A report said that fewer than half the patients admitted to accident and emergency departments with severe injuries were given adequate care.
Source: Trauma: Who Cares?, National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (020 7631 3444)
Links: Report | Summary | NHS Confederation press release | BMA press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Nov
A report examined the competing sources of data and methodologies for the calculation of hospital output in the National Health Service.
Source: Richard Willmer and Christopher Little, Review of Data Sources and Methodology for the Calculation of Hospital Output, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A paper examined the effect of the target regime for waiting times for hospital care in England after 2001 by a comparative analysis with Scotland, a neighbouring country with the same healthcare system that did not adopt the target regime. Comparisons between England and Scotland were sensitive to whether published or unpublished data were used: but, regardless of the data source, the so-called 'targets and terror' regime in England lowered the proportion of people waiting for planned treatment relative to Scotland.
Source: Carol Propper, Matt Sutton, Carolyn Whitnall and Frank Windmeijer, Did 'Targets and Terror' Reduce English Waiting Times for Elective Hospital Care?, Working Paper 07/179, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined organizational and clinical aspects of both the immediate and ongoing care of patients admitted as emergencies. It highlighted 'remediable factors' in existing care pathways – particularly the appropriateness, timeliness, and frequency of investigations and reviews; the experience of staff; and the availability of results, protocols and procedures.
Source: Emergency Admissions: A journey in the right direction?, National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (020 7631 3444)
Links: Report | RCP press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report said that the cost of private finance schemes to the National Health Service was set to spiral. The high fixed costs of hospitals built under the private finance initiative would impel the concentration of services on their sites at the expense of other NHS hospitals.
Source: Mark Hellowell and Allyson Pollock, Private Finance, Public Deficits: A report on the cost of PFI and its impact on health services in England, Centre for International Public Health Policy/University of Edinburgh (0131 651 3957)
Links: Report | CIPHP press release | BBC report | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Sep
The healthcare inspectorate said that only a minority of hospital trusts inspected were found to have fully complied with all standards relating to dignity, privacy, and nutrition in the care of elderly people.
Source: Caring for Dignity: A national report on dignity in care for older people while in hospital, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (020 7448 9200)
Links: Report | CHAI press release | Age Concern press release | Help the Aged press release | NHS Confederation press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report said that some specialist hospital units – such as paediatrics, specialist surgery, and obstetrics – might have to close and be moved to larger regional hospitals in order to safeguard care standards. But it might be possible for district general hospitals to keep their accident and emergency units.
Source: Acute Health Care Services, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (020 7486 0067)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report recommended the creation of a network of 'polyclinics' throughout London, designed to provide up to 50 per cent of the outpatient treatment carried out in hospitals by 2017. The report was written by Ara Darzi, who had been appointed as Minister for Health by the new Prime Minister in June 2007 and asked to review the future of the National Health Service in England as a whole.
Source: Ara Darzi, A Framework for Action, NHS London (020 7932 3000)
Links: Report | Summary | NHS London press release | Kings Fund press release | BMA press release | NHS Confederation press release | Monitor press release | Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jul
An article said that the general notion that hospitals with higher risk-adjusted mortality had poorer quality of care was 'neither consistent nor reliable'.
Source: David Pitches, Mohammed Mohammed and Richard Lilford, 'What is the empirical evidence that hospitals with higher-risk adjusted mortality rates provide poorer quality care? A systematic review of the literature', BMC Health Services Research, Volume 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
A think-tank report said that the progressive changes needed in hospital services were hampered by a 'damaging and dysfunctional politics', characterized by a lack of public engagement and confidence in the process of hospital change. Ministers should be removed from decision-making about local hospital reconfiguration.
Source: Joe Farrington-Douglas with Richard Brooks, The Future Hospital: The politics of change, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | IPPR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
Four reports by leading clinical experts set out the progress made for patients in key areas of the National Health Service service over the previous decade.
Source: Louis Appleby (National Clinical Lead for Mental Health), Ten Years On: Progress on mental health care reform, Department of Health (08701 555455) | Roger Boyle (National Clinical Director for Heart Disease and Stroke), Coronary Heart Disease Ten Years On: Improving heart health, Department of Health | George Alberti (National Director for Emergency Access), Emergency Care Ten Years On: Reforming emergency care, Department of Health | Mike Richards (National Cancer Director), Cancer Ten Years On: Improvements across the whole care pathway, Department of Health
Links: Appleby Report | Boyle Report | Alberti Report | Richards Report | DH press release | PM Speech | Kings Fund briefing | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Apr
A report said that there was a major difference in the death rates at hospitals in England. Patients at the hospital with the worst rate were twice as likely to die as those at the top-ranked hospital.
Source: How Healthy Is Your Hospital?, Dr Foster Intelligence (020 7332 8800)
Links: Report | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Apr
Date: 2007-Feb
A report said that accident and emergency departments in England were struggling to sustain the 4-hour access target, because a shortage of hospital beds was delaying the admission of patients.
Source: Emergency Medicine: Report of national survey of emergency medicine, British Medical Association (020 7387 4499)
Links: Report | BMA press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
An article reported a literature review which sought to identify and assess the existing evidence base for community hospitals. In general, there was a lack of robust evidence, partly due to the ad hoc nature of their development and a lack of clear strategic vision for their future. Evidence for the effectiveness and efficiency of the services provided was limited.
Source: David Heaney, Corri Black, Catherine O'Donnell, Cameron Stark and Edwin van Teijlingen, 'Community hospitals ? the place of local service provision in a modernising NHS: an integrative thematic literature review', BMC Public Health, Volume 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jan
