“Care needs to be just as important as treatment” says report

Pathway through a forest

This practical guidance has been written to help commissioners, service providers, nurses, medical, and allied health professionals, understand the difference care and compassion can make to the service experience of frail older people, and also to the financial situation of health and social care organisations. The guide covers the following themes: Reducing healthcare-related harm Care [read the full story…]

Improve local community mental health services using this framework

Shape of a head filled with cogs

This work, developed by accountancy firm Mazars LLP, has been commissioned by NHS Confederation and Strategic Health Authority Mental Health Leads. It is a diagnostic tool aimed at mental health commissioners working for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), helping them to identify where the gaps are in their local service provision and what they need to [read the full story…]

Primary care must change to meet needs of population, says report

Hand holding a glowing lightbulb

The King’s Fund has just published this report, which describes how the health and social care workforce are coming up with new models for delivering primary care, to support the “current system of commissioning”. The report is aimed at commissioners, GP staff, and related stakeholders, including social care and local authorities, and promotes improved liaison [read the full story…]

Liaison Psychiatry for all!!

chicken

When I am not being an elf, I am very proud to work within Liaison Psychiatry and to be actively developing Liaison services across Kent and Medway. For those of you who haven’t come across Liaison before,  we work within the overlapping area between physical health and mental health, so dealing with physical health problems and [read the full story…]

Effective diabetes service models should be commissioned to reduce diabetes admissions

Sphere full of words to do with diabetes and health care.

This document is aimed at clinical commissioning groups, health care planners, hospital senior managers, and clinical teams in primary and secondary care. It is an amalgamation of good practice examples where diabetes services have improved, with bed occupancy and costs being reduced. There is a specific focus on elderly, diabetic patients, and other similarly vulnerable [read the full story…]

“Voluntary and independent sectors can participate in the delivery of commissioning support”, says report

Hand sharing love

This report is about how the voluntary and independent sectors can support the commissioning process, and is aimed at them, the clinical commissioning groups, and the commissioning support units. Key elements The key required commissioning support elements, as described in Figure 1 of this report, include: Health needs assessment, using the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment [read the full story…]

“The links between poor health and reoffending have been long understood” according to agreement

Prisoner behind bars

This is a very important document, particularly for commissioners, prison health professionals, and prison workers because it is trying to overcome the vicious circle that faces offenders when they leave prison, which is finding housing and employment while maintaining their health and re-integrating back into society. Alcohol, drug misuse, other addictions, and mental health issues are [read the full story…]

“Decision-makers need to think differently about how to commission long-term condition services” says study

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The aim of this paper, written for commissioners, managers, and health decision-makers, was to look at how commissioning works for people with long-term conditions such as dementia. The authors carried out a multisite mixed methods case study research, involving three ‘commissioning communities’ and using interviews, documents, and meeting observations to reach their conclusions. A commissioning [read the full story…]

“Carers can help commissioners meet financial targets”, according to report

Hands holding hands protectively

Carers are integral to health care improvement. This report highlights evidence that shows “the economic value of the contribution they make is £119bn per year”. However, without support, carers can feel isolated, depressed, and may be living in poor financial circumstances, which can lead to poor health for the carer too. The problem health and [read the full story…]

Framework to help commissioners make fair resource allocation decisions

Wooden framework for a house

This paper describes the development of a framework to help commissioners make effective decisions with regards to local resource allocation decisions. The aim is to reduce variation in prescribing patterns across England, also known as the ‘postcode lottery.’ While the framework was originally developed by the former National Prescribing Centre, which is now the Medicines [read the full story…]