COMMISSIONING

Currency options for the Healthy Child Programme: Transforming Community Services (11th March 2010)
Community services have historically been funded on block contracting arrangements, making it difficult for commissioners to identify what services are being delivered and pay for them appropriately. The publication, Currency and pricing options for community services (DH, January 2009) signalled the need to develop more effective ways of paying for services which reward quality and productivity, and encourage activity which reflects local priorities.

This latest publication is a tool for commissioners of community services that contribute to the first five years of the universal Healthy Child Programme (HCP). Commissioners can use this to develop a more transparent approach to paying for these services. The development of better ways of paying for services will reward quality and productivity, and encourage activity which promotes the aims and outcomes of the HCP.
Document

World Class Commissioning - March 2010 update (18th March 2010)
Monthly progress report on the World Class Commissioning Programme
Update

Successful Commissioning: How to secure value for money through better financial relationships with third sector organisations (17th March 2010)
The National Audit Office has launched this online guide which focuses on those aspects of the commissioning process that are most likely to affect financial relationships with third sector organisations. It looks at how commissioners can help the third sector to deliver services and outcomes that represent value for money. The main characteristics of the guide are that it:

• clearly sets out the main issues for effective financial relationships with third sector organisations;
• makes use of existing guidance in an accessible and practical way, and;
• dispels some of the ‘myths’ that exist around commissioning with the third sector.

Guide

PRESENTATIONS - Commissioning for health services. Your questions answered. (18th March 2010)
The presentations from this event, that was held on 17th March 2010 at the Stobart Stadium, Widnes, are now available.
Presentations

Valuing people now: transfer of funding and commissioning of social care for adults with learning disabilities from the NHS to local government: final returns 2010/11 by 31 March 2010 (18th March 2010)
From April 2009, funding and commissioning of social care for adults with learning disabilities transferred from the NHS to local authorities. This letter to PCT and Local Authority lead commissioners gives guidance on implementation and requests final returns for 2010/11 by Wednesday 31 March 2010.
Documents

DRUGS

Tackling problem drug use (4th March 2010)
A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) into government action to tackle problem drug use has concluded that there has been good progress in a number of areas, including an increasing number of problem drug users in effective treatment and an increasing number leaving treatment free from dependency.
Report

NHS

Review of the Mary Seacole Scholarship Awards (11th February 2010)
This review provides a robust evaluation which demonstrates that the Mary Seacole Scholarship Awards remains fit for purpose and are achieving its intending goal which are to enhance the development of future leaders in the NHS and improve black and minority ethnic patient experience
Review

Access to health services for military veterans: priority treatment (9th February 2010)

This letter advises of the guidance in place to ensure that military veterans receive priority access to NHS secondary care, for any conditions which are likely to be related to their service subject to the clinical needs of all patients.
Information

Delivering same-sex accommodation: self declaration (8th February 2010)
This letter introduces the declaration process for all providers of NHS funded care. Monitor will be introducing similar reporting requirements for NHS Foundation Trusts. The accompanying information has been developed to help provider organisations to determine their position.
Information

Major trauma care in England (5th England 2010)
There is unacceptable variation in major trauma care in England depending upon where and when people are treated, according to a National Audit Office report published today. Care for patients who have suffered major trauma, for example following a road accident or a fall, has not significantly improved in the last 20 years despite numerous reports identifying poor practice, and services are not being delivered efficiently or effectively.
Report

Learning from the best: what the NHS needs to do to implement high quality care for all (15th February 2010)
A new Health Services Management Centre (HSMC) paper, written in conjunction with the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, sets out how the NHS can learn from high performing health organisations in the delivery of quality. The paper draws on discussions at a two-day seminar which brought together NHS leaders and researchers to explore the evidence from a range of international and UK studies.

Key messages from Chris Ham's paper, include: the need for an integrated approach, with quality as the business strategy; alignment across organisations - the emphasis being whole system thinking and working; and stable and sustainable leadership, which is dispersed throughout organisations and which emphasises strong clinical leadership.
Paper

STROKE

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW: Antiepileptic drugs for the primary and secondary prevention of seizures after stroke (20th January 2009)
Seizures after stroke are an important clinical problem, and they may be associated with poor outcome. The aim of this review was to assess the effects of antiepileptic drugs for the primary and secondary prevention of seizures after stroke. Currently, there is insufficient evidence to support the routine use of antiepileptic drugs for the primary or secondary prevention of seizures after stroke.
Systematic Review

Department of Health: Progress in improving stroke care (3rd February 2010)
Amyas Morse, Head of the National Audit Office, says "Care for people who have had a stroke has significantly improved since we reported in 2005. The publication and early implementation of the stroke strategy have begun to make a real difference and have helped to put in place the right mechanisms to bring about these improvements. There is still work to be done though: the poorer performers must be dragged up to the same standard as the best, so that the gains that have been made are sustained and value for money improved further. The Department should focus on ensuring that health, social care and employment services are working together much more effectively."
Document

MENTAL HEALTH

Keeping children and young people in mind: the Government's full response to the independent review of CAMHS (7th January 2010)
The full Government response to the final report of the independent CAMHS review, setting out progress to date and plans for the future of children and young people's mental health. The response also gives examples of the outcomes expected from a good service as an aid for commissioners, providers and practitioners.
Response

Improving dementia services in England - an interim report (14th January 2010)
The Department of Health has developed an ambitious and comprehensive strategy for dementia. However, there has not yet been a robust approach to implementation, according to a National Audit Office report published today. Despite the Department stating, since 2007, that dementia is now a national priority, it has not been given the levers or urgency normally expected for such a priority and there is a risk that value for money will remain poor unless these weaknesses are addressed urgently.
Report

SEXUAL HEALTH

Review of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (12th November 2009)
In December 2008, the Department of Health asked Dr Ruth Hussey, Regional Director of Public Health in the North West, to review the impact of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme and whether the programme is achieving its aims. Dr Hussey's report makes comments on the current programme arrangements, support and drive for delivery. The report is for information so that the NHS can benefit from awareness of the recommendations. We will take forward the recommendations in conjunction with the Public Accounts Committee recommendations that will be published early next year.
Report

Young People's sexual health: the National Chlamydia Screening Programme (12th November 2009)
The delivery of the Government’s programme to control chlamydia infection in young people to date has not demonstrated value for money, a report by the National Audit Office found today. The Department of Health implemented the Programme in three phases. In 2008-09, six years after the Programme’s launch, testing levels were only just beginning to reach the point where they are likely to significantly reduce the prevalence of chlamydia. The devolved delivery, through Primary Care Trusts, has resulted in duplication and inefficiency.
Report

HEALTH SERVICES

Services for people with rheumatoid arthritis (15th July 2009)
Too many people with rheumatoid arthritis are not being diagnosed or treated quickly enough, and some services for people with the disease are not coordinated enough, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office. Delay in treatment is detrimental to patients’ health, their quality of life and, with three quarters of people of working age when diagnosed, the economy. The estimated cost to the economy of sick leave and work-related disability for people with rheumatoid arthritis is £1.8 billion a year.
Report

Improving Eye Health Services (17th July 2009)
This document is part of the ongoing Primary Care and Community Strategy to support the NHS in relation to World Class Commissioning and focuses on eye health services. It provides practical advice on how PCTs can: assess their current performance; identify their vision for the future and commission services that meet the needs of their local communities.
Guidance

WORKFORCE/WORKPLACE

Train to Gain: Developing the skills of the workforce (21st July 2009)
At a cost of £1.47 billion by March 2009, Train to Gain had supported employer-focused training for over one million learners, and had developed a skills brokerage service with which a majority of employers was satisfied. But while Train to Gain has achieved undoubted benefits for employers, the National Audit Office (NAO) has concluded that over its full lifetime the programme has not provided good value for money.
Report

INFECTION CONTROL

Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections in Hospitals in England (12th June 2009)
The Department of Health has met its target to reduce MRSA bloodstream infections by 50 per cent by 2008 and has made encouraging progress towards its target to reduce Clostridium difficile infections, according to a National Audit Office report published today. However, blood stream infections due to other causes may be increasing. There is also no national data that captures information on some of the most common healthcare associated infections, such as urinary tract infections and pneumonia.
Report

MENTAL HEALTH

Supporting people with autism through adulthood (5th June 2009)
Estimates are that there are around 400,000 adults in England with autism, yet most NHS organisations and local authorities do not know how many people with autism there are in the areas they serve and ¾ of local authorities do not have a specific commissioning strategy for adults with autism, the National Audit Office (NAO) reported.

Government departments and local health and social care organisations do not have enough information on numbers of adults with autism. They also lack a full understanding and awareness of the condition, limiting their ability to plan and deliver services effectively.
Documents

PRESCRIBING

Prescribing savings in 2008 (12th May 2009)
In 2007, the National Audit Office (NAO) published Prescribing costs in primary care, which was accompanied by a table setting out potential savings that Primary Care Trust (PCT) could achieve. At the end of 2008 NAO commissioned Keele University's Department of Medicines Management to calculate the actual savings achieved. PCTs, in England, achieved total savings in 2008 of £394 million.
Information

CARE/CARERS

Individual budgets pilot projects: impact and outcome for carers (26th February 2009)
This research is one of two reports to inform development of personal and individual budgets. The first, published on 21 October 2008, examined the impact of individual budgets on service users. This report, published 26 February 2009, was commissioned by the Department of Health to examine the impacts on and outcomes for carers.
Report

Options for care funding: What could be done now? (4th March 2009)
Many experts, the public and the Government agree that the UK needs a new care funding system: evidence shows that the present system is unfair, unclear and unsustainable. This summary updates a Solutions produced in 2007, and suggests four costed, fairer and more sustainable methods of funding including:

• equity release, allowing older homeowners to pay for home-based care by deferring the costs until their home is sold;
• higher capital limits for care home fees to help those with modest assets;
• doubling the personal expenses allowance for people living in care homes supported by local authorities; and
• restructuring help for people in nursing homes, breaking down the barrier between health and social care.

Summary

Supporting Carers to Care (26th February 2009)
This report, from the National Audit Office, has found that although the majority of carers who receive benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are satisfied with the support they receive, at least a fifth have difficulties in applying for Carer's Allowance.
Report