Thames Valley & Milton Keynes Strategic Clinical Networks commissioning guidance

Thames Valley & Milton Keynes Strategic Clinical Networks have produced commissioning guidance with recommendations for action and best practice case studies for cancer, cardiovascular health, children, end of life care, long term conditions, maternity, mental health and neurological conditions. Although locally focused, the guides may have wide spread interest. 

Access the guides here.

Safer fluid prescribing

"The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) released new fluid guidelines following data suggesting 20% of patients receiving fluids suffer adversely (2013). This quality improvement group assessed fluid prescribing in a tertiary teaching centre and introduced a new fluid- prescribing chart to align practice with NICE recommendations."

Safer fluid prescribing at North Bristol Trust: Bringing practice in line with NICE Guidance with a redesign of the fluid prescription chart
J Andersson et al.
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u203816.w1911

Read more here.

Incentives to follow Best Practice in Health Care

"OHE has published a Briefing by Karlsberg Schaffer, Sussex and Feng summarising the evidence on incentives that encourage providers of health care to follow guidance on best practice, particularly where that guidance requires the use of specific medicines or other health technologies. These incentives include monetary and non-monetary rewards."

Incentives to follow Best Practice in Health Care

S Karlsberg Schaffer, J Sussex, Y Feng
Office of Health Economics
February 2015

Read more here (registration required).

Improving inpatient care with the introduction of a hip fracture pathway

"A system of payment by results exists for the management of hip fractures in England and Wales. Poor performance against the national standards was noted, reflecting failure to deliver optimal care. Through the introduction of a multi-disciplinary patient pathway and clerking pro forma, the proportion of patients earning the best practice tariff uplift increased from 44.4% to 91.7%. "

Improving inpatient care with the introduction of a hip fracture pathway
M Chamberlain, H Pugh
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u204075.w2786

Read more here.

Implementation of a ward round pro-forma to improve adherence to best practice guidelines

"This study has two main aims. Firstly, to measure the adherence to specific best practice guidelines for the prevention hospital acquired causes of mortality and morbidity (HACMMs) by doctors on a medical assessment unit in regional teaching hospital. Secondly, to measure the effectiveness of the study’s interventional checklist (the ward round pro-forma) on rates of adherence to best practice guidelines."

Implementation of a ward round pro-forma to improve adherence to best practice guidelines
X Boland
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u207456.w2979

Read more here.

Best practice in Memory Services

"With the increase in the interest in dementia and the need for high quality services, memory services have an important role to play in the assessment, diagnosis and management of people with suspected dementia."

Best practice in Memory Services: Learning from across England
A Burns, A Wilkinson, S Peachey
NHS England
December 2014

Read more here.

Closing the gap through changing relationships

"The evaluation drew on the principles of the ‘realistic evaluation’ approach, focusing on clarifying the ‘context – mechanism – outcome’ dynamics underpinning the various interventions. The linkages between interventions, changing relationships and quality improvement are complex and multi-directional." 

Closing the gap through changing relationships: an independent evaluation of the programme
C Hoong Sin, H Heathfield, K Fitzpatrick, L Benson
The Health Foundation
June 2014

Read more here.

CCG Learning Environment

The NHS England/NHS Commissioning Assembly Learning Environment hosts a range of knowledge sharing tools for CCGs, allowing them to share best practice and seek advice and support. The website includes case studies, private forums, a search tool to identify similar CCGs, and a directory of support providers.

Find out more and access all the resources here.

Guide for monitoring scale-up of health practices and interventions

"To achieve improved health outcomes, countries are focused on scaling up proven effective health services and practices."

Guide for monitoring scale-up of health practices and interventions
B Adamou
US Agency for International Development
May 2013

Access the manual here.

Cumbria Partnership Journal of Research, Practice and Learning

The Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust publishes an academic journal, the Cumbria Partnership Journal of Research, Practice and Learning, in both print and electronic format. The electronic version is freely available on their website at this link:

The content is grouped under the following headings:

• Research reports
• Education and learning
• Quality/organisational change
• Reflective practice/case studies

Urgent care centres: what works best?

"This paper offers some key thinking points for clinical commissioners to consider as they develop their plans for integrated, 24/7 urgent and emergency care."

Urgent care centres: what works best?
Primary Care Foundation
October 2012

Read more here.

COPD commissioning toolkit: a resource for commissioners

"The COPD Commissioning Toolkit aims to make it easier to commission better services for people with COPD by bringing together the clinical, financial and commercial aspects of commissioning in one place."

COPD commissioning toolkit: a resource for commissioners
NHS Medical Directorate
August 2012

Read more here.

Towards best practice in interventional radiology

"This document sets out case studies using service delivery models that provide benefits for patients and staff."

Towards best practice in interventional radiology
NHS Improvement - Diagnostics
June 2012

Read more here.

Sharing commissioning experiences

“Right Care enables sharing of good practice by compiling local examples of commissioning work, which demonstrate the philosophy behind Right Care or showcases the tools available through the programme.”

Sharing commissioning experiences: The Right Care Casebook Series: Volume 2
NHS Right Care
March 2012

Read more here.