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.

Investigating time lags and attribution in the translation of cancer research

"The aim of the case studies was to help to examine and analyse two key assumptions used in estimating the internal rate of return – the elapsed time and attribution – as well as to contribute to the qualitative understanding of how research investments lead to health gain. " 

Investigating time lags and attribution in the translation of cancer research: A case study approach
by Susan Guthrie, Alexandra Pollitt, Stephen Hanney, Jonathan Grant
RAND Europe
2014

Read more here.

Leading health care innovation

This is a collaboration of the editors of the Harvard Business Review and the New England Journal of Medicine, providing an eight-week online forum devoted to helping leaders, managers, and others in health care increase value by improving patient outcomes and reducing costs. Find out more here.

Time to act: severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives

"Better care could lead to savings in 8 Time to act - Severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives terms of reduced length of hospital stay and less intensive care and renal dialysis."

Time to act: severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
September 2013

Read more here.

Health and homelessness

"This report is based on consultation with six services providing health care to homeless people, 17 case studies showing the range of presenting health issues and use of health services by homeless people, and analysis of five case studies illustrating the financial impact of this pattern of service use."

Health and homelessness: understanding the costs and role of primary care services for homeless people
St Mungo's
July 2013

Read more here.

Investment in patient information improves outcomes and reduces costs

"If we fail to provide patients with the information and support they need, we compromise all three dimensions of quality care – patient experience, patient safety and clinical effectiveness."

Making the case for information: the evidence for investing in high quality health information for patients and the public
Patient Information Forum
June 2013

Read the full report here or the executive summary here.

The Patient Information Forum has produced three summary briefings to accompany this report:
PiF Briefing Summary: Health information specialists
PiF Briefing Summary: Policy makers and commissioners
PiF Briefing Summary: Health professionals

Tool to link health outcomes and expenditure

"NHS England has commissioned Public Health England to develop a tool which helps commissioners to link health outcomes and expenditure."

Access this tool for commissioners here.

Improving care for patients with musculoskeletal conditions

"Patients with muscular and joint pain have seen care improve and waiting times cut as part of a pilot saving the NHS tens of thousands of pounds." Improvements introduced include:

• Call referral management centre to coordinate physiotherapy referrals
• Physiotherapy available at GP practices
• Physiotherapy telephone assessment service
• Orthopaedics, sport and exercise medicine specialists as part of the clinical assessment team

Find out more about this pilot scheme here.

The business case for people powered health

"The Business Case for People Powered Health describes the specific investments required to create services with a People Powered Health approach, and the practical benefits that can be achieved as a result."

The business case for people powered health
NESTA
April 2013

Red more here.

QUality, Efficiency, Safety, Transparency

"QUEST® — QUality, Efficiency, Safety and Transparency — is the largest multidimensional and multiyear collaborative designed to help hospitals and health systems reliably deliver the most efficient, effective and caring experience for every patient, every single time."

QUEST®: High-performing hospitals
Premier
March 2013

Read more here.

Fit enough for patients?

"Physiotherapy services play a vital role in improving staff health and wellbeing, and many of the trusts highlighted in this report are already putting physiotherapy at the heart of wellbeing services for staff."

Fit enough for patients? An audit of workplace health and wellbeing services for NHS staff
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
March 2013

Read more here.

Design and use of performance measures to decrease low-value services and achieve cost-conscious care

"This paper gives an overview of performance measures that target low-value services to help physicians understand the strengths and limitations of these measures, provides specific examples of measures that assess use of low-value services, and discusses how these measures can be used in clinical practice and policy."

Design and use of performance measures to decrease low-value services and achieve cost-conscious care
DW Baker, A Qaseem, P Reynolds, LA Gardner, EC Schneider
Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013, 158(1):55-59

Read more here.

Better use of information and technology in health and social care

"This report this highlights additional actions that could be taken to drive the  more efficient and effective use of information and technology, and identifies the benefits that could potentially be achieved by doing so."

A review of the potential benefits from the better use of information and technology in health and social care: final report
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
January 2013

Read more here.

Clinical-financial partnerships in the NHS

"The scale of the NHS’s financial challenges, which is predicted to last for the foreseeable future, has led to increasing acceptance that more sustainable and integrated strategies and approaches are urgently needed to successfully deliver the necessary efficiency savings and quality improvements."

Clinical-financial partnerships in the NHS: why we need them to deliver the cost and quality challenge
A Neath, N Downham, M Mugglestone
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
November 2012

Read more here.

Shared decision making to improve care and reduce costs

"A 2011 Cochrane Collaborative review of 86 studies showed that as compared with patients who received usual care, those who used decision aids had increased knowledge, more accurate risk perceptions, reduced internal conflict about decisions, and a greater likelihood of receiving care aligned with their values."

Shared decision making to improve care and reduce costs
E Oshima Lee, EJ Emanuel
New England Journal of Medicine, 2013, 368(1):6-8

Read more here.

Progress in making NHS efficiency savings

"The Department considers that the NHS will have been successful in meeting the efficiency challenge if it continues to live within its budget and, as a minimum, maintains the quality of, and access to, healthcare."

Progress in making NHS efficiency savings
National Audit Office
December 2012

Read more here.

Implementing NICE public health guidance for the workplace

"Making staff health and engagement a central trust value will avoid financial waste and contribute to better patient care."

Implementing NICE public health guidance for the workplace: overcoming barriers and sharing success
Royal College of Physicians
November 2012

Read more here.

Over 150 potentially low-value health care practices

"A total of 5209 articles were screened for eligibility, resulting in 156 potentially ineffective and/or unsafe services being identified for consideration."

Over 150 potentially low-value health care practices: an Australian study
AG Elshaug, AM Watt, L Mundy, CD Willis
Medical Journal of Australia, 2012, 197(10):556-560

Read more here.

Liaison psychiatry - the way ahead

"The study set out to identify how liaison psychiatry can most effectively contribute to the Government’s quality, innovation, productivity and prevention (QIPP) challenge of improving health outcomes while also reducing healthcare costs."

Liaison psychiatry - the way ahead: issue 249
Mental Health Network
NHS Confederation
November 2012

Read more here.

Efficiency and health care in Europe

The latest issue of Eurohealth Observer focuses on the possibilities and challenges of obtaining a workable model of efficiency in health care.

Efficiency and health care
Eurohealth, incorporating Euro Observer
2012, volume 18, number 3

Read more here.