact of public involvement and engagement
• Invention:  To test new ideas in public involvement and engagement and share the learning

Full document: Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Plan 2018/19

Best start in life: cost-effective commissioning

A tool to help local commissioners provide cost-effective interventions for children aged up to 5 and pregnant women | Public Health England

This return on investment tool pulls together evidence on the effectiveness and associated costs for a number of interventions aimed at providing children with the best start in life.

The interactive resource allows results to be tailored to local situations based on the knowledge of the user. The tool is accompanied by a report providing further details on how the tool was constructed.

Local authorities and clinical commissioning groups can use results from the tool to protect and improve the health of their local populations when making commissioning decisions.

A new national approach to large-scale change?

Developing new models of care in the PACS vanguards: a new national approach to large-scale change? | The Kings FundThis independent report was commissioned by NHS England as part of a package of support provided to primary and acute care system (PACS) vanguard sites by The King’s Fund. The PACS model is an attempt to bring about closer working between GPs, hospitals, community health professionals, social care and others.

The report offers a unique set of first-hand perspectives into the experience of those leading a major programme at the national level and those living it at the local level. The insights shared will be invaluable to those constructing future national support programmes intended to facilitate transformation in local health and care systems. The lessons learned will also be highly relevant to those involved in the ongoing implementation of PACS and similar models.

Full report: Developing new models of care in the PACS vanguards: a new national approach to large-scale change?

See also: An international perspective on developing new models of care in the PACS vanguards