Improving acute psychiatric care for adults in England

"The Commission’s starting point is that patients with mental health problems should have the same rapid access to high quality care as patients with physical health problems. It proposes the introduction of firm targets for improvement combined with new approaches to quality, data management, innovation and investment."

Old problems, New solutions: Improving acute psychiatric care for adults in England
The Independent Commission on Acute Adult Psychiatric Care
February 2016

Read more here.

Infection prevention and control: lessons from acute care in England

"This learning report is based on the findings of a large research study that identified and consolidated published evidence about infection prevention and control initiatives...The report considers what has been learned from the infection prevention and control work carried out over the last 15 years in hospitals in England. It looks at the lessons learned and outlines future directions for effective infection prevention and control." 

Infection prevention and control: lessons from acute care in England: Towards a whole health economy approach
The Health Foundation
November 2015

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Improving the acute care of COPD patients across Gloucestershire

"The aim of the scheme was to improve compliance with the BTS [British Thoracic Society] guidelines and CQUIN [Commissioning for Quality and Innovation] scheme for patients admitted with an exacerbation of COPD."

Improving the acute care of COPD patients across Gloucestershire: a quality improvement project
C Miller, C Cushley, K Redler, C Mitchell, EA Day, H Mansfield, A Nye
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u208427.w3338

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Experience based co-design reduces formal complaints on an acute mental health ward

"An acute mental health triage ward at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust was attracting high levels of formal service user and family complaints. The Trust used experience based co-design to examine the issues and redesign procedures. This resulted in an immediate eradication of formal complaints for a period of 23 months."

Experience based co-design reduces formal complaints on an acute mental health ward
N Springham, G Robert
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u209153.w3970

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Health service review: Shropshire (Future Fit)

Future Fit is a programme overseeing plans for service improvement for health services across Shropshire. They have compiled rapid reviews of the evidence for planned care, long term conditions and frailty, and acute and episodic care, all of which can be viewed here.

CQUIN audit for prescription of antibiotics for urinary tract infections in an acute medical assessment unit

"The interventions we introduced appeared to have dramatic results over a short space of time, with an improvement of compliance with the antibiotic guidelines to 100% and also documentation improving to 100% accuracy."
CQUIN audit for prescription of antibiotics for urinary tract infections in an acute medical assessment unit
M Oppenheimer, N Rezwan
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u208446.w3374

Read more here.

Facing the Future Together for Child Health

"Facing the Future: Together for Child Health represents a standard of care which children and their parents and carers can expect from the healthcare professionals looking after them. We hope that healthcare professionals will see them not just as standards to strive toward, but as a lever to continue to improve the safety, quality and sustainability of services." 

Facing the Future Together for Child Health
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Nursing
April 2015

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Acute hospitals and integrated care: From hospitals to health systems

"This report explores the role that acute hospitals can play in integrated care, drawing on learning from five case study sites in England where acute hospital providers have engaged actively with the integration agenda."

Acute hospitals and integrated care: From hospitals to health systems
C Naylor, H Alderwick, M Honeyman
The King's Fund
March 2015

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Exploring patterns of error in acute care using framework analysis

"In order to improve the management of acutely unwell patients by junior doctors, medical educators must understand the causes of common errors. Adequate knowledge alone does not ensure prompt and appropriate management and referral."

Exploring patterns of error in acute care using framework analysis
VR Tallentire, SE Smith, J Skinner, HS Cameron
BMC Medical Education 2015, 15:3 doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0285-6

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Improving Medication Administration Safety

"Ultimately, these findings affirm that nurse adherence to safe practices reduces medication administration (MA) errors. Although MA errors account for a minority of overall adverse drug events, they are typically not intercepted by other members of the healthcare team. Integrating these findings into evidence-based staffing considerations, nursing education and clinical practice competency validation has the potential to improve the quality, cost, and outcomes of MA."

Improving Medication Administration Safety: Using Naïve Observation to Assess Practice and Guide Improvements in Process and Outcomes
N Donaldson, C Aydin, M Fridman, M Fole
Journal for Healthcare Quality, 2014, 36: 58–68. doi: 10.1111/jhq.12090

Read more here.

Barriers to implementation of a redesign of information transfer and feedback in acute care

"Accurate communication is an important feature of seamless care and enhances patient safety. Information transfer and patient handovers are noted to be potentially hazardous areas for error in emergency care."

Barriers to implementation of a redesign of information transfer and feedback in acute care: results from a multiple case study
JE van Leijen-Zeelenberg, AJA van Raak, IGP Duimel-Peeters, MEAL Kroese, PRG Brink, D Ruwaard, HJM Vrijhoef
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14: 149

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Promoting engagement by patients and families to reduce adverse events

"While patient engagement in safety is an appealing approach, there is still little evidence regarding the particular details of implementation needed"

Promoting engagement by patients and families to reduce adverse events in acute care settings: a systematic review
Z Berger, TE Flickinger, E Pfoh, KA Martinez, SM Dy
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2014; 23: 548-555

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Having quality as an item on the executive board agenda

"Having quality as an item on the executive board’s agenda allows them to review and discuss quality performance more often in order to improve their hospital’s quality management. Generally, and as this study found, having quality on the executive board’s agenda matters."

Is having quality as an item on the executive board agenda associated with the implementation of quality management systems in European hospitals: a quantitative analysis
D Botje, NS Klazinga, R Suñol, O Groene, H Pfaff, R Mannion, A Depaigne-Loth, OA Arah, M Dersarkissian, C Wagner
International Journal of Quality in Health Care, 2014, February 17, doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzu017

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Whole-system solutions for urgent and emergency care

"Demand for urgent and emergency care continues to increase year on year and it has been evident for some time that the system for delivering this care must adapt to meet ongoing and new challenges."

Ripping off the sticking plaster: Whole-system solutions for urgent and emergency care
Urgent and Emergency Care Forum
NHS Confederation
March 2014

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The NHS payment system: evolving policy and emerging evidence

"This research report takes a comprehensive look at different approaches to payment and how they function in the English NHS. It then brings together and summarises the available evidence on whether recent payment initiatives have met their goals."

The NHS payment system: evolving policy and emerging evidence
L Marshall, A Charlesworth, J Hurst
Nuffield Trust
February 2014

Read more here.

Qualitative assessment of visitor and migrant use of the NHS in England

"These 2 reports, commissioned by the Department of Health, provide evidence of the impact overseas visitors and migrants are having in GP practices and NHS hospitals."

Access these reports here.

Instruments for assessing the risk of falls in acute hospitalized patients

"The STRATIFY scale was found to be the best tool for assessing the risk of falls by hospitalized acutely-ill adults."

Instruments for assessing the risk of falls in acute hospitalized patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis
M Aranda-Gallardo, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2013, 13:122

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Preventable hospital mortality

"A quality improvement strategy based on good local evidence is effective in improving the quality of care sufficiently to reduce mortality."

Preventable hospital mortality: learning from retrospective case record review
OO Sorinola, C Weerasinghe, R Brown
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports, 2012, 3(11):77

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A new model for quality improvement in acute inpatient psychiatry

"The acute assessment model attempts to address the need for the NHS to deliver more for less, whilst remaining focused on service-user and staff satisfaction."

A new model for quality improvement in acute inpatient psychiatry: observational data from an acute assessment unit
J Hayes, R Gibbons, F Outim, S Tang, A Chakraborty
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports, 2012, 3(9)

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Hospital quality competition under fixed prices

"The literature shows that more competition increases quality when providers are profit maximisers and marginal cost of treatment is constant."

Hospital quality competition under fixed prices: CHE Research Paper 80
H Gravelle, R Santos, L Siciliani, R Goudie
University of York
November 2012

Read more here.