What the planning guidance means for the NHS 2016/17 and beyond

"Leaders will need to work collaboratively in place-based systems of care, recognising that success in the current context depends on collective action that makes best use of a common pool of limited resources. It will be critical that organisations engage staff at all levels in achieving sustainability and delivering transformation, and focus on improving value for patients rather than crude cost-cutting."

What the planning guidance means for the NHS 2016/17 and beyond
H McKenna, P Dunn
February 2016
The King's Fund

Read more here.

Clinical guidance promoting safer medical care of patients detained under the Mental Health Act

"Through this project, we were able to identify defects in a system, provide needed guidance to enable safer and more equitable care to a vulnerable group, and foster closer collaboration between junior doctors and managers in the design and use of services."

How safe is our "place of safety"? Clinical guidance promoting safer medical care of patients detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act
J Mouko, A Goddard, V Nimmo-Smith
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u209141.w3721

Read more here.

Costing report: menopause diagnosis and management

"This report focuses on the recommendations that are considered to have the greatest resource impact nationally, and therefore need the most additional resources to implement or can potentially generate the biggest savings. They are:

- decrease the number of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) tests in women 
- increase use of transdermal hormone replacement therapy (HRT). "

Costing report: menopause diagnosis and management 
Implementing the NICE guideline on menopause (NG23)
NICE
November 2015

Read more here.

Examining the implementation of NICE guidance

"In the UK, NHS hospitals receive large amounts of evidence-based recommendations for care delivery from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other organisations. Little is known about how NHS organisations implement such guidance and best practice for doing so." 

Examining the implementation of NICE guidance: cross-sectional survey of the use of NICE interventional procedures guidance by NHS Trusts
K Lowson, M Jenks, A Filby, L Carr, B Campbell, J Powell
Implementation Science 2015, 10:93  doi:10.1186/s13012-015-0283-4

Read more here.

Compliance of monitoring side effects of medication in the treatment of ADHD

"The audit was carried out to determine compliance of monitoring side effects of medication in the treatment of ADHD/ADD in children and young people as recommended by NICE Clinical Guideline 72. The audit was deemed necessary to provide a basis on which to carry out future audits and to improve the service."

To determine compliance of monitoring side effects of medication in the treatment of ADHD in children and young people as recommended by NICE CG72
NICE Shared Learning example
South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
March 2015

Read more here.

NICE Guideline: Depression in children and young people

The NICE guideline for depression in children and young people has been updated, with a number of changes to the recommendations for safe and effective antidepressant use.

Depression in children and young people: Identification and management in primary, community and secondary care
NICE guidelines [CG28]
March 2015

Find out more 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.

The efficient management of healthcare estates and facilities

"Guidance for NHS trusts, foundation trusts and other NHS organisations on achieving efficiency savings and reducing costs in NHS estates."

The efficient management of healthcare estates and facilities
Department of Health
November 2014

Access the guidance here.

Intravenous fluid prescribing: Improving prescribing practices

"as a result of improved documentation and consideration given to fluid prescriptions, we were able to increase the percentage of maintenance IV fluid prescriptions that conformed to NICE guidelines."

Intravenous fluid prescribing: Improving prescribing practices and documentation in line with NICE CG174 guidance
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2014;3: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u205899.w2409

LT Sansom, L Duggleby

Read more here.

Care Act 2014: statutory guidance for implementation

"The guidance associated with the Care Act set out how the Act will work in practice when the first phase of the reforms comes into effect next year."

Care Act 2014: statutory guidance for implementation
Department of Health
October 2014

Read more here.

Exercise referral schemes to promote physical activity: costing tools

A costing statement and local costing template have been produced to help local authorities estimate the financial impact to of implementing the [NICE] guidance in their area.

Exercise referral schemes to promote physical activity: costing 
NICE
September 2014

Access the costing tools here.

British Orthopaedic Association commissioning guides

The British Orthopaedic Association and Royal College of Surgeons have developed a range of guides to support commissioning. The guides are currently available for the following conditions:

• Painful deformed great toe in adults
• Painful tingling fingers
• Pain arising from the hip in adults
• Painful osteoarthritis of the knee
• Low back pain
• Subacromial shoulder pain

Access the guides here.

Dyspepsia/GORD: clinical audit and costing statement

NICE have released a clinical audit tool and a costing statement for the treatment of dyspepsia and gastro‑oesophageal reflux disease to be used alongside their guidance documentation:

CG184 Dyspepsia/GORD: costing statement
CG184 Dyspepsia/GORD: clinical audit tools

Cost saving guidance:Long-acting reversible contraception

"The recommendations relate to offering women seeking contraception an informed choice and access to long-acting reversible methods. These methods are more reliable than the oral contraceptive pill, where user-error often results in unplanned pregnancy. The additional cost of providing these methods is more than offset by the costs of unplanned pregnancies (reduced terminations or reduced births)."

Cost saving guidance:Long-acting reversible contraception (CG30)
NICE
September 2014

Read more here.

Guidance on priority setting in health care

"This Guidance for Priority Setting in Health Care (GPS-Health), initiated by the World Health Organization, offers a comprehensive map of equity criteria that are relevant to healthcare priority setting and should be considered in addition to cost-effectiveness analysis."

Guidance on priority setting in health care (GPS-Health): the inclusion of equity criteria not captured by cost-effectiveness analysis
OF Norheim et al.
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation 2014, 12:18

Read more here.

Better Care Fund updated guidance

NHS England have updated (July 2014) the Better Care Fund guidance and templates. A series of webinars will be available of the next few days with additional support and details of the changes.

Find out more here.

NICE local practice case studies

"The NICE Local practice collection includes shared learning examples showing how NICE guidance and standards have been put into practice, and quality and productivity case studies outlining quality improvement initiatives which have also helped cut costs and save money."

The Local Practice collection combines case studies from the Quality and Productivity collection (formerly QIPP) and the Shared Learning collection.

Find out more and access the case studies here.

Open consultation: changes to Mental Health Act (1983) Code of Practice

"This consultation sets out the proposed changes to the Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice (‘the Code’), which was last revised in 2008. The Code is a document which provides guidance to mental health professionals and others in respect of the Act, to help them safeguard patient’s rights and ensure that they work within the law. It is also provides people that are detained or treated under the Act, with information about their rights and expectations." 

Open consultation: changes to Mental Health Act (1983) Code of Practice
Mental Health Act Code of Practice Review, Local Government and Care Partnership Directorate
Department of Health
July 2014

Read more here.

RCS commissioning guide: emergency general surgery

"Emergency General Surgery (EGS), and specifically acute abdominal pain, represents a huge inpatient burden of heterogenous diagnoses. Historically, the care of this group of patients has been underfunded and overlooked and there has been resultant variability in the quality of care provided." 

Commissioning guide: emergency general surgery (acute abdominal pain)
Royal College of Surgeons, Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland
April 2014

Read more here.

RCS commissioning guide: breast reduction surgery

"This guidance relates to patients that present with breast hyperplasia, where breasts are large enough to cause symptoms, infection, pain and adverse effects to quality of life." 

Commissioning guide: breast reduction surgery
Royal College of Surgeons, British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons
May 2014

Read more here.