National Dementia Strategy Launched

The first ever National Dementia Strategy is a landmark document that will transform the quality of dementia care. It sets out initiatives designed to make the lives of people with dementia, their carers and families better and more fulfilled. It will increase awareness of dementia, ensure early diagnosis and intervention and radically improve the quality of care that people with the condition receive. Proposals include the introduction of a dementia specialist into every general hospital and care home and for mental health teams to assess people with dementia.

Personalisation Discussion Paper

Personalisation and integration are set to be two of the biggest issues in 2009/10. With this in mind, the Integrated Care Network ran three workshops in Summer 2008 to explore the views of its members - what they thought the challenges where, what the terminology meant, were the issue had come from, and who was going to be doing what in 2009. This input, along with other updates along the way, has been used to create a discussion paper on personalisation. Access the other Care Services Improvement Networks (CSIP) here.

The role of the Primary Care Trust board in world class commissioning

The Department of Health have published a guide setting out the competencies and characteristics of PCT boards in their role as world class commissioners. The paper emphasises the vital role of the board in managing the strategic agenda to deliver better health outcomes, new partnership based models of commissioning and the right balance between co-operation and contestability for the benefit both of patients and tax-payers. The paper also acknowledges the challenges faced by the programme, including the separation of the commissioning and provider functions. Click here to download a copy of the guidance.

Reforming Care and Support: Learning from Japan

Counsel and Care the national charity, working with older people, their families and carers for the best care and support, calls for a care debate that recognises the global impact of an ageing population. The Government's forthcoming green paper on the future of care and support in England must look at how care for older people has been successfully reformed in other countries if it is going to have a real impact in the long term. Japan has the world's fastest ageing population, highest life expectancies (79 years for men and 85.8 for women in 2006 and a declining birthrate. The Japanese government's implementation of a national long-term care insurance system has ensured all Japanese older people get the care and support they need, despite the demographic timebomb. This experience should inform England's own long-awaited reform of social care. Read the full report from Counsel & Care here.

Falls Research Findings

This research demonstrated that being unable to get up was common, with 15% of falls leaving people lying for more than an hour, often despite access to call alarms. Severe cognitive impairment was the only predictor of prolonged time on the floor. Read the full report here. (BMJ 2008;337:a2227)

Learning from Extra-care Housing in Bradford

The aim of this study was to assess as accurately as possible the comparative cost before and after residents moved to a new extra-care housing scheme in Bradford. The importance of extra-care housing in the current policy context is illustrated by the level of financial investment. This report estimates comprehensive costs for each of the broad cost components (accommodation, social care, health services, living expenses and informal care), which together represent the weekly cost of a resident’s living arrangement; it interprets cost differences before and after the move in the context of outcomes and needs of residents; and it identifies a number of methodological implications for future studies.

Findings from a Study of Assistive Technology

This study has looked at how assistive technologies are being used as reminder systems for older people. Findings highlight the need for systems which can be operated intuitively, and the need to tailor findings to the individual preferences and behaviour of the user. Further information on assistive technology can be found in October's CSIP newsletter.

Leeds Palliative Care Education and Training Bulletin

This bulletin has an update on progress with palliative care education as well as future training opportunities. Find out more about palliative care in Leeds at http://www.leedspalliativecare.co.uk.

White Paper Consultation - Proposals for Legislative Change

The DH has recently published a consultation paper, on the future of pharmacy in England. NHS Employers will be drafting a joint response to the consultation with the NHS Confederation's PCT
Network and would be interested to hear your views on the proposals, in particular to the possible reforms regarding dispensing doctors.

For further information please click here

Telecare eNewsletter - August 2008

The CSIP Networks Telecare eNewsletter for August 2008 is now available.

Next Stage Review - Primary and Community Care Strategy Newsletter

Published on 2nd September the DH newsletter sets out the next steps on some of the key policies and programmes underpinning the vision for primary and community care. Read more here.

Assistive Technology and Older People

The latest research briefing from SCIE focuses on the ways in which assistive technology can be used by individuals, practitioners and organisations to meet the needs of older people. It is a priority that assistive technology should help people remain in their own homes and this briefing examines some of the claims about the benefits of assistive technology for people who use services and for health and social care organisations.

Leading Improvement: A Review of Research and Guidance

What do health care leaders need to do to stimulate and sustain successful improvements to their services? John Ovreteit from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, has just produced a very interesting evidence review on leadership of quality and improvement.

Incentives for Patient Safety: Holding Health Care Executives Accountable

The power of having top executives and governing boards of health care organizations committed to and accountable for quality improvement and safety has never been more clear. Read examples of vanguard hospitals that have embraced this strategy in an article featuring suggestions from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Jim Conway.

Caring In a Crisis: The Contribution of Social Care to Emergency Response and Recovery

The aim of this report has been to examine lessons learned around the contribution of voluntary and statutory social care services in the coordination and provision of psychosocial support following an emergency or major incident. The report is particularly interested in unpicking lessons learned from previous incidents as recounted in the research literature and through case study interviews. The key issues for this research are: the expected and actual roles of social care services in emergency planning, response, and recovery activities, the training and support needs of social care responders, how different organisations, and, indeed, different authorities, work together, how social care provision can best engage and utilise local communities in planning. Read the knowledge review and the appendices.

What is Social Marketing?

Developed by the DH in partnership with the National Social Marketing Centre this paper is succinctly written and sets out how social marketing is different from commercial marketing. You can download the social marketing document and associates policy documents here. The National Social Marketing Centre website is useful as they make available many presentations on social marketing and a variety of other resources.

10 Top Tips from Don Berwick

In his recent speech during the 60th birthday celebrations of the NHS President and CEO Institute for Healthcare Improvement USA Don Berwick offered top 10 tips for the NHS to get even better. Read his speech here.

The Protection of Vulnerable Adults List: An Investigation of Referral Patterns and Approaches to Decision-Making

In 2005, the Department of Health (DH) commissioned and funded Kings College London to undertake a review of the first 100 referrals to the POVA list and their research report was published on the DH website on 26 July 2005. DH also commissioned and funded this second phase of research to provide a more in-depth study aimed at exploring the factors leading to a placement on the POVA list, which addressed the following questions: what factors are associated with decisions to place referred staff onto the POVA list; are there any commonalities and any differences within a sample of referrals to the POVA list; and how are decisions being made about whether to place referred staff on the list? Read the summary and full reports.

Commissioning Housing Support for Health and Wellbeing

The purpose of this report is to help commissioners in health, local government and other public services to: increase the positive impact of commissioning on the health and wellbeing of their local populations by addressing housing support in their strategies; most effectively meet relevant Public Service Agreement (PSA)targets by building on existing expertise and systems; and increase joint working between health and local government and other sectors to achieve better services.

NHS Alliance Sets Out Integrated Care Framework

The NHS Alliance has set out a proposed framework for the new integrated care pilots announced in Lord Darzi's next stage review. Along with goals such as clinical quality and financial accountability, it recommends putting an emphasis on prevention and reduction of ill-health; promoting collaboration across primary, community and secondary care boundaries, and across health and social care boundaries; and requiring that proposals should cover the whole disease spectrum. Read the NHS Alliance summary document here.