Coproduction of healthcare service

"In our efforts to improve healthcare service, we have often inadvertently approached the work as though healthcare was a ‘good’ produced by healthcare professionals. Recognising that healthcare service is a ‘service’ coproduced by patients and health professionals invites four clusters of opportunity for action."

Coproduction of healthcare service
M Batalden, P Batalden, P Margolis, M Seid, G Armstrong, L Opipari-Arrigan, H Hartung
BMJ Qual Saf 2016;25:509-517 doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004315

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.

How safe is primary care?

"Improving patient safety is at the forefront of policy and practice. While considerable progress has been made in understanding the frequency, causes and consequences of error in hospitals, less is known about the safety of primary care."

How safe is primary care? A systematic review
S Singh Panesar et al.
BMJ Qual Saf 2016;25:544-553 doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004178

Read more here.

Outpatient services and primary care: scoping review, substudies and international comparisons

"There is little conclusive evidence on the cost-effectiveness of the provision of more care in the community. In developing new models of care for the NHS, it should not be assumed that community-based care will be cheaper than conventional hospital-based care. Possible reasons care in the community may be more expensive include supply-induced demand and addressing unmet need through new forms of care and through loss of efficiency gained from concentrating services in hospitals."

Outpatient services and primary care: scoping review, substudies and international comparisons 
E Winpenny, C Miani, E Pitchforth, S Ball, E Nolte, S King, et al.
Health Services Delivery Research 2016;4(15)

Read more here.

Stopping Over-Medication of People with Learning Disabilities

"The goal is to improve the quality of life of people with a learning disability by reducing the potential harm of inappropriate psychotropic drugs that may be used wholly inappropriately, as a “chemical restraint” to control challenging behaviour, in place of other more appropriate treatment options. It is time for action, it is time for you to lead a medication review of all people with a learning disability, with a view to implementing a planned supervised dose reduction and stopping of inappropriate psychotropic drugs"

Stopping Over-Medication of People with Learning Disabilities (toolkit): Reducing inappropriate psychotropic drugs in people with a learning disability in general practice and hospitals in 2016
NHS England
June 2016

Access the toolkit here.

Commissioning for Value Focus Packs

"These focus packs provide more detailed information on those highest spending programmes previously covered by the earlier Commissioning for Value packs. The areas covered are: cancer; the CVD family of conditions including renal, stroke and diabetes; maternity and early years; mental health and dementia; musculoskeletal and trauma; neurology; and respiratory. The packs include a wider range of outcome measures and information on the most common procedures and diagnoses for the condition in question. They help CCGs begin work on phase two of the RightCare approach ‘What to Change’ by using indicative data to identify improvement opportunities."

There are two Commissioning for Value focus packs available for each CCG:

• Cancer, Mental health and dementia, MSK and trauma – May 2016
• CVD, Neurological, Respiratory, Maternity – April 2016

Find out more and access the packs here.

Dementia and housing: An assessment tool for local commissioning

"Commissioned by Public Health England ... this self-assessment tool focuses on local commissioning processes and decision-making. The main principle being applied in this tool is that all available assets and resources need to be combined, both to create the conditions that reduce the risk of developing dementia, and to develop a framework of support to help those with dementia, their families and carers, to have as good a quality of life as possible."

Dementia and housing: An assessment tool for local commissioning
Housing Learning & Improvement Network
May 2016

Read more here.