Mental health under pressure

"There is a clear need for mental health services to focus on using evidence to improve practice and reduce variations in care. However, it is essential that this is underpinned by stable funding, with no more cuts to budgets." 

Mental health under pressure
H Gilburt
The King's Fund
November 2015

Read more here.

The state of health care and adult social care in England 2014/15

"Many services have responded well, despite the increasing pressures, and managed to improve or maintain quality."

The state of health care and adult social care in England 2014/15
Care Quality Commission
October 2015

Read more here.

Is mental health care improving?

"This overview uses the available data to assess the quality of health care services for people with mental health problems in England. It focuses on three different groups: adults with common mental health problems, adults with severe and enduring mental health problems, and children and young people."

Is mental health care improving?
F Dormon
The Health Foundation
March 2015

Read more here.

Accident and emergency survey 2014

"Read the results of our latest survey which asked people about their experiences of accident and emergency (A&E) departments in 2014."

Accident and emergency survey 2014
Care Quality Commission

Read more here.

Outcomes in patients with heart failure treated in hospitals with varying admission rates

"Heart failure admission rates exhibited variability between institutions, and patients who presented to emergency departments with low admission rates experienced higher rates of subsequent adverse outcomes in a single-payer health system."

Outcomes in patients with heart failure treated in hospitals with varying admission rates: population-based cohort study
RS Bhatia, PC Austin, TA Stukel, MJ Schull, A Chong, JV Tu, DS Lee
BMJ Quality and Safety 2014;23:981-988 doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2014-002816

Read more here.

The state of health care and adult social care in England 2013/14

"We found wide variation in care between trusts, between hospital sites, between hospital services and within each service."

The state of health care and adult social care in England 2013/14
Care Quality Commission
October 2014.

Read more here.

Hospital discharge of the elderly - functions, variability and performance-shaping factors

"Precision issues related to (1) decision-making criteria concerning the medical fitness decision and appropriate level of care, (2) quality of discharge planning, (3) degree of patient involvement, and (4) quality of information transfer."

Hospital discharge of the elderly-an observational case study of functions, variability and performance-shaping factors
K Laugaland, K Aase, J Waring
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:365

Read more here.

Inflammatory bowel disease audit reports

"Patients are experiencing differences in the quality of care and treatment they receive for Ulcerative Colitis (UC) according to the latest round of results from the UK Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) audit."

Inflammatory bowel disease audit reports
Royal College of Physicians, Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership
June 2014

Read more here.

Senior staff cover means earlier discharges

"Patients admitted to A&E in the evening can stay in hospital up to four days longer than those admitted in the morning. To reduce their stays, trusts can take targeted action during the assessment phase"

Senior staff cover means earlier discharges
S McGirr, A Mullarkey, S Graham, R Sowney, R Emeny, V Connolly
Health Service Journal, June 2014

Read more here.

Cardiovascular disease commissioning for value focus pack

"National benchmarked data for heart disease and stroke used to understand variation across the pathway for each Clinical Commissioning Group in England to help improve cardiovascular disease commissioning"

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Commissioning for Value focus packs
Public Health England
May 2014

Access the packs and all the resources here.

Variations in outcome and costs among NHS providers for common surgical procedures

"We identify variation in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) across hospitals, assess the relationship between the cost and outcomes among NHS hospitals for these procedures, and determine the extent to which variations in outcomes and costs are due to differences in hospital performance."

Variations in outcome and costs among NHS providers for common surgical procedures: econometric analyses of routinely collected data
A Street, N Gutacker, C Bojke, N Devlin, S Daidone
National Institute of Health Research
Health Services and Delivery Research, 2014, 2(1)

Read more here.

Diabetes: State of the Nation England 2013

"In the best area four times more people get the checks they need than in the worst."

State of the nation England 2013
Diabetes UK
December 2013

Read more here.

Community engagement to reduce inequalities in health

"Community engagement has been advanced as a promising way of improving health and reducing health inequalities; however, the approach is not yet supported by a strong evidence base."

Community engagement to reduce inequalities in health: a systematic review, meta-analysis and economic analysis
A O'Mara-Eves, G Brunton, D McDaid, S Oliver, J Kavanagh, F Jamal, et al.
NHS National Institute for Health Research
Public Health Research, 4(1), November 2013

Read more here.

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and dementia - where are we now?

"Very little is known about the prevalence of dementia in the UK black and minority populations despite some of these communities being at higher levels of risk than the indigenous white population."

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and dementia - where are we now?
D Truswell
Race Equality Foundation
November 2013

Read more here.

The NHS Atlas of Variation in Diagnostic Services

"Unwarranted variation in the rates of diagnostic testing is of the utmost relevance to individual patients with the over-use, as well as under-use, of diagnostic tests being potentially serious issues."

The NHS Atlas of Variation in Diagnostic Services
NHS Right Care, Public Health England
November 2013

Read more here.

National audit of intermediate care

"As in 2012, the 2013 audit has highlighted wide variation in the extent of multi-agency commissioning, the scale of services provided and how intermediate care sits within the full range of health and social care services within each local area."

National audit of intermediate care
NHS Benchmarking Network
November 2013

Read more here.

Variation in surgical-readmission rates and quality of hospital care

"Hospitals with high surgical volume and low surgical mortality have lower rates of surgical readmission than other hospitals."

Variation in surgical-readmission rates and quality of hospital care
TC Tsai, KE Joynt, J Orav, AA Gawande, AK Jha
New England Journal of Medicine, 2013, 369:1134-42

Read more here.

NHS Standard Contract 2013/14 - guidance on variations process

"This document explains the process for proposing, agreeing and effecting local variations to NHS Standard Contracts, covering both eContracts and paper contracts."

NHS Standard Contract 2013/14 - guidance on variations process
NHS England/Commissioning Development/NHS Standard Contract
July 2013

Read more here.

Influences on prescribing in general practice: why is there variation in prescribing practices?

"Prescribing is a core activity for general practitioners, yet significant variation in the quality of prescribing has been reported. This suggests there may be room for improvement in the application of the current best research evidence."

An ethnographic exploration of influences on prescribing in general practice: why is there variation in prescribing practices?
A Grant, F Sullivan, J Dowell
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:72

Read more here.

Elective hospital admissions, waiting times and patient experience

"This Briefing will help non-executive directors (NEDs) better understand NHS data and how it can be used to determine what is going on in their hospital."

The non-executive directors' guide to hospital data: Part two: Elective hospital admissions, waiting times and patient experience
Hospitals Forum briefing
NHS Confederation
May 2013, Issue 263

Read more here.