Six areas Healthwatch wants NHS England to focus on in 2018

Using the views you have shared, find out what six areas Healthwatch has told the Government that NHS England should focus on over the next year to improve health and social care for people.

1. Improving public involvement in changes to local services
2. Using people’s experiences of leaving hospital as a way of measuring how well services are working together
3. Demonstrating how learning from feedback is improving care
4. Increasing focus on the evaluation of mental health services
5. Shifting the focus of NHS targets to take greater account of people's experiences
6. Tackling access issues in NHS dentistry

Transportation and the role of hospitals

This report from the American Hospital Association explores the role of hospitals and health systems in addressing patient transport issues. It includes four case studies on hospitals and health systems in the US and their interventions to reduce transportation barriers in their communities.

Cataract rationing survey reveals 66% of responding eye units have some restrictions to access surgery

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) has undertaken a survey of ophthalmic clinical leads to understand how the current situation of visual acuity thresholds and other imposed restrictions are affecting access to cataract surgery. Of 140 leads contacted in England and Northern Ireland, 87 replied, a response rate of 62%.

Download a summary of the key findings: Cataract surgery: current limitations to patients accessing treatment

Accelerated access scheme means patients will get new treatments faster

The government has announced a new fast-track route into the NHS for “breakthrough” medicines and technologies. This will speed up the time it takes for patients to benefit from ground-breaking products for conditions such as cancer, dementia and diabetes.

From April 2018, the new ‘accelerated access pathway’ will mean products with the greatest potential to change lives could be available up to 4 years earlier. It will be done by reducing the time it takes to negotiate evaluation and financial approvals before the NHS can purchase the products.

Supporting women with learning disabilities to access cervical screening

This information, originally developed in North Tyneside, and published by Public Health England, is to support women with learning disabilities to access cervical screening.

People with learning disabilities: making reasonable adjustments

These guides, recently updated by Public Health England, explain why reasonable adjustments must be made to health services and what adjustments help people with learning disabilities access services.

First two trusts meet milestone of all electronic NHS referrals

Two hospital trusts and their referring GP practices have become the first in the country to adopt a digital process for booking patient hospital appointments. Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust are now processing all of their hospital referral appointments electronically via the NHS e-Referral Service. Patients are also able to change or cancel their appointments through the system with analysis showing that use of electronic referrals has halved the rate of patients missing appointments from 10% to 5%.

Health Secretary challenges NHS to deliver digital services nationwide

By the end of 2018 – the 70th birthday year of the NHS – the Health Secretary said he expects every patient in England to be able to do the following online through an app:

• access NHS 111
• access their healthcare record
• book a GP appointment
• order repeat prescriptions
• express their organ donation preferences
• express their data sharing preferences
• access support for managing a long term condition

Elective care: model access policy

The purpose of this policy from NHS England is to ensure all patients requiring access to outpatient appointments, diagnostics and elective inpatient or day-case treatment are managed in line with national waiting time standards and the NHS Constitution.

The north-south NHS divide: how where you are not what you need dictates your care

This report, from the Medical Technology Group, outlines the findings of an examination of data from 209 CCGs to assess patient access to medical technology. It finds wide variation in access between the north and south of England and argues that CCG performance against access indicators should be made clearer to patients.

Barometer on change 2017

This report, from Morehouse Consulting, examines the challenges faced by service leaders and finds that the pressure for organisations to meet customer demands is at a high. Technological innovation has changed the expectations of customers and also raised the bar for quality of services and products. The report looks across all sectors of the service market and highlights industry-specific challenges for the health and care sector and the pharmaceutical sector.

The state of the NHS provider sector

This report from NHS Providers details the results of an annual survey of NHS trust chairs and chief executives and it sets out how the provider sector is performing, the challenges trusts are facing, and the support they need as we face another five years of constrained funding and rapidly rising demand.

People with learning disabilities: making reasonable adjustments

These guides explain why reasonable adjustments must be made to services and what adjustments help people with learning disabilities access services.  They have recently been updated.

NICE says patients accessing more cancer drugs following price drops

Patients will have routine access to more cancer drugs as companies have dropped their prices as part of the reformed Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) process.

Financial Sustainability Of The NHS

This report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee highlights concerns that the focus on action to restore financial stability is affecting patients’ access to services and their experience of care, and warns of the potentially damaging consequences of "repeated raids" on investment funds to meet day-to-day spending.

Guide To Cancer Early Diagnosis

This guide from the World Health Organization aims to help policy makers and programme managers facilitate timely diagnosis and improve access to cancer treatment for all. It identifies two distinct strategies to ensure early detection: early diagnosis to identify symptomatic cancers as early as possible; and screening to identify cancers before symptoms appear in healthy individuals.

Hip and knee replacements to be rationed in west midlands

Three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the West Midlands have proposed reducing the number of people who qualify for knee replacements by 19%, and hip replacements by 12% to meet efficiency savings targets.

To qualify for the hip and knee replacements in the three CCG areas, patients would have to suffer from such severe levels of pain that they could not sleep or carry out routine tasks.

Improving access to psychological therapy services

NHS Improvement and NHS England have published Developing an outcomes-based payment approach for IAPT services (pdf). This guidance supports providers and commissioners to develop and implement an outcomes-based payment approach for improving access to psychological therapy services. For 2017/19, NHS Improvement has changed the local pricing rules to require commissioners and providers of IAPT services to adopt an outcomes-based payment approach from April 2018.

NHS England launches new measures to help GPs and patients access the care they need

A world-first nationally funded service to support GPs and GP trainees suffering mental ill-health and addiction goes live next week while 11 areas have been chosen to pilot new ways of retaining GPs who are considering leaving the profession so their skills can continue benefitting patients.

From Monday January 30, the NHS GP Health Service will provide confidential mental health support for GPs and GP trainees suffering from mental ill-health and addiction.

Improving access to social care for adults with autism

This guide helps people in the health and social care sector who work with adults with autism to increase their awareness, knowledge and understanding. Autism is a lifelong developmental disorder, referred to as a ‘spectrum condition’ since some people with autism have profound difficulties and require specialist support, while others live largely independent lives