Tooling up and gearing up mental health in primary care

This document supports people to improve access and understand the key components of good primary care mental health training and education. It provides: 1.) Workforce training and education framework; 2.) competency checklist; 3.) summary of education and training in London.

Tooling up and gearing up mental health in primary care
London Clinical Networks
August 2016

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Staffing matters; funding counts

"Policymakers need to look at how targeted and aligned policies covering the effective use of temporary staff, retention of existing employees and international recruitment can be used to address current shortages in staffing and skills in order to buy time, while a more long-term sustainable approach is introduced."

Staffing matters; funding counts: Workforce profile and trends in the English NHS
J Buchan, I Seccombe, A Charlesworth
The Health Foundation
July 2016

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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

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Managing the supply of NHS clinical staff in England

"Ensuring there are enough clinical staff with the right skills to meet the demand for high-quality, safe healthcare is essential to the operation of the NHS. There are risks to both the quality and cost of services if the supply of clinical staff is poorly managed." 

Managing the supply of NHS clinical staff in England
Department of Health, National Audit Office
February 2016

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Closer to critical? QualityWatch

"Our third annual statement, Closer to critical?, aims to help policy-makers, healthcare leaders, patient groups and others make sense of quality across health and social care, primarily in England. We observe that while there are many areas of excellent care, there are also increasingly clear signals that in some areas quality is deteriorating."

Closer to critical? QualityWatch annual statement 2015
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
November 2015

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Improving UK health care

"Our Strategy sets out a new direction – we will be more grounded in the practical implications of policy-making, working closely with NHS staff and policy-makers to identify solutions to the challenges facing the NHS."

Improving UK health care: Nuffield Trust strategy 2015-2020
Nuffield Trust
October 2015

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HSJ Commissioning supplement: The right services at the right time

"Commissioning within the NHS is being shaped by a variety of factors, ranging from technology to the third sector. This week’s supplement, produced in association with Skills for Health, IMS Health and the British Red Cross, looks at:

• workforce planning 
• gaining value from data 
• benefitting from third sector organisations" 

HSJ Commissioning supplement: The right services at the right time
How data, workforce planning and the voluntary sector are shaping NHS commissioning
September 2015

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King’s Fund report into dermatology services in the UK

"Our work exposed major concerns about the current quality of commissioning for dermatology services and the lack of specialist knowledge among commissioners. Commissioning should facilitate the new models of care with tariffs that reflect and encourage new patient-centred ways of working."

King’s Fund report into dermatology services in the UK
British Association of Dermatologists
April 2015

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Workforce planning in the NHS

"At local level, there is no single solution to address immediate workforce challenges. Rather, providers will need to consider a range of sustainable strategies – individually and in partnership with others in their local health economy."

Workforce planning in the NHS
R Addicott, D Maguire, M Honeyman, J Jabbal
The King's Fund
April 2015

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Improving patient safety by implementing a new general surgical on-call rota for FY1 doctors

"This project demonstrates that altering rotas can improve junior doctor's perception of patient safety, and also shows that junior team members, with departmental support, can overcome barriers to change and implement new rotas."

Improving patient safety by implementing a new general surgical on-call rota for FY1 doctors
H Walton, M Uheba
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u206069.w3327

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Leadership and leadership development in health care: The evidence base

"The summary describes key messages from the review in relation to leadership at different levels of analysis: it includes a description of the leadership task and the most effective leadership behaviours at individual, team, board and national levels."

Leadership and leadership development in health care: The evidence base
M West, K Armit, L Loewenthal, R Eckert, T West, A Lee
The King's Fund
February 2015

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Six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff

"There is now an overwhelming body of evidence to show that engaged staff really do deliver better health care. The NHS providers with high levels of staff engagement (as measured in the annual NHS Staff Survey) tend to have lower levels of patient mortality, make better use of resources and deliver stronger financial performance"

Staff engagement: Six building blocks for harnessing the creativity and enthusiasm of NHS staff
The King's Fund
February 2015

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IMatter: validation of the NHS Scotland Employee Engagement Index

"Employee engagement is a fundamental component of quality healthcare. In order to provide empirical data of engagement in NHS Scotland an Employee Engagement Index was co-constructed with staff. `iMatter? consists of 25 Likert questions developed iteratively from the literature and a series of validation events with NHS Scotland staff. The aim of this study was to test the face, content and construct validity of iMatter."

IMatter: validation of the NHS Scotland Employee Engagement Index
A Snowden, E MacArthur
BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14:535  doi:10.1186/s12913-014-0535-z

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Tackling health inequalities: the case for investment in the wider public health workforce

"In this report we look at the evidence for engaging the ‘wider workforce’ and particularly the role of health trainers and champions in supporting behaviour change within their own communities, providing peer-to-peer support from a position of understanding and common ground. The investment in them is, in light of the economic cost of treating illness, money well spent."

Tackling health inequalities: the case for investment in the wider public health workforce
Royal Society for Public Health
June 2014

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Draft Health Education England research and innovation strategy

"This R&I Strategy addresses the research capacity and capability of our multi-professional workforce, for example through an academic career pathway for all healthcare professionals. It also addresses the importance of creating a workforce that is responsive to research and innovation and an education and training system that is evidence based." 

Research and Innovation Strategy: delivering a flexible workforce receptive to research and innovation 

Health Education England

HEE are accepting feedback on the strategy until 13th June 2014.

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Discrimination in governance and leadership and the potential impact on patient care

"Leadership bodies which are significantly unrepresentative of their local communities, such as NHS Trust Boards, will have more difficulty ensuring that care is genuinely patient centred – with resultant failings in the provision or quality of services to specific local communities that have particular health needs, including BME communities and patients."

The “snowy white peaks” of the NHS: a survey of discrimination in governance and leadership and the potential impact on patient care in London and England
R Kline
Middlesex University
2014

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Behavior change interventions when implementing multi-professional teamwork at an emergency department

"This study highlights how teamwork can be implemented and suggests that clear Direction (i.e. engaged management that is specific regarding both why and how teamwork should be performed, alignment between teamwork and other processes and initiatives) and allocation of resources for ongoing problem-solving and adaptation are important ingredients for effective implementation of teamwork."

Functions of behavior change interventions when implementing multi-professional teamwork at an emergency department: a comparative case study
M Frykman, H Hasson, ÅM Athlin, U von Thiele Schwarz
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14: 218

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Culture and leadership in the NHS

"A higher proportion of respondents now believe that the NHS is giving enough priority to quality of care compared with 2013, although these respondents are still the minority. The respondents provided a wealth of examples of how their organisations are developing compassionate care – including collective patient feedback, training and supporting staff."

Culture and leadership in the NHS: The King's Fund survey 2014
The King's Fund
May 2014

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Draft for consultation: safe staffing for adult inpatient nursing

"This guideline is primarily for use by NHS provider organisations or others who provide or commission services for NHS patients. It is aimed at healthcare boards, hospital managers, ward managers, healthcare professionals and commissioners. Those responsible and accountable for staffing for nursing in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals at organisational and at a ward level should take this guideline fully into account when exercising their professional judgement."

Feedback is being sought on this guideline until 6th June 2014.

Safe staffing for nursing in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals: NICE safe staffing guideline 
Draft for consultation, 12 May to 6 June 2014
May 2014

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Meeting the challenge: successful employee engagement in the NHS

"Engagement during times of change is vital in order to both inform decision-making and to ensure the buy-in of employees to the process. Through engaging with employees, trust can help unlock their potential for innovation, allowing them to make services safer, more effective and more efficient."

Meeting the challenge: successful employee engagement in the NHS
J Dromey
IPA
April 2014

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