World Alzheimer Report 2018: The State Of The Art Of Dementia Research: New Frontiers

This report looks at a broad cross section of research areas including basic science; diagnosis; drug discovery; risk reduction and epidemiology. With the continued absence of a disease modifying treatment, the report also features progress, innovation and developments in care research. It highlights an urgent need for increased and sustainable funding for dementia research.Read King's Fund blog here

Investigation into clinical correspondence handling in the NHS

This National Audit Office report outlines the findings of an investigation into the backlog of unprocessed clinical correspondence discovered by NHS England in October 2017. 

It sets out the responsibilities for redirecting clinical correspondence; the build-up of the backlog of clinical correspondence within Capita; and discusses the action taken by NHS England and Capita to investigate, understand and rectify the problem.

In and out of hospital

This report from the British Red Cross proposes introducing automatic home assessments and other simple interventions for elderly and vulnerable people who are often admitted to hospital to reduce avoidable hospital admissions in vulnerable patients. The report contains analysis of first-hand accounts of frontline health and care workers who argue that there are too many missed opportunities to prevent many of these avoidable admissions.

The risks to care quality and staff wellbeing of an NHS system under pressure

This report, written by the Picker Institute, in conjunction with The King's Fund, considers the relationships between the self-reported experiences and wellbeing of NHS staff, measures of workforce pressures in the health system, and patients’ experiences of their care. It uncovers striking associations between NHS staff and patients’ experiences in hospitals and NHS trusts’ reliance on agency health care workers.

Against the odds: successfully scaling innovation in the NHS

This report from the Innovation Unit and the Health Foundation explores the findings of a research project about how to scale innovation in the NHS. It examines 10 innovations that have spread over the past 20 years and lists a set of provocations to consider how these insights build on, and challenge, existing wisdom on how to scale innovation in the NHS.

2017 survey of women's experiences of maternity care

This CQC report finds that overall women reported positive experiences of maternity care over 2017 and  there were small incremental improvements in results across almost every question. Whilst there have been general improvements overall, the results highlight the need for better communication and greater patient choice.

5 years on: responses to Francis: changes in board leadership and governance in acute hospitals in England since 2013

This report, written by the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham in partnership with the University of Manchester and the Nuffield Trust, reveals that hospital boards report that they are placing a high priority on care quality and safety, and many invested significantly in nurse and medical staffing in the wake of the Francis Report. However, some hospital boards reported feeling that quality assurance as a pressure, as the demands of multiple external regulators was reported to sometimes feel burdensome, threatening to distract from a focus on the actual work of service improvements.

The nursing workforce

The Health Select Committee has published its nursing workforce inquiry.  This report highlights the importance of improving staff wellbeing and development to allow the NHS to retain the valuable experience and skills of its current nursing workforce.

Developing People - Improving Care: one year on

One year on from the launch of the Developing People- Improving Care, NHS Improvement highlights how leaders across health and social care have implemented the framework.

Lung cancer patients living for longer than ever

A new report published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) finds that more lung cancer patients are living for longer than ever, with 37% of patients alive at least 1 year after diagnosis compared to a rate of 31% in 2010.

The National Lung Cancer Audit (NLCA) 2017 annual report finds more cancers are being diagnosed at an earlier stage, with one in eight lung cancers found at the very earliest stage.

There has been a rise in diagnosis in patients aged over 70, the age group in which most lung cancer is present. There has been a rise of 5% more diagnoses in this age group since 2007.

Hidden hunger and malnutrition in the elderly

This report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger calls on the government to look more closely at malnutrition in older people which is estimated to cost the NHS and social care £15.7 billion a year by 2030. It argues that targeted investment in services which protect older people from malnutrition would deliver significant annual savings to the NHS, not least by reducing the number of hospital admissions and limiting the number of days older people spend in hospital.

State of child health: one year on

This report from the RCPCH warns that the current fragmented approach to child health poses risks to the long-term health of the nation.

Whilst the report acknowledges progress in some areas, such as the digital child health strategy and the implementation of the sugar tax, it argues that there has been a lack of improvement in several fundamental areas. It highlights the public health cuts as a particular area for concern and argues that the cuts are disproportionately affecting children's services.

Sustainability and transformation in the NHS

This report from the National Audit Office finds that additional funding, aimed to help the NHS get on a financially sustainable footing, has instead been spent on coping with existing pressures.

The report makes a number of recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement, which includes moving further and faster towards aligning nationwide incentives, regulation and processes, as well as reassessing how best to allocate the sustainability and transformation funding.

Thinking on its own: AI in the NHS

This report illustrates the areas where artificial intelligence (AI) could help the NHS become more efficient and deliver better outcomes for patients. It also highlights the main barriers to the implementation of this technology and suggests some potential solutions.

Accountable care organisations

This House of Commons briefing paper looks at the introduction of Accountable Care Organisations (ACO) in the NHS in England, the development of the ACO policy, and comment on its potential impact.

Using Community Partnerships to Integrate Health and Social Services for High-Need, High-Cost Patients

This briefing from the Commonwealth Fund examines the evidence on integrated community health and care services for patients with complex and multiple needs in the U.S. It identifies the five common challenges to implementing an integrated approach successfully and outlines solutions for these challenges.

New RPS briefing on hospital pharmacy in England

There are approximately 7,000 pharmacists in hospitals and 16,000 pharmacy staff whose practice is being transformed by the outcomes of the Carter Review on hospital efficiencies and other NHS initiatives.

RPS England’s new Hospital Pharmacy Briefing provides a summary of the major activities affecting pharmacists with key points to help clarify what’s going on and what it means.

Falling short: Why the NHS is still struggling to make the most of new innovations

The idea that the NHS is slow to adopt seemingly well-evidenced innovations is not new and, for the most part, is accepted as fact. The reasons for this have been extensively studied. Last year, the Accelerated Access Review set out the barriers once again – proposing a number of useful solutions that, if implemented as envisaged, could go a long way to improving the situation.  Report from the Nuffield Trust.

Admissions of inequality: emergency hospital use for children and young people

Does a child's socioeconomic background have an effect on rates of admissions to hospital for common conditions such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy?  Report from the Nuffield Trust.

Experiences of older people using services affected by fragmentation across local health and care systems, warns CQC

Those working within health and adult social care services are passionate about providing the best possible experience to the older people within their care.

However, their efforts can be compromised by the competing priorities, performance measures and accountabilities of their employing organisations. Collectively, this can limit choice and can make movement between services seem confusing and fragmented.

This is one the key themes the CQC has found, having completed a third of its Government-commissioned reviews that explore how well local systems work together to support and care for people aged over 65.