The coalition government published a briefing document setting out its proposals for sector regulation in the National Health Service (contained in the Health and Social Care Bill).. It described the relationships envisaged between Monitor, the Care Quality Commission, and NHS Commissioning Board.
Source: Protecting and Promoting Patients? Interests: The Role of Sector Regulation, Department of Health
Links: Briefing
Date: 2011-Dec
An audit report said that the Care Quality Commission had had a difficult task in establishing itself, and had not so far achieved value for money in regulating the quality and safety of health and adult social care in England. The Commission had missed deadlines for registering health and social care providers, other than National Health Service trusts, at the same time as levels of compliance and inspection activity had been falling significantly.
Source: The Care Quality Commission: Regulating the Quality and Safety of Health and Adult Social Care, HC 1665 (Session 2010-2012), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | Alzheimers Society press release | UKHCA press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Dec
A report said that only one-half (48 per cent) of high-risk surgical patients (those already known to be at an increased risk of death and post-operative complications) received good care in hospitals.
Source: George Findlay, Alex Goodwin, Karen Protopapa, Neil Smith, and Marisa Mason, Knowing the Risk: A review of the peri-operative care of surgical patients, National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death
Links: Report | NCEPOD press release | RCP press release | BBC report | Nursing Times report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Dec
An audit report in Northern Ireland reviewed the performance of the health and social care sector over the previous two years. Although all health trusts had broken even, greater financial savings could have been made.
Source: General Report on the Health and Social Care Sector by the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland: 2010 and 2011, Northern Ireland Audit Office
Links: Report | NIAO press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Dec
An audit report in Scotland said that the overall performance of the National Health Service in Scotland had been good in 2010-11: but there were 'significant financial pressures' building.
Source: Overview of the NHS in Scotland?s Performance 2010/11, Audit Scotland
Links: Report | Audit Scotland press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the effects of relative satisfaction with health services on individuals' voice-and-choice activity in the English public health care system. Both voice and choice were correlated with dissatisfaction, with those who were unhappy with the National Health Service more likely to take up private healthcare.
Source: Keith Dowding and Peter John, 'Voice and choice in health care in England: understanding citizen responses to dissatisfaction', Public Administration, Volume 89 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs said that it was 'clearly a very tall order' to expect that all hospital trusts would meet the coalition government's target of achieving foundation trust status by 2014. Most non-foundation trusts faced financial difficulties, strategic challenges, performance issues, and governance problems. 25 of them had declared that they would never make foundation trust status in their existing circumstances.
Source: Achievement of Foundation Trust Status by NHS Hospital Trusts, Sixtieth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1566, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Dec
An audit memorandum set out how the National Health Service, supported by the Department of Health, planned to deliver efficiency savings of up to £20 billion by 2014-15.
Source: Delivering Efficiency Savings in the NHS, National Audit Office
Links: Memorandum
Date: 2011-Dec
The coalition government published an updated outcomes framework for the National Health Service in England for 2012-13. NHS performance would be measured against 60 'benchmarks' (as opposed to the previous 'targets') – including whether a patient's treatment was successful, whether they were looked after well by NHS staff, and whether they recovered quickly after treatment.
Source: The NHS Outcomes Framework 2012/13, Department of Health
Links: Framework | Technical appendix | Speech | DH press release | Kings Fund press release | NHS Confederation press release | RCP press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Dec
A report documented 'shocking' accounts of inadequate care received by patients in hospitals in England. It focused on communication, access to pain relief, assistance with toileting, and help with eating and drinking.
Source: We ve Been Listening, Have You Been Learning?, Patients Association
Links: Report | Patients Association press release | BGS press release | Labour Party press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government published its response to a watchdog report on patient choice. It said that National Health Service primary care trusts would be banned from placing 'unfair restrictions' on patients' choice of provider for routine operations. By March 2012 at the latest, PCTs should stop enforcing minimum waiting times on patients wanting to use a particular health service provider, and would not be able to cut costs by restricting the number of operations that could be carried out by more expensive providers.
Source: Patient Choice: The Department of Health s response to the Cooperation and Competition Panel s report on patient choice, Department of Health
Links: Response | DH press release | CCP press release | Guardian report
Notes: CCP report (July 2011)
Date: 2011-Nov
A think-tank report said that the regulator for National Health Service foundation trusts (Monitor) might fail to fulfil its new responsibilities as the economic regulator for healthcare unless the government provided greater clarity about its role. The large number of objectives that the regulator had been set might cause confusion, and risked diluting the focus of its work. A lack of clarity about how it would work alongside other key health bodies – including the NHS Commissioning Board and Care Quality Commission – risked creating tension and making disputes harder to resolve.
Source: Anna Dixon, Tony Harrison, and Claire Mundle, Economic Regulation in Health Care: What can we learn from other regulators?, King s Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Nov
A report provided the latest comparable data on different aspects of the performance of health systems in developed (OECD) countries. For the first time in 2009, the share of national income allocated to health in the United Kingdom exceeded the OECD average. The report warned the coalition government to consider carefully the costs and disruptive effects of large-scale reform to the National Health Service.
Source: Health at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | UK note | OECD press release | DH press release | Patients Association press release | RCN press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Nov
An ombudsman report said that the progress made by the English National Health Service in improving the way it dealt with patients' complaints was 'patchy and slow'.
Source: Listening and Learning: The Ombudsman s review of complaint handling by the NHS in England 2010-11, HC 1522, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, TSO
Links: Report | Statistical report | PHSO press release | NHS Confederation press release | Guardian report | Nursing Times report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Oct
An audit report said that many National Health Service trusts needed to tackle a range of financial, quality, and governance issues if they were to meet the standards required of them to become self-governing foundation trusts by 2014. At least 20 trusts were not 'financially or clinically viable'.
Source: Achievement of Foundation Trust Status by NHS Hospital Trusts, HC 1516 (Session 2010-2012), National Audit Office, TSO
Links: Report | NAO press release | NHS Confederation press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Oct
A paper used a new dataset of patient-reported outcome measures to assess the degree to which hospital cost variation was associated with variation in patients' health gain. It considered the extent to which judgements about hospital cost performance changed when health outcomes were accounted for. There were no substantial changes in estimates of cost performance when outcomes were explicitly accounted for.
Source: Nils Gutacker, Chris Bojke, Silvio Daidone, Nancy Devlin, David Parkin, and Andrew Street, Truly Inefficient or Providing Better Quality of Care? Analysing the relationship between risk-adjusted hospital costs and patients health outcomes, Research Paper 68, Centre for Health Economics (University of York)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Oct
The inspectorate for healthcare and social care said that a significant proportion of hospitals in England were failing to provide adequate basic care to elderly patients.
Source: Dignity and Nutrition Inspection Programme: National overview, Care Quality Commission
Links: Report | CQC press release | Labour Party press release | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Oct
A report examined the Ombudsman's role in considering complaints about poor service and unfair treatment provided to people with disabilities by the National Health Service and government agencies – illustrated by summaries of recently completed investigations.
Source: Report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on Complaints About Disability Issues, HC 1512, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, TSO
Links: Report | PHSO press release
Date: 2011-Oct
A study examined the views and experiences of children and young people in Europe in relation to healthcare services.
Source: Ursula Kilkelly, Child-Friendly Health Care: The views and experiences of children and young people in Council of Europe member states, Council of Europe
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Oct
Campaigners said that in 2008 (the latest year for which data was available) 11,749 more deaths occurred in the United Kingdom than would have if the country had matched the average rates of mortality amenable to healthcare in its European peers. The UK had caught up with its peers at a nearly constant rate between 1981 and 2008. Within that overall time period (since 1999) there had been a huge increase in spending on healthcare: this suggested that money alone had no discernable effect on mortality rates.
Source: John O Connell, Wasting Lives 2011: A statistical analysis of NHS performance since 1981, TaxPayers Alliance
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Oct
The coalition government announced (following consultation) that the National Health Service constitution would be amended so that NHS staff who 'blew the whistle' on bad practice or mistreatment of patients would be protected. The changes would also make it clear that it was the duty of all staff to report evidence of malpractice.
Source: Press release 18 October 2011, Department of Health
Links: DH press release | Consultation report | Nursing Times report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Oct
An article examined the outcomes of elective surgery in independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) and National Health Service providers. Patients undergoing surgery in ISTCs were slightly healthier and had less severe conditions than those undergoing surgery in NHS providers. But these differences reflected the fact that patients seen by ISTCs tended to be younger, in better health before their operation, and from more affluent areas than those seen by NHS hospitals.
Source: Jiri Chard, Maxine Kuczawski, Nick Black, and Jan van der Meulen, ' Outcomes of elective surgery undertaken in independent sector treatment centres and NHS providers in England: audit of patient outcomes in surgery', British Medical Journal, 19 October 2011
Links: Article | Abstract | RCS press release
Date: 2011-Oct
A report said that the healthcare services regulator had failed to follow up individual incidents of maltreatment identified in inspections, and to ensure that patients were safeguarded. Many of the incidents met the definition of neglect in official guidance, and repeated cases of poor care constituted 'institutional abuse': but the regulator had made no adult safeguarding referrals following the inspections.
Source: Regulatory Activity in Hospital Settings: A critical analysis of the Care Quality Commission s dignity and nutrition inspection of 100 English hospitals, Action on Elder Abuse
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the complaints system in the National Health Service. It said that it agreed that the NHS could do more to improve complaints handling.
Source: Government Response to the House of Commons Health Select Committee Sixth Report of Session 2010-11: Complaints and Litigation, Cm 8180, Department of Health, TSO
Notes: MPs report
Date: 2011-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs said that the new health and social care regulator (the Care Quality Commission) had been established in 2009 without a sufficiently clear and realistic definition of its priorities and objectives; that the timescales and resource implications of the functions of the CQC had not been properly analyzed; that the registration process had not been properly tested and proven before it was rolled out; and that the CQC had not drawn the implications of these failures adequately to the attention of ministers, Parliament, and the public.
Source: Annual Accountability Hearing with the Care Quality Commission, Ninth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1430, House of Commons Health Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | ECCA press release | GMC press release | RCP press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Sep
An article examined the change in age-standardized death rates in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in two time periods: 1990-1999 and 1999-2009. Between 1990 and 1999 deaths amenable to medical care had been falling more slowly in England and Wales than in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The rate of decline in England and Wales increased after 1999 when funding of the National Health Service there increased: but the authors drew attention to a number of methodological issues.
Source: Monica Desai, Ellen Nolte, Marina Karanikolos, Bernadette Khoshaba, and Martin McKee, 'Measuring NHS performance 1990-2009 using amenable mortality: interpret with care', Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 104 Issue 9
Links: Article
Date: 2011-Sep
The inspectorate for healthcare and social care published an annual report on the state of health and adult social care in England. Almost one-half of England's National Health Service hospitals and care homes failed to meet required standards of nursing because they did not give patients safe and effective treatment.
Source: The State of Health Care and Adult Social Care in England: An overview of key themes in care in 2010/11, HC 1487, Care Quality Commission, TSO
Links: Report | CQC press release | ECCA press release | NHS Confederation press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Sep
A paper examined whether better primary care management of chronic diseases was associated with reduced hospital costs. Only primary care performance in stroke care was associated with lower hospital costs – mainly due to reductions in emergency admissions and outpatient visits, rather than to lower costs for patients treated in hospital or to reductions in elective admissions.
Source: Mark Dusheiko, Hugh Gravelle, Stephen Martin, Nigel Rice, and Peter Smith, Does Better Disease Management in Primary Care Reduce Hospital Costs?, Research Paper 65, Centre for Health Economics (University of York)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Sep
A think-tank report said that the government would have to spend an extra £5 billion on the National Health Service if it wanted to prevent 40 hospitals closing by 2013. A better model of healthcare delivery would involve a policy of 'no bailout'. The expectation that money would always be found to avoid the embarrassment of a hospital closure weakened the case for making necessary changes, and confused the incentives for everyone in the system.
Source: Paul Corrigan and Caroline Mitchell, The Hospital Is Dead, Long Live the Hospital, Reform
Links: Report | Reform press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Sep
An article examined the hypothesis that the healthcare system in the United States of America was superior to that in the National Health Service and 17 other western countries in reducing feasible mortality rates over the period 1979-2005. In terms of cost efficiency – economic input versus clinical output – the US healthcare system was found to be one of the worst at reducing mortality rates, whereas the NHS was one of the most cost-effective over the period.
Source: Colin Pritchard and Mark Wallace, 'Comparing the USA, UK and 17 western countries efficiency and effectiveness in reducing mortality', Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 2 Issue 7
Links: Article | Abstract | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Aug
An article examined whether National Health Service reforms involving expanded patient choice and competition between hospitals had led to improvements in hospital quality. After the reforms had been implemented, mortality was found to have fallen for patients living in more competitive healthcare markets.
Source: Zack Cooper, Stephen Gibbons, Simon Jones, and Alistair McGuire, 'Does hospital competition save lives? Evidence from the English NHS patient choice reforms', Economic Journal, Volume 121 Issue 554
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Aug
A study found that good management of National Health Service staff led to a higher quality of care, more satisfied patients, lower patient mortality, and significant financial savings.
Source: Michael West, Jeremy Dawson, Lul Admasachew, and Anna Topakas, NHS Staff Management and Health Service Quality: Results from the NHS staff survey and related data, Department of Health
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Aug
A paper examined the impact of the foundation trust policy on hospital performance. Foundation trusts generally performed better than other hospitals: but these differences appeared to be long-standing rather than an effect of the policy, and there was some evidence of a convergence in performance between foundation trusts and non-foundation trust hospitals.
Source: Rossella Verzulli, Rowena Jacobs, and Maria Goddard, Do Hospitals Respond to Greater Autonomy? Evidence from the English NHS, Research Paper 64, Centre for Health Economics (University of York)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jul
A committee of MPs said that health regulators should warn nurses, doctors, and midwives that they might be investigated if they failed to report concerns about colleagues. Whistle-blowers sometimes ended up facing disciplinary action themselves from employers if they did raise concerns.
Source: Annual Accountability Hearing with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Seventh Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1428, House of Commons Health Select Committee, TSO | Annual Accountability Hearing with the General Medical Council, Eighth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1429, House of Commons Health Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | GMC press release | Patients Association press release | RCM press release | RCP press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jul
The competition watchdog for the National Health Service said that some patients were losing out as a result of restrictions on their choice of provider of National Health Service care. Although some commissioners were successfully balancing the many requirements on them and still delivering patient choice, others were restricting choice excessively. If these variations were not addressed there was a serious risk that the expected benefits of patient choice – both to patients and taxpayers – would not be realized to their full potential.
Source: Review of the Operation of Any Willing Provider for the Provision of Routine Elective Care: Final Report, Co-Operation and Competition Panel for NHS-Funded Services
Links: Report | CCP press release | DH press release | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jul
The audit body for local authorities and the National Health Service in England published its annual report for 2010-11.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11, HC 1189, Audit Commission, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
The inspectorate for healthcare and social care published its annual report for 2010-11.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11, HC 1212, Care Quality Commission, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the role of the National Health Service Ombudsman needed a 'complete overhaul' in order to make it an effective part of the NHS complaints system. Patients should be able to seek an independent assessment by the Ombudsman of the findings of internal reviews carried out by care providers.
Source: Complaints and Litigation, Sixth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 786, House of Commons Health Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | DH press release | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Jun
A paper examined the concept of avoidable mortality – all those deaths that, given existing medical knowledge and technology, could be avoided by the healthcare system through prevention and/or treatment. No association was found between avoidable mortality and healthcare inputs: and no study had attempted to use the concept for the purpose originally envisaged, as a quality indicator of healthcare provision.
Source: Adriana Castelli and Olena Nizalova, Avoidable Mortality: What it means and how it is measured, Research Paper 63, Centre for Health Economics (University of York)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined productivity growth in the English National Health Service for the period 2003-04 to 2007-08, using a system of output and input indices. There had been constant productivity growth over the period.
Source: Adriana Castelli, Mauro Laudicella, Andrew Street, and Padraic Ward, 'Getting out what we put in: productivity of the English National Health Service', Health Economics, Policy and Law, Volume 6 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
A literature review examined healthcare professionals views on, and involvement in, quality improvement initiatives.
Source: Joyce Wilkinson, Alison Powell, and Huw Davies, Are Clinicians Engaged in Quality Improvement?, Health Foundation
Date: 2011-May
An article examined the risk regulation regime within the English National Health Service. It considered whether the regime demonstrated the coexistence of two different risk regulation regimes, or merely one regime with contradictory elements.
Source: Anneliese Dodds and Naonori Kodate, 'Accountability, organisational learning and risks to patient safety in England: conflict or compromise?', Health, Risk & Society, Volume 13 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-May
A report examined the problem of fraud in the National Health Service. It said that at least £3.3 billion each year was not being spent on genuine healthcare needs, and that many hospitals were refusing to publish what they were doing to combat fraud.
Source: Julia Manning, Stealing the NHS: How careless is the NHS being with our tax money?, 2020health
Links: Report | 2020 press release
Date: 2011-May
A paper estimated the performance of English National Health Service acute trusts for the years 1996-2008, based on health outcomes after elective treatment, using a latent variable approach.
Source: Irene Papanicolas and Alistair McGuire, Using a Latent Variable Approach to Measure the Quality of English NHS Hospitals, Working Paper 21/2011, LSE Health and Social Care (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Notes: Latent variables are not directly observed but are instead inferred using mathematical models.
Date: 2011-May
A new book examined neglect and abuse in the healthcare system, in particular in hospitals. Neglectful care was a 'systemic blight' – whereas policy and good-practice statements gave precisely the opposite message.
Source: Michael Mandelstam, How We Treat the Sick: Neglect and abuse in our health services, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Apr
A study found 'persistent and widespread' variations across England in patients' chances of undergoing surgery for common medical conditions. This suggested that many patients were not being given surgery that they needed, and that some might be undergoing operations that they did not benefit from.
Source: John Appleby et al., Variations in Health Care: The good, the bad and the inexplicable, King s Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | Age UK press release | NHS Confederation press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Apr
A report by a committee of MPs said that National Health Service spending had increased by 70 per cent over the decade from 2000-01 – but productivity had fallen by an average of 0.2 per cent a year, and by an average of 1.4 per cent a year in hospitals. National pay contracts were a key problem, and had not been used to manage staff effectively.
Source: Management of NHS Hospital Productivity, Twenty-sixth Report (Session 2010-11), HC 741, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | CBI press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Mar
A think-tank report said that more consistent, high-quality work from family doctors could save the National Health Service hundreds of millions of pounds in prescribing and hospital costs. It urged family doctors to take responsibility for improving quality, with a stronger commitment to transparency, more peer review, and better use of data and information technology to monitor performance.
Source: Nick Goodwin, Anna Dixon, Teresa Poole, and Veena Raleigh, Improving the Quality of Care in General Practice, King s Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | DH press release | BMA press release | RCGP press release | Community Care report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Mar
A think-tank report called for a single performance framework to ensure that National Health Service and social care services worked together to improve outcomes for patients and service users. Government plans for separate outcomes frameworks for the NHS, social care, and public health could threaten effective joint working at a local level, reducing benefits for patients and service users.
Source: Richard Humphries and Natasha Curry, Integrating Health and Social Care: Where Next?, King s Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release
Date: 2011-Mar
A report set out updated estimates of productivity changes in publicly funded health services. Productivity fell by 2.7 per cent between 1995 and 2009.
Source: Michael Hardie, Jonathan Cheers, Clare Pinder, and Umama Qaiser, Public Service Output, Inputs and Productivity: Healthcare, UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity (Office for National Statistics)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Mar
The inspectorate for healthcare and social care said that services in England had improved In the years leading up to the implementation of the Health and Social Care Act 2008: but there were still some areas that had not improved fast enough.
Source: The State of Health Care and Adult Social Care in England: An overview of key themes in care in 2009/10, HC 841, Care Quality Commission, TSO
Links: Report | Summary | CQC press release | Mind press release | NCF press release | Patients Association press release | Rethink press release | UKHCA press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Mar
The older people's watchdog for Wales said that the treatment of some older people in hospital was 'shamefully inadequate'.
Source: Dignified Care? The experiences of older people in hospital in Wales, Older People s Commission for Wales
Links: Report | OPCW press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Mar
A report said that although public expenditure on healthcare in England had more than doubled between 1997 and 2010, the impact on health system performance had been 'variable'.
Source: Sean Boyle, Health Systems in Transition: United Kingdom (England) – Health System Review 2011, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
Links: Report | LSE press release
Date: 2011-Mar
A report said that improving the quality of healthcare was best achieved by the measurement and public reporting of clinical outcomes. It estimated that the costs of data collection for cardiac surgery outcomes were recovered many times over through the quality improvements that resulted from it.
Source: Maintaining Patients? Trust: Modern Medical Professionalism, Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain & Ireland
Links: Report | RCS press release | DH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Mar
A new book said that neglectful care – particularly of older people – was a systemic blight, rather than mere local blemish, within the health service. It analyzed the causes and factors involved; the 'widespread denial' and lack of accountability on the part of those responsible; and the political, moral, professional, and legal implications.
Source: Michael Mandelstam, How We Treat the Sick: Neglect and abuse in our health services, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Links: Summary
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined ways of tackling institutional racism in healthcare services.
Source: David Woodger and Jim Cowan, 'Institutional racism in healthcare services: using mainstream methods to develop a practical approach', Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, Volume 3 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
An ombudsman report said that there were serious failings in the care of elderly patients in National Health Service hospitals in England. The NHS was failing to meet even the most basic standards of care, with common failings in pain control, nutrition, and communication between patients and their families.
Source: Care and Compassion? Report of the Health Service Ombudsman on ten investigations into NHS care of older people, HC 778, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, TSO
Links: Report | PHSO press release | DH press release | CQC press release | Age UK press release | Counsel and Care press release | Dignity in Dying press release | NHS Confederation press release | Patients Association press release | RCN press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined the difficulties faced in enhancing quality and performance in the English National Health Service. The prevailing 'audit culture' was fundamentally flawed as a way of driving quality and performance: many targets and measures were too crude to reflect important aspects affecting patient outcomes, and therefore lacked legitimacy among professionals. An alternative, trust-based model was proposed – one more capable of acknowledging the meaning, complexity, and specificities inherent in professional work.
Source: Patrick Brown and Michael Calnan, 'The civilizing process of trust: developing quality mechanisms which are local, professional-led and thus legitimate', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 45 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
A think-tank report said that new 'quality accounts' published by National Health Service providers had in many cases failed to provide the public with meaningful information about the quality of local services.
Source: Catherine Foot, Veena Raleigh, Shilpa Ross, and Tom Lyscom, How Do Quality Accounts Measure Up? Findings from the first year, King's Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release
Date: 2011-Jan