Critical to care: the role of community interest companies in health and care

NHS Confederation – 9th November 2023

This briefing provides an overview of their role and contribution to health and care. It is based on research and interviews with a range of CIC leaders delivering community health, mental health and primary care services.

Read the Briefing – Critical to care: the role of community interest companies in health and care

Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2023: health in an ageing society

Department of Health and Social Care – 10th November 2023

The focus of this report by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Professor Chris Whitty is on how to maximise the independence, and minimise the time in ill health, between people in England reaching older age and the end of their life. It is aimed at policymakers (government and professional bodies), healthcare professionals, medical scientists and the general public.

People are living longer; this is a triumph of medicine and public health. It is something to celebrate, but alongside this we have a responsibility in medicine, government and wider society to plan to ensure that older age is as healthy, independent and enjoyable as possible into the future.

We can maintain people’s independence via 2 broad approaches, which are complementary. The first is to reduce disease, including degenerative disease, to prevent, delay or minimise disability and frailty. The second is to change the environment so that, for a given level of disability, people can maintain their independence longer. We must do both.

The geography of older age in England is already highly skewed away from large urban areas towards more rural, coastal and other peripheral areas, and will become more so. Efforts to achieve shorter periods in ill health and an easier environment for those with disabilities, should concentrate on areas of the country where the need is going to be greatest. Expansion of medical and NHS services need to be in these areas.

Many people in older age live with multiple conditions (multimorbidity). Medical training, NHS services and research need to respond to this reality.

This is an optimistic report; there are many things we can do to improve health and independence of older citizens if we are systematic about it. This will however require active decisions and actions by individuals, government and health professionals.

Report chapters:

• Chapter 1: introduction
• Chapter 2: understanding health in an ageing society
• Chapter 3: local authority context
• Chapter 4: enabling older adults to live free from disease for longer
• Chapter 5: supporting older adults to live well with disease
• Chapter 6: physical environments that enable independence
• Chapter 7: research to improve health in an ageing society

Read the Report – Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2023: health in an ageing society

Understanding and reducing tensions between clinical and non-clinical staff in the NHS, in relation to agile working

NHS Employers

Increasing the level of flexibility offered to employees at work has become a key priority for NHS organisations. However, organisations have reported signs of rising tensions between clinical and non-clinical workers with respect to their different agile working opportunities. This research report explores interpersonal tensions between clinical and non-clinical staff in the NHS in relation to flexible working.

Understanding and reducing tensions between clinical and non-clinical staff in the NHS, in relation to agile working

Raising the Barriers: An Action Plan to Tackle Regional Variation in Dementia Diagnosis in England

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia – Oct 2023

During this inquiry, we have been struck by the number of examples of good practice going on in pockets all over the country. Good work is being done and it needs to be scaled up and shared across the NHS – this is the central recommendation of this report. We see this as a key part of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda. Health outcomes should not be so disparate between local authorities, and urgent work needs to be done to ensure equitable access to dementia diagnosis

Raising the Barriers: An Action Plan to Tackle Regional Variation in Dementia Diagnosis in England

Stroke: SSNAP State of the Nation 2023 report

HQIP – 9th November 2023

The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) has published a 2023 State of the Nation report. It presents data from more than 91,000 patients admitted to hospitals between April 2022 and March 2023 and submitted to the audit, representing over 90% of all admitted strokes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The data is summarised in key messages for both those who provide and those who commission stroke care in hospitals and the community, and is presented in both tables and charts.

Read the full report:  – Stroke: SSNAP State of the Nation 2023 report

Child Death Review Data Release: Year ending 31 March 2023

HQIP – 9th Nov 23

The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) has published the Child Death Review Data Release for the year ending 31 March 2023. The data in this report summarise the number of child deaths up to 31 March 2023 and the number of reviews of children whose death was reviewed by a Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) before that date. It should be read in conjunction with data tables, where more detail is provided.

Read the full report – Child Death Review Data Release: Year ending 31 March 2023

Inpatient falls and fractures – 2023 NAIF report on 2022 clinical data

HQIP – 9th November 2023

The Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme (FFFAP) has published Inpatient falls and fractures – one chance to get it right, the 2023 National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) report on 2022 clinical data. In 2022, 2,033 people sustained a femoral fracture as an inpatient; 1,669 were due to a fall and included as cases in the National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF). This report includes information on multi-factorial risk assessments and post fall management, and contains five recommendations as well as resources to support improvement.

Read the Report –Inpatient falls and fractures – 2023 NAIF report on 2022 clinical data

National Vascular Registry State of the Nation report 2023

HQIP – Published: 09 Nov 2023

The National Vascular Registry (NVR) has published a 2023 State of the Nation report. With results for patients who had vascular procedures during 2022 in NHS hospitals in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it contains information on emergency (non-elective) and elective procedures for the following patient groups:

• patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) who undergo either (a) lower limb angioplasty/stent, (b) lower limb bypass surgery, or (c) lower limb amputation
• patients who have a repair procedure for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)
• patients who undergo carotid endarterectomy or carotid stenting.

Read the Report – National Vascular Registry State of the Nation report 2023

Tackling health inequalities on NHS waiting lists: learning from local case studies

Kings Fund 8th November 2023

• Structural, economic and social factors can lead to inequalities in the length of time people wait for NHS planned hospital care – such as hip or knee operations – and their experience while they wait. In 2020, after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, NHS England asked NHS trusts and systems to take an inclusive approach to tackling waiting lists by disaggregating waiting times by ethnicity and deprivation to identify inequalities and to take action in response. This was an important change to how NHS organisations were asked to manage waiting lists – embedding work to tackle health inequalities into the process.
• Between December 2022 and June 2023, The King’s Fund undertook qualitative case studies about the implementation of this policy in three NHS trusts and their main integrated care boards (ICBs), and interviewed a range of other people about using artificial intelligence (AI) to help prioritise care. We also reviewed literature, NHS board papers and national waiting times data. Our aim was to understand how the policy was being interpreted and implemented locally, and to extract learning from this. We found work was at an early stage, although there were examples of effective interventions that made appointments easier to attend, and prioritised treatment and support while waiting. Reasons for the lack of progress included a lack of clarity about the case for change, operational challenges such as poor data, cultural issues including different views about a fair approach, and a lack of accountability for the inclusive part of elective recovery.
• Taking an inclusive approach to tackling waiting lists should be a core part of effective waiting list management and can contribute to a more equitable health system and healthier communities. Tackling inequalities on waiting lists is also an important part of the NHS’s wider ambitions to address persistent health inequalities. But to improve the slow progress to date, NHS England, ICBs and trusts need to work with partners to make the case for change, take action and hold each other to account.

Further information – Tackling health inequalities on NHS waiting lists: learning from local case studies

Health: the choices

Nesta – November 2024

The UK 2040 Options project, run by a team based at Nesta, will convene a range of experts and thinkers on some of the defining issues facing the country. This report sets out nine fundamental facts about the challenges facing the NHS, social care and public health services.

Read the Report – Health: the choices