The state of maternity services in England

"Improving people’s experiences of maternity care therefore requires providers to hear and respond to user feedback, and to ensure that staff feel supported to provide the best quality care."

The state of maternity services in England: Policy briefing
G Paparella
Picker Institute
July 2016

Read more here.

Are reductions in emergency department length of stay associated with improvements in quality of care?

"We sought to determine whether patients seen in hospitals who had reduced overall emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) in the 2 years following the introduction of the Ontario Emergency Room Wait Time Strategy were more likely to experience improvements in other measures of ED quality of care for three important conditions."

Are reductions in emergency department length of stay associated with improvements in quality of care? A difference-in-differences analysis
MJ Vermeulen et al.
BMJ Qual Saf 2016;25:489-498 doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004189

Read more here.

Developing a Complex Care Case Management Service within Primary Care

"Analysis of the Slough CCG patient population demonstrated that 5% (7,500) of people consume 43% of healthcare resources.  In an attempt to realise cost savings and improve quality of service, efforts were made to target those at higher risk of an emergency admission or A&E attendance."

Slough CCG: Developing a Complex Care Case Management Service within Primary Care
S Saran, A Thompson, R Chana
RightCare
February 2016

Read more here.

Workforce policy in the English NHS

"This report gives an overview of the components of workforce policy in the English NHS and the bodies which shape it. The report proposes ways in which workforce policy could be strengthened to improve the quality and productivity of care."

Fit for purpose?: Workforce policy in the English NHS
The Health Foundation
March 2016

Read more here.

A directory of organisations, groups and teams that support innovation, improvement, leadership development and systems leadership

"The Directory is a first run at describing the kinds of support available, at regional and national levels, to the vanguard localities for new care models and those leading other priority work of the Five Year Forward View. The offer encompasses systems leadership support, advice and guidance in relation to workforce and organisational development issues, help with transformational change and assistance with data-sharing and capitated budgets."

A directory of organisations, groups and teams that support innovation, improvement, leadership development and systems leadership: How they could potentially support new care models and other priorities in the Five Year Forward View
NHS Improving Quality
September 2015

Read more here.

Improving the Quality of Orthotics Services in England

"This document sets out a case for action to tackle the rising demand and variation in access and quality of services experienced by children and adults requiring orthotic care in England. It explains why it is important to improve the commissioning of services in terms of clinical and cost benefits and discusses some of the key issues affecting services currently, along with the experiences that patients and their families have had in using those services "

Improving the Quality of Orthotics Services in England
NHS England

November 2015

Read more here. 

Improving Diagnosis in Health Care

"Improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but it also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Achieving that goal will require a significant reenvisioning of the diagnostic process and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers."

Improving Diagnosis in Health Care
EP Balogh, BT Miller, JR Ball
National Academies Press
September 2015

Read more here.

On targets: How targets can be most effective in the English NHS

"This report does not set out to determine whether targets, as a concept, are good or
bad, but focuses on how targets can be most effective for improving quality of care. It
builds on the evidence base regarding the impact of targets to identify good practice in
designing new or improved targets, and considers how policymakers can apply these
lessons to the challenges facing the NHS."

On targets: How targets can be most effective in the English NHS
N Berry, T Gardner, I Anderson
The Health Foundation
October 2015

Read more here.

Focus on: People with mental ill health and hospital use

"At any time, one in six adults has a mental health condition and one in 100 has a severe mental illness. Our new research explores what differences in hospital use can tell us about the quality of physical health care for people with mental ill health."

Focus on: People with mental ill health and hospital use
H Dorning, A Davies, I Blunt
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
October 2015

Read more here.

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare 2015

"Improving value across the NHS landscape is the central aim of providing the information in Atlas 3.0. As in maps of health, these maps of healthcare show us where to focus efforts to improve health and healthcare while holding the line on costs."

NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare 2015: Reducing unwarranted variation to

increase value and improve quality

NHS England

September 2015

Access the Atlas here. 

A dietetic-led coeliac service incorporating group education

"This example describes our service redesign to increase patient capacity within existing dietetic provision, whilst also aiming to improve service quality."

A dietetic-led coeliac service incorporating group education
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
NICE Shared Learning example
September 2015

Read more here.

Integrated care clinical Pharmacist GSTT@home service

"The ICCPs have made a significant impact in the overall quality of care that the GSTT @home service patients have received, and have also had a positive effect on the overall medicines optimisation of the service in general."

Integrated care clinical Pharmacist GSTT@home service
Guys & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust (Community Health Services) NHS Specialist Pharmacy services

NICE Shared Learning examples
September 2015

Read more here.

Improving length of stay: what can hospitals do?

"This report on length of stay by the Nuffield Trust is part of a larger project undertaken by Monitor which aims to find the best ways to improve quality of care across the health system in light of recent pressures on urgent and emergency care."
Improving length of stay: what can hospitals do?
N Edwards, R Lewis Nuffield Trust
September 2015

Read more here.

Evaluation of a continuous monitoring and feedback initiative to improve quality of anaesthetic care

"The results support the potential of quality monitoring and feedback interventions as quality improvement mechanisms and provide insight into the positive response of clinicians to this type of initiative, including documentation of the experiences of anaesthetists that participated as users and codesigners of the feedback."

Evaluation of a continuous monitoring and feedback initiative to improve quality of anaesthetic care: a mixed-methods quasi-experimental study 
J Benn, et al.
Health Services Delivery and Research 2015;3(32)

Read more here.

Template reports for radiology cancer staging: improving information

"This initiative uses templates to record tumour staging information from magnetic resonance (MR) investigations. The information provided by radiologists to clinicians is improved and standardised, allowing management decisions to be better informed and reducing the need for additional clarification. This initiative is primarily about improving quality, although there are some small productivity savings"

Template reports for radiology cancer staging: improving information to guide treatment decisions
Quality and Productivity case study
Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
July 2015

Read more here.

Unbundling recovery: Recovery, rehabilitation and reablement

"This report describes how an audit methodology used previously for surgical conditions can be used to assess whether the rehabilitation aspects of a patient's acute hospital stay could be better provided.

It shows how, with some further evidence, a locally derived tariff for recovery, rehabilitation and reablement could be developed to support service improvements."

Unbundling recovery: Recovery, rehabilitation and reablement national audit report
NHS Improving Quality
June 2015

Read more here.

Improving Patient Safety Culture through Teamwork and Communication

"This new HPOE guide outlines the TeamSTEPPS framework, describes teamwork tools and includes examples and case studies illustrating how hospitals and care systems are using TeamSTEPPS to improve patient safety and quality."

Improving Patient Safety Culture through Teamwork and Communication: TeamSTEPPS®
Health Research & Educational Trust
June 2015

Read more here.

Five Year Forward View - The Success Regime

"The ‘Success Regime’ is aimed at providing increased support and direction to the most challenged systems in order to secure improvement in 3 main areas:

• short-term improvement against agreed quality, performance or financial metrics
• medium and longer-term transformation, including the application of new care models where applicable
• developing leadership capacity and capability across the health system"

Five Year Forward View - The Success Regime: A whole systems intervention
Monitor, NHS
June 2015

Read more here.

Cutting delays in reversing anticoagulation after intracerebral haemorrhage

"We have substantially reduced delays in delivering PCC (Prothrombin complex concentrate) to VKA-ICH (vitamin K antagonists) patients at our centre and our simple changes could be easily implemented at centres facing similar barriers."

Cutting delays in reversing anticoagulation after intracerebral haemorrhage: three key changes at a UK comprehensive stroke centre
A Parry-Jones
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u208763.w3521

Read more here.

Type 1 diabetes pregnancy toolkit

"The research showed that there was very little easy to understand information available aimed solely at women with type 1 diabetes... Furthermore, advice for women with type 1 diabetes advice was often mixed with advice for women with type 2 diabetes.

We identified a clear patient need for a simple, downloadable, information resource about all aspects of pregnancy with type 1 diabetes that identified pre-conception goals."

Type 1 diabetes pregnancy toolkit
JDRF
NICE Shared Learning example
May 2015

Read more here.