Updated guidance on the fit and proper person requirement

The CQC has updated its guidance on Regulation 5 - the fit and proper persons requirement for directors.

This is to reflect the changes outlined in our recent ‘next phase of regulation’ consultation. The guidance provides a more detailed explanation of what CQC interprets as serious mismanagement and serious misconduct. It also offers greater clarity about the obligations and responsibilities of those holding director roles.

The medical director induction guide: supporting recently appointed medical directors

NHS Improvement has partnered with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management to produce a guide to support recently appointed medical directors.

The non-executive director’s guide to NHS data – Part one: Hospital activity, data sets and performance

A ‘data revolution’ across health and care services in England is vital if local areas are to transform the way care is delivered, the NHS Confederation has said.

Encouraging organisations to ‘get to the heart of their data’, the NHS Confederation has launched a new series of guides to help board members to better understand data across the healthcare system and its role in transforming care.

Making the case for quality improvement: lessons for NHS boards and leaders

This report by The King's Fund has been co-authored with The Health Foundation.

• The NHS is facing significant financial and operational pressures, with services struggling to maintain standards of care. Now, more than ever, local and national NHS leaders need to focus on improving quality and delivering better-value care. All NHS organisations should be focused on continually improving quality of care for people using their services. This includes improving the safety, effectiveness and experience of care.
• Quality improvement – the use of methods and tools to continuously improve quality of care and outcomes for patients – should be at the heart of local plans for redesigning NHS services. NHS leaders have a vital role to play in making this happen – leadership and management practices have a significant impact on quality. Studies have shown that board commitment to quality improvement is linked to higher-quality care, underlining the leadership role of boards in this area.
• Improving quality and reducing costs are sometimes seen as conflicting aims when they are in fact often two sides of the same coin. There are many opportunities in the NHS to deliver better outcomes at lower cost (improving value), for example by reducing unwarranted variations in care and addressing overuse, misuse and underuse of treatment. There are many examples across the NHS showing that even relatively small-scale quality improvement initiatives can lead to significant benefits for patients and staff, while also delivering better value.
• The potential benefit is even greater if quality improvement techniques are applied consistently and systematically across organisations and systems. However, this is not currently the case. To deliver the changes that are needed to sustain and improve care, the NHS needs to move from pockets of innovation and isolated examples of good practice to system-wide improvement.

In this briefing, we outline 10 lessons for NHS leaders. These provide a starting point for leaders seeking to embed quality improvement in their work.

The latest from NHS Improvement's improvement hub

NHS Improvement is continuing to add resources to its improvement hub. Here's some of the most recent:

• Medway NHS Foundation Trust: orthopaedics handover
• How do boards govern for quality improvement?
• Supporting junior doctors in safe prescribing
• Learning disability and human rights

Boards required to designate executive with data security responsibility

Every NHS board in England will be required to designate an executive board member responsible for data and cyber security, under government plans to bolster data security and increase cyber resilience across the health and care sector. 

The move forms part of a new requirement for chief executives to issue an annual ‘statement of resilience’ detailing the action their organisation is taking to meet the ten data security standards recommended in Dame Fiona Caldicott’s review into data security, consent and opt-outs.

NHS Women On Boards: 50:50 By 2020

This report from NHS Employers examines the steps the NHS needs to take to reach the target of equal gender representation on boards by 2020.

What’s Stopping You Appointing A Patient Director? An open letter to all healthcare organisations

Very few organisations employ a patient director, a senior executive responsible for turning all the rhetoric about involvement and patient-centred care into reality.

In an open letter to healthcare chief executives, David Gilbert, patient director at Sussex MSK Partnership, asks what’s stopping other organisations from following suit.  

Very Senior Manager (VSM) update

NHS Improvement's 21 December 2016 bulletin advised that a national VSM framework is in development. 

Pending publication of this framework, this interim guide provides advice to NHS trusts seeking executive VSM salary approval and to foundation trusts seeking VSM salary opinion.

Transformational change through system leadership (TCSL)

The TCSL programme is for senior teams from health and care systems who are actively engaged in delivering system-wide transformational change. It offers the opportunity to build personal and team capabilities in transformational change whilst putting theory into practice.