Local Estates Strategies: A Framework for Commissioners

"Achieving the efficiencies required by the Five Year Forward View will mean all parts of the health service will need to work with greater agility and greater co-operation. Good quality strategic estates planning is vital to making the most of these changes and will allow the NHS to:

• fully rationalise its estate,
• maximise use of facilities,
• deliver value for money, and
• enhance patients’ experiences."

Local Estates Strategies: A Framework for Commissioners
Property Branch in Commercial Division
Department of Health
June 2015

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Planning for the Better Care Fund

"The Better Care Fund is an innovative idea for joining-up care services locally for the benefit of patients. However, the quality of early planning and preparations did not match the scale of ambition."

Planning for the Better Care Fund
National Audit Office
November 2014

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Unit costs of health and social care 2013

"With increased demand for health and social care expected, health and local authorities are faced with more pressure than ever to keep a tight rein on expenditure, so information on the costs of services continues to be an important contribution to accurate planning and commissioning."

Unit costs of health and social care 2013 
L Curtis
Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent

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Everyone counts: planning for patients 2014/15 to 2018/19

"Last year’s guidance identified stronger commissioning as a key theme for driving change. This section has set out those things which local commissioners need to include in their plans which will deliver the change they want to see."

Everyone counts: planning for patients 2014/15 to 2018/19
NHS England
December 2013

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Planning and delivering service changes for patients

"This guidance is designed to support CCGs and NHS England with the planning, development and assurance of proposals for major service change and reconfiguration. It provides a high level process, sets out good practice, and explains how to assess proposals against the Government’s ‘four tests’."

Planning and delivering service changes for patients
Strategy Unit - NHS England
December 2013

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Good practice in joint health and wellbeing strategies

"This self-evaluation tool provides guidance on good practice in planning, developing and delivering Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies based around key questions to consider and top tips on approaches that might be taken."

Good practice in joint health and wellbeing strategies: a self-evaluation tool for health and wellbeing boards
NHS Confederation
September 2013

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Commissioning a good child health service

"Good commissioning – or planning – is the key and this guide will help you commission the right services for your patients. It will help you meet their current and future needs in the most effective and cost-effective way possible."

Commissioning a good child health service
Clinical Innovation and Research Centre
Royal College of General Practitioners
March 2013

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Commissioning HIV testing services in England

"This toolkit is designed primarily for the many individuals and organisations who will have some responsibility for the commissioning of HIV testing services."

Commissioning HIV testing services in England: a practical guide for commissioners
National AIDS Trust
March 2013

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The puzzle of changing relationships

"We hope that both the framework and the evidence in this report will, with further research and development, be valuable in informing: 

• better policy
• better service commissioning and planning
• a professional identity built around relationships as well as around tasks
• a research agenda that focuses far more attention on providing the evidence of how changing roles and relationships can raise quality."

The puzzle of changing relationships
JS Pedersen, L Brereton, J Newbould, E Nolte
The Health Foundation
March 2013

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How hard can it be to include research evidence and evaluation in local health policy implementation?

"Local commissioners and managers need to build the critical use of research evidence and evaluation into health policy implementation at local level in order to provide consistent and effective healthcare services."

How hard can it be to include research evidence and evaluation in local health policy implementation? Results from a mixed methods study
BA Evans, H Snooks, H Howson, M Davies
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:17

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Everyone counts: planning for patients 2013/14

"All clinical commissioning groups should use the best available expertise to support them, whether through Commissioning Support Units or secured through other means."

Everyone counts: planning for patients 2013/14
NHS Commissioning Board
December 2012

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Everyone counts: planning for patients 2013/14

"At a time of significant financial challenge, where we need to ensure all organisations are robust to address the challenges facing them, this document lays out five offers to help commissioners deliver for the public: support for routine NHS care seven days a week; greater transparency on outcomes; mechanisms to enhance patient feedback; better data collection to drive evidence-based medicine; and for high professional standards."

Everyone counts: planning for patients 2013/14
NHS Commissioning Board
December 2012

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Ensuring education reform enhances patient outcome

"The creation of Health Education England (HEE) and Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs) provides the opportunity for employers to ensure that the £5 billion annual national investment in education and training delivers the maximum benefits for patients."

Ensuring education reform enhances patient outcome: providers' planning and driving a workforce budget of £5bn
NHS Employers
June 2012

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Proactive approaches to safety management

This paper offers some practical suggestions for proactively managing safety.

Proactive approaches to safety management
E Hollnagel
The Health Foundation
May 2012

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Leadership and management for all doctors

"This guidance sets out the wider management and leadership responsibilities of doctors in the workplace."

Leadership and management for all doctors
General Medical Council
January 2012

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The Management Code

"An excellent manager will always have safety in mind when planning change and patient client services."

The Management Code
The Institute of Healthcare Management
January 2012

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