An article examined whether policy initiatives driving the development of health and social care partnerships were delivering improved outcomes, particularly the outcomes valued by people who used services. It identified features of partnership that particularly contributed to improved outcomes. These included continuity of staff, and sufficient staff and resources – including the availability of long-term and preventative services.
Source: Alison Petch, Ailsa Cook, and Emma Miller, 'Partnership working and outcomes: do health and social care partnerships deliver for users and carers?', Health and Social Care in the Community, Volume 21 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined midwives' views of their pay and conditions. It said that staff were motivated to do their best, but loyalty was fraying and around one-quarter to one-third of staff showed signs of seeking to quit their organizations. The report concluded that the 'psychological contract' between staff and their trusts, which had traditionally balanced effort and reward, had broken down. It described how pay failed to keep pace with the cost of living, alongside increasing workload and responsibility. Two thirds of respondents were dissatisfied with their pay level and a significant majority felt they were not paid fairly given their responsibilities. Members were found to support national pay rates, and midwives had concerns about pension arrangements.
Source: Ian Kessler and Richard Griffin, A Study on the Pay and the Conditions of Employment amongst Members of the Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Midwives
Links: Report | RCM press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A report highlighted concerns about existing and anticipated shortages of nursing staff in the National Health Service in England. It said there were nearly 20,000 nursing vacancies currently unfilled, with a likely shortage of 47,545 registered nurses by 2016. It said there had been a 15 per cent cut in the number of nursing student places commissioned since 2010-11 and that the true level of staff shortage was higher than the official figures suggested. The report called for: mandatory safe staffing levels; mandatory use of workforce planning tools; longer term planning for workforce needs, informed by workforce reviews; and investment in the existing workforce's professional development.
Source: Frontline First: Running the red light – November 2013 special report, Royal College of Nursing
Links: Report | RCN press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2013-Nov
A survey found that 97 per cent of National Health Service trusts responding to the survey had systems in place for effective staff communication. The report said that workplace culture was essential to building engagement strategies and that staff relationships with their immediate managers, along with authenticity and trust, were crucial. The report said that hospital trusts needed to use a variety of channels to develop employee engagement and ensure that they supported employees' individual and collective voices.
Source: Realising the Benefits of Employee Engagement, Unipart and the Foundation Trust Network
Links: Report | Foundation Trust Network press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A think-tank study examined what the implementation of revalidation had meant for responsible officers in London during the first six months. It found almost half (42 per cent) of those surveyed were positive about their experience of revalidation and 10 per cent were negative. The remaining participants reserved judgment, believing that year two of the exercise would present more difficult cases. The report drew early conclusions on what aided successful implementation, to inform the continuing revalidation work.
Source: Vijaya Nath, Revalidation: The early experiences and views of responsible officers from London, King's Fund
Links: Report | King's Fund press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report described the working practices of consultants and other senior decision-makers in emergency departments, the pressures they faced, and the impact on their working lives.
Source: Tajek Hassan, Ben Walker, Magnus Harrison, and Fiona Rae, Stretched to the Limit: A survey of Emergency Medicine consultants in the UK, College of Emergency Medicine
Links: Report | CEM press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report | Work Foundation comment | BMA press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report examined the outcome of an independent review that examined postgraduate medical education and training. It argued that training needed to be changed to equip doctors to provide general care in broad speciality areas across a range of different settings.
Source: Securing the Future of Excellent Patient Care: Final report of the independent review, Shape of Training
Links: Report | Annexes | Summary | Shape of Training press release | RCGP press release | GMC press release | NHS Employers press release | Telegraph report | Academy of Medical Sciences press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report provided an overview of the medical profession, looked at major trends, and identified challenges facing doctors. The report noted that more needed to be done to improve patients' ability to raise concerns about poor medical care. It also noted that doctors reported more concerns about their colleagues in 2012.
Source: The State of Medical Education and Practice in the UK, General Medical Council
Links: Report | GMC press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Oct
A think-tank paper examined the challenges of ensuring that the health and social care workforce was prepared for the needs of the future. It outlined examples of these challenges, including: training and development needs; the mismatch between the location of the existing workforce and where care was needed; and the demand for multi-skilled staff to work across boundaries.
Source: Candace Imison and Richard Bohmer, NHS and Social Care Workforce: Meeting Our Needs Now and in the Future?, King s Fund
Links: Paper | BMA press release | CWI press release | RCN press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that a new contract that had increased hospital consultants' pay by up to 28 per cent had failed to halt a continuing decline in productivity. A proper culture of performance management was needed to avoid incidents of poor performance.
Source: Managing NHS Hospital Consultants, Eleventh Report (Session 2013-14), HC 358, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Committee press release | BMA press release | RCS press release
Date: 2013-Jul
An independent review (led by Camilla Cavendish) said that all healthcare assistants and social care support workers should undergo the same basic training, based on the best practice that already existed in the system; and that they should get a standard 'certificate of fundamental care' before they could care for people unsupervised.
Source: The Cavendish Review: An independent review into healthcare assistants and support workers in the NHS and social care settings, Department of Health
Links: Report | DH press release | CSP press release | IER press release | NCF press release | NHS Employers press release | Turning Point press release | 2020health press release | Daily Mail report
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined the potential of staff satisfaction as an indicator of institutional performance across acute National Health Service hospitals in England. Only a weak correlation was found between staff satisfaction and hospital death rates.
Source: Richard Pinder, Felix Greaves, Paul Aylin, Brian Jarman, and Alex Bottle, 'Staff perceptions of quality of care: an observational study of the NHS Staff Survey in hospitals in England', BMJ Quality & Safety, Volume 22 Issue 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jun
An article said that a new employment contract for National Health Service consultants introduced in 2003, which had included a 27 per cent pay rise over three years, had failed to increase productivity.
Source: Karen Bloor, Nick Freemantle, and Alan Maynard, 'Trends in consultant clinical activity and the effect of the 2003 contract change: retrospective analysis of secondary data', Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 105 Issue 11
Links: Article | RSM press release
Date: 2013-Apr
A report said that the heavy workload for medical registrars, compounded by limited training opportunities and an unequal distribution of senior specialist doctors across the country, was posing a major threat to high-quality hospital care.
Source: Hospital Workforce: Fit for the Future, Royal College of Physicians
Links: Report | RCP press release | BMA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Mar
A report said that the healthcare system and those working within it had an important and often under-utilized role in reducing health inequalities through action on the social determinants of health.
Source: Matilda Allen, Jessica Allen, and Sue Hogarth (with Michael Marmot), Working for Health Equity: The role of health professionals, Institute of Health Equity (University College, London)
Links: Report | Summary | CSP press release | NHS Alliance press release | RCN press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Mar
An article said that there was clear evidence of a statistically significant wage penalty associated with working in some caring occupations. Those occupations requiring lower levels of educational qualification, such as nursing assistants and auxiliaries, were particularly hard hit by the wage penalty. On the other hand, some occupations, such as medicine and teaching, had fared better than comparable non-caring occupations over the same period. The authors discussed the implications for the gender gap in pay, poverty, social inequality, and the future supply of caring workers.
Source: David Barron and Elizabeth West, 'The financial costs of caring in the British labour market: is there a wage penalty for workers in caring occupations?', British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 51 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
An audit report said that a new contract for hospital consultants, introduced in 2003, had delivered many of the expected benefits, in exchange for a significant increase in consultants' pay. But there was still significant room for improvement in how trusts managed their consultants.
Source: Managing NHS Hospital Consultants, HC 885 (Session 2012–13), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | NHS Employers press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Feb
A report examined the major challenges facing the health and social care system in England that had implications for educating, training, and developing the workforce.
Source: Big Picture Challenges for Health and Social Care: Implications for workforce planning, education, training and development, Centre for Workforce Intelligence
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Feb
A collection of essays examined the future of nursing. It called for better practical clinical training for nurses. But it also said that families and friends should expect to be needed in hospitals and play an active role in the care of older people.
Source: Gail Beer (ed.), Too Posh To Wash? Reflections on the future of nursing', 2020health
Links: Report | 2020 press release
Date: 2013-Jan
