New NICE Guideline: Melanoma: assessment and management

"This guideline covers the assessment and management of melanoma (a type of skin cancer) in children, young people and adults. It aims to reduce variation in practice and improve survival."

Melanoma: assessment and management - NICE guidelines [NG14] 
NICE
July 2015

Read more here.

People’s experiences of dementia care as they move between care homes and hospitals

"As the report makes clear, there are some examples of excellent care across hospitals and care homes in England. These are services that recognise that a personalised approach is the key to high-quality care for people living with dementia."

Cracks in the pathway: People’s experiences of dementia care as they move between care homes and hospitals
Care Quality Commission
October 2014

Read more here.

Meeting patients’ health information needs in breast cancer center hospitals

"We found differences in proportions of patients with unmet information needs between hospitals and that hospitals’ structure and process-related attributes of the hospitals were associated with these differences to some extent. Hospitals may contribute to reducing the patients’ information needs by means that are not necessarily resource-intensive."

Meeting patients’ health information needs in breast cancer center hospitals – a multilevel analysis

C Kowalski, SD Lee, L Ansmann, S Wesselmann, H Pfaff
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:601  doi:10.1186/s12913-014-0601-6

Read more here.

Duration of participation in continuous quality improvement: a key factor explaining improved delivery of Type 2 diabetes services

"Type 2 diabetes service delivery could be improved through long term commitment to CQI, encouraging regular attendance (for example, through patient reminder systems) and improved recording and coordination of patient care in the complex service provider environments that are characteristic of non-remote areas. "

Duration of participation in continuous quality improvement: a key factor explaining improved delivery of Type 2 diabetes services
V Matthews et al.
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:578  doi:10.1186/s12913-014-0578-1

Read more here.

Healthier Lives online tool: Diabetes, Hypertension, NHS Health Check

This newly released tool/map shows the quality and levels of care provided across England with comparisons against the national average. It currently contains statistics for diabetes, high blood pressure and NHS Health Checks.

Healthier Lives: Diabetes, Hypertension and NHS Health Check online tool
Public Health England
October 2014

Access the tool here.

Variations and inter-relationship in outcome from emergency admissions in England

"Hospital-level risk-standardised outcomes for emergency admissions across a range of specialties vary considerably and cross traditional speciality boundaries. This suggests that global institutional infra-structure and processes of care influence outcomes."

Variations and inter-relationship in outcome from emergency admissions in England: a retrospective analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics from 2005-2010
PJ Holt, S Sinha, BA Ozdemir, A Karthikesalingam, JD Poloniecki, MM Thompson
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14: 270

Read more here.

A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD countries

"Combined with engagement from clinicians and policy makers, the continued study of the causes and consequences of variation has the potential to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of health care systems."

A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD countries
AN Coralloa, R Croxford, DC Goodmanb, EL Bryanb, D Srivastavac, TA Stukela
Health Policy, 2014; 114: 5-14

Read more here.

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with respiratory disease

"The Respiratory Disease Atlas, together with the 2011 Outcomes Strategy for COPD and Asthma  and the NHS Companion Document to the Strategy, can be used by healthcare professionals to increase the value of care they offer to people with respiratory disease."

Atlas of variation in healthcare for people with respiratory disease
NHS Right Care
September 2012

Access the Atlas here.