toolkit

Caring Together Induction Pack: now available online

Caring Together Eastern CheshireThe new Caring Together Induction Pack is now available online.

The intention is to promote the pack to all new starters with health and social care organisations commissioning or providing services for the people of Eastern Cheshire. Organisations include third sector partners and providers of social housing.

For the avoidance of doubt, the pack is not relevant to employees involved exclusively in commissioning or providing services outside Eastern Cheshire. This pack is to be made available with immediate effect to new recruits, either salaried or voluntary.

At the end of every third month, a member of the Caring Together team will send managers a link to a brief online survey for new recruits to complete. This will enable them to measure awareness of the pack and the extent to which it is achieving its aim of improving understanding of Caring Together. Consultees will have the option to remain anonymous as the purpose of the survey is not to test individuals’ knowledge or pay attention to people who don’t answer all the questions correctly!

While the principal aim of the survey is to ensure that new starters are introduced to Caring Together as soon as practicable, the pack can also be shared with colleagues more widely. Reference copies of the pack are also available in the Staff Library (Top Floor, New Alderley House).

Many thanks to all in anticipation of your support for this important initiative to promote understanding of – and engagement in – our transformation programme.

New adult safeguarding improvement tool published

Click here for article

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The NHS Confederation has joined forces with four other leading national organisations to produce a new resource for those involved in adult safeguarding.

Overview

This improvement tool based on the Adult Safeguarding Standards has been refreshed in March 2015. It has been developed in partnership by:

  • Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)
  • Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)
  • Local Government Association (LGA)
  • NHS Confederation
  • NHS Clinical Commissioners

Developed by the sector, the key areas of focus have been used in numerous peer reviews and challenges and as a means of self-assessment. The characteristics of a well-performing and ambitious partnership are described, particularly in relation to the three key partners in safeguarding adults: the council, NHS and Police.

The Kings Fund: Acute oncology on the acute medical unit

This toolkit aims to improve the care of cancer patients admitted to hospital as an emergency with medical problems due to their cancer or their treatment. It stresses the importance of patients having access to cancer specialists as soon as possible, and suggests that NHS trusts set up acute oncology services, which can work with the team in the acute medical unit to help in the management of patients with acute oncology problems.

Acute oncology on the acute medical unit

Royal College of Physicians (RCP)

Acute oncology on the acute medical unit
This toolkit aims to improve the care of cancer patients admitted to hospital as an emergency with medical problems due to their cancer or their treatment. It stresses the importance of patients having access to cancer specialists as soon as possible, and suggests that NHS trusts set up acute oncology services, which can work with the team in the acute medical unit to help in the management of patients with acute oncology problems.

News from NHS Networks

NHS Networks requires free subscription before you can read any of the following articles in full.

Elearning: If you are looking for a less physically demanding alternative to gym membership in January, try our e-learning courses for practice managers looking to build a healthier, more robust business to meet the challenges of the new year.  There is a free course on CQC compliance, plus several courses on finance, employment and HR issues and primary care medical contracts.

Children and young people’s health and wellbeing in changing times
The NHS Confederation has published a report on the impact of the health reforms on children and young people’s health and wellbeing. Read more »

NHS Improvement turns spotlight on stroke
NHS Improvement has published Spotlight on Stroke.  Read more »

Health survey comes of age
The Health and Social Care Information Centre is running the annual health survey for England (HSE) for the twenty-first time.  Read more »

Action plan for improving the use of medicines and reducing waste
A report commissioned by the Department of Health looks at how the NHS is working to improve the use of medicines and tackle avoidable medicines wastage.  Read more »

Direct access to diagnostic imaging for cancer 
NHS Improvement has produced a document to help diagnostic imaging for cancer. Read more »

The health and social care ratings review  The Nuffield Trust has been commissioned by the secretary of state to review whether aggregate ratings of provider performance should be used in health and social care.  Read more »

National continence survey
The all party parliamentary group (APPG) for continence care is pushing to make integrated services more widely available to all age groups, and also to help break the taboo which prevents individuals seeking and receiving medical attention. Read more »

Key performance indicators for improving access to psychological therapies
Latest figures from the NHS Information Centre.  Read more »

Smoking campaign gets under way
The Department of Health has launched a new campaign to encourage smokers to quit in the new year.  Read more »

Making integrated out of hospital care a reality
This report discusses the foundations for integrated care for adults, children and young people, with a focus on implementing out of hospital care, and connecting primary, community and social care. Read more »

Primary care IT services operating model published The NHS Commissioning Board has published a document setting out how the management of IT systems will be organised for primary care providers (dentists, pharmacists and optometrists) from April 2013.  Read more »

New child abuse alert system for hospitals announced  Hospitals will have a new system to help doctors and nurses spot children suffering from abuse and neglect, Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter has announced.  Read more »

Lessons learned from the hospital pathways programme The hospital pathways programme aims to improve both processes of care and interactions between staff and patients through a collaborative programme involving five acute trusts, the King’s Fund and the Health Foundation to apply techniques, not widely used in the NHS.  Read more »

Allied health professionals bulletin – December 2012
December edition of the Allied health professionals bulletin.   Read more »

Cancer services coming of age report published   The cancer services coming of age report has been published.   Read more »

NHS funding transfer to local authorities
The Department of Health has written to the NHS Commissioning Board with provisional information on the transfer of £859m in 2013/14 to from the NHS to local authorities.  Read more »

Transforming end of life care in acute hospitals
A short report reflecting the views from a focus group complements progress reports from acute trusts involved in the transform programme pilot.
Read more »

NHS Commissioning Assembly: next steps
The NHS Commissioning Board has published further information about the NHS Commissioning Assembly, the community of leaders for NHS commissioning.  Read more »

Payment by results 2013/14 road test package   The road test exercise provides an opportunity for the service to test out the new tariff and supports the planning process. Read more »

Advance care planning toolkit   A team at the National End of Life Care Programme (NEoLCP) has developed an advance care planning toolkit to help care providers approach the planning process with confidence and knowledge.  Read more »

TARGET antibiotics toolkit

Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)

This toolkit aims to help clinicians and commissioners use antibiotics responsibly and meet CQC requirements. It has been developed by the RCGP and The Antimicrobial Stewardship in Primary Care (ASPIC) collaboration of professional societies including GPs, pharmacists, microbiologists, clinicians, guidance developers and other stakeholders. It includes: the HPA antibiotic guidance template which can be modified locally; patient information leaflets; self assessment check list for GPs and commissioners; audit tools with indicators of responsible antimicrobial use; and links to online clinical modules and other useful resources.

Newsletter for End of Life care

The National End of Life Care Programme newsletter has published its August newsletter.
From NHS Networks
The National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) has launched a toolkit to empower local people to push for the right end of life care services following reform of the health and social care system.

Toolkit for improving care for frail older people

This is the third in a series of acute care toolkits which aims to improve the care of the frail older patient.

The toolkit, produced in collaboration with the British Geriatrics Society, recommends procedures for both initial assessment on admission and later comprehensive geriatric assessment.

via NHS Networks at http://www.networks.nhs.uk/news/toolkit-for-improving-care-for-frail-older-people

Allied health professionals (AHP) QIPP toolkits

NHS Networks

 The Department of Health has identified potential savings and the opportunity to provide better care by involving more AHPs in patient care. This series of online tools aims to help the NHS identify how therapists can intervene at different stages of a patient’s condition to improve patient care whilst saving on costs. This first set of toolkits covers how AHPs can help to improve care for stroke; oral nutritional support; musculoskeletal care; cancer; and diabetes.

Improving safety in maternity services: a toolkit for teams

This toolkit is organised around five key areas for improvement in maternity care: teamworking; communication; training; information and guidance; and staffing and leadership. Each section begins with a brief explanation on how focusing on improvements in each area can contribute to improved safety. It then highlights some of the experiences of the maternity teams who focused on this issue and their key learning points. There are also short summaries of tools that can be used to improve safety.

The King’s Fund: Building Partnerships, Staying Safe

– the health sector contribution to HM Government’s Prevent strategy
These documents provide guidance and a toolkit for both healthcare organisations and frontline healthcare workers working with providing support and interventions for vulnerable individuals.

eLearning tools for long term conditions

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2011/07/ltc-e-learning/

There are a number of online resources available to help the NHS and social care workforce in their work with people suffering from long term conditions.

Please note you will need to register with the site provider to access these toolkits.

Care planning e-learning toolkit: A 90 minutes introduction in 3 modules to personalised care planning – what it is, how it can benefit patients and staff and the skills, approaches and behaviours needed for effective delivery. The tool also uses case studies to illustrate and has a separate workbook. It concludes with a learning assessment.

Self care e-learning toolkit: These three short modules are designed as an introduction to supporting people with long term conditions to self care. By the end of the learning, healthcare professionals will be able to understand their role in supporting people to self care, and the types of support that help people manage their condition and make informed choices about their health and care.

Information prescriptions e-learning toolkit: A 90 minute introduction to Information Prescriptions, and how they support people with LTCs to manage their condition. The 4 modules focus in the skills and competencies needed to asses and respond to individual patients’ needs for information through an information prescription.

End of life care e-learning toolkit: Aims to enhance the training and education of all those involved in delivering end of life care to people, so that well-informed high quality care can be delivered by confident and competent staff and volunteers, across health and social care.

Extract from Dept of Health

Kings Fund: Design approach to violence in A&E

Design Council

Reducing violence and aggression in A&E
According to the National Audit Office, violence and aggression towards frontline hospital staff is estimated to cost the NHS at least £69 million a year in staff absence, loss of productivity and additional security. This project aimed to use a design-led approach in order to help reduce violence in A&E departments.

Acute care toolkit 2: high quality acute care from RCP

Royal College of Physicians (RCP)

Acute care toolkit 2: high quality acute care
This toolkit focuses on the delivery of high-quality acute care, looking at current problem areas and factors threatening care delivery, and suggesting a range of recommendations for improving quality.The toolkit is accompanied by two appendices: the RCP position statement on out-of-hours care, and guidance notes on the provision of 12-hours-per-day, 7-days-per-week consultant care.

NHS Employers NHS equal pay toolkit

Extract from The Kings Fund: 9 August

The toolkit is designed to support employers by providing key information by pay bands which allows organisations to analyse their workforces in a number of different ways. It includes detailed guides on procedure, best practice examples and links to breakdowns of workforces within NHS organisations by age, disability, ethnicity, religion or belief, and sex or sexual orientation within pay bands.