Health inequalities team publishes resource manual

The health inequalities national support team (HINST) has published a resource manual containing a range of information, resources and tools, including a series of 'how to' guides and 'masterclass' reports. The manual has been built around good practice identified from the visits undertaken so far, that are expected to make an impact on mortality in a short timescale if delivered at a sufficient scale. The manual can be downloaded from the DH website.

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primary care commissioning guide targets the socially excluded

The seventh in the series of guides from the Department of Health's primary care and community services team - entitled Inclusion Health: Improving Primary Care for Socially Excluded People - is now available. The full list of titles is here.

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Integrated care pilots expansion

Following successes in the original 16 integrated care pilots, the programme has been expanded to encourage and facilitate the sharing of knowledge among a wider range of stakeholders and identify further initiatives. The DH is inviting potential participants to submit their completed self-assessment forms. Further guidance on the submission process is available from the DH website.

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Efficiency savings - NHS Evidence

Linking quality and productivity is an important challenge for the NHS if it is to reach its target of £15-20 billion in efficiency savings by 2014.The Department of Health's Quality and Productivity project has been designed to help NHS organisations make the necessary savings without compromising quality of care and services. As part of this initiative NHS Evidence now has a dedicated section NHS Evidence – Quality and Productivity, which gives access to evidence on how to improve quality and productivity within the NHS, including examples of innovative local practices. Content covers best available evidence, tools and techniques, measurement, case-studies and policy on all aspects of innovation and improvement.

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NHS Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Innovation Funds

A Regional Innovation Fund, funded by the Department of Health, is being made available to support innovation and the spread of best practice across the region. The fund consists of £1.94 million in 2009/10 and £5 million a year for the following four years, subject to annual confirmation from the Department of Health.

Applications for funding are invited from NHS clinicians, managers, frontline teams and partners in support of innovation across Yorkshire and the Humber. Successful projects might include new ways of delivering services, new technologies or new ways of spreading existing innovation or best practice. Click here for further information.

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Help us help you to breathe more easily

Help shape plans to improve the health and wellbeing of people with COPD and asthma. The Department of Health is developing a national strategy for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in England, working with the British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK. The strategy is due to be launched next year and is designed to help improve patients' health and well-being. The strategy covers better prevention and changing behaviour for those at risk, diagnosis and treatment, through to better care for people with COPD at the end of life. It will also highlight the similarities and differences between the diagnosis and care of COPD and asthma. The views, insight, and experiences of people with COPD and asthma and their carers are needed to ensure that the plans in the strategy meet their needs. The event is being held on 30th November 2009 at the Thorpe Park Hotel, Leeds. Click here to book your place.

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Commercial and procurement skills for commissioners of children's services

It is vital that commissioners of children's services have access to the commercial and procurement skills needed to develop markets and procure services effectively. These guidance documents from the epartment of Health are designed to help commissioners understand and apply commercial and procurement skills in their work. The documents cover the key principles of procurement, an overview of both strategic procurement and the contracting process, an overview of resource mapping and a basic jigsaw tool designed to help commissioners understand the key principles of change management.

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New DH guidance on substance misuse published

Until now there has been no formal guidance to help clinicians to manage substance dependence among young people. This has left practitioners concerned that their practice may not accord with the developing evidence base. A new guidance document, published by the Department of Health, describes good practice on the best ways to manage a clinically complex condition.

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National Dementia Strategy Commissioning Conference

The DH National Dementia Strategy Implementation Team is hosting a commissioning conference on October 6 2009 in Central London.
Confirmed speakers include David Behan, DH, Director General responsible for the NDS, Gary Belfield, DH Director General responsible for commissioning. Workshops will be held on:
Assessing need, managing performance, Mental Health Payment by Results, Commissioning from a providers perspective.
More workshops to be confirmed. This event is open to commissioners in PCTs and Local Authorities. Registration is password protected. Please contact Rose.agyemang@dh.gsi.gov.uk to access the password.

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DH seeks views of commissioners of health and wellbeing

The primary care and community services team at the Department of Health is preparing a guide to commissioning health and wellbeing services, which will look at, among others, practical measures of support for commissioners. The DH PCCS team is running an online survey to seek the views of primary care and practice-based commissioners.

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Working Together For Change: Using Person-Centred Information for Commissioning

The Department of Health worked with a group of councils, providers, community organisations and people using services to test and refine a method for collating and analysing person-centred information for use in strategic commissioning. We called this process Working together for change.
This practical guide describes a process for planning change with people which provides powerful insights into what is working and not working in their lives as well as their aspirations for the future.
Working together for change can be used to ensure that active partnerships with local people and families are the driving force behind social care transformation programmes, as a vehicle for ensuring effective community engagement in the joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA) and as a tool for strategic commissioning and service development. Click here for further information.

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Good governance guidance published for PCT provider committees

The Appointments Commission and the Department of Health have published guidance to help PCTs with their governance arrangements for provider committees.
Provider committees are a committee of a PCT board, overseeing the operations of a PCT's provider arm. Governance Arrangements to Support PCT Provider Committees sets out core principles that should underpin the committee's membership and make-up.

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Working with Older Prisoners

The Nacro and Department of Health Working with Older Prisoners pack was created so that peer support workers, disability liaison officers, older offender and wing officers could use its contents to implement good practice ideas and set up activities in their establishments for older prisoners. It is also intended to act as a useful reference on different organisations to encourage prison workers to contact other agencies for information and improve the quality of their information, advice and guidance service for older prisoners. The pack should also be used to raise awareness among colleagues of the health problems the older prisoner population is prone to and of some of the practical things they can do to make their lives easier.
Each pack consists of a Resource Pack full of information, a Workshop Pack, which will show readers how to run awareness sessions on the issues facing older prisoners and four identical resources and activities discs, packed full of leaflets from well known organisations who have an interest in this population. Click here for further information.

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New guide for practice managers promotes access and responsiveness

A comprehensive guide is now available online for practice managers seeking new ways to improve access to and responsiveness of general practice. The DH-sponsored document is the result of collaboration by NHS Alliance, the British Medical Association, the National Association of Primary Care, the Institute for Healthcare Management, AMSPAR, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Family Doctor Association. An interactive version of the guide will be produced later in the year along with a revamped website. The existing site also includes a registration form for the practice managers' network, which has attracted more than 1,000 registrations since it went live earlier this year.

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Breakthrough to real change in local healthcare: a guide for applications to create Health Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs)

The Department of Health is investing £10 million in the introduction of Health Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs) across England. HIECs will be partnerships between NHS, higher education, industry and other public and private sector organisations. They will support the spread and adoption of innovation locally and strengthen professional education and training.
This guide describes the vision for HIECs, the role of HIECs in education and training, how HIECs will support innovation and the application process. This starts a period of informal dialogue with strategic health authorities (SHAs) and prospective HIEC partners, leading to expressions of interest in early September 2009 and a final announcement on the first wave of HIECs in December 2009. SHAs are co-ordinating applications and, as part of the process, they are arranging regional stakeholder events.

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The NHS Centre for Involvement (NCI) Summer Conference - The Future of Involvement – putting patients at the heart of services.

Held on Thursday 2nd July at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London, the conference will look at The Future of Involvement – Putting Patients at the heart of services. With a key note speech from Joan Saddler, Director of Patient and Public Affairs at The Department of Health, the conference will highlight key questions for policy-makers and practitioners around involvement and its implementation within health and social care services.
Delegates will also be invited to attend the presentation of The Involvement Awards 2009 – an awards scheme which celebrates innovation and imagination in PPI throughout the country.
Click here for further information and to register.

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Community Therapists Network Annual Conference - 14th October 2009 Manchester.

Providing ‘Patient Centred Care’ continues to be a major objective for the Department of Health, measuring the effectiveness of the care has until recently focused on processes and clinical indicators. Now, this is set to change with the drive to monitor patient outcomes. To reflect this welcome development the Community Therapists Network invites you to learn more about the existing tools that you can access, the experience with those tools and the actual outcomes that patients desire! Click here to find out more and to book your place!

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Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children - Consultation on revised statutory guidance

This guidance is a revised version of the existing guidance, 'Promoting the Health of Looked After Children', which was published by the Department of Health in 2002. The revised guidance will be statutory on PCTs and on Strategic Health Authorities as well as local authorities. The consultation closes on 3rd August 2009. Click here for further information.

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Commissioning for Health Improvement

The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement aims to help PCTs and SHAs
achieve the Department of Health’s vision for world class commissioning. If you are trying to become a world class commissioner then their range of proven tools and resources will help you.
Tools available include:
Change Readiness Tool - This tool directly strengthens PCTs’ potential for improvement, as measured through the assurance process.
Commissioning Patient Pathways Guide - Detailed guidance on how key design issues (like patient outcomes, demand and capacity etc) should be addressed throughout the commissioning cycle.
Project Delivery for Commissioners - Covering the whole range of activities from setting up
the project team to business as usual.
Strategy Development and Implementation - A literature review covering: the different approaches to developing strategy, how these approaches can be applied, and how the resulting strategy can be implemented.
Further information can be found here!

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Exciting Opportunity - Call for Case Studies

The Department of Health are calling for case studies which describe the tangible changes to services and successes one year into the implementation of the Next Stage Review. Lord Darzi would like to draw strongly on this work to mark the anniversary of the publication of High Quality Care for All in June. The DH are likely to use the case studies in a variety of media and are looking for an inspiring description of what has been implemented and how this has benefited patients, staff, or the local community. Stories do not have to be long, perhaps around a side in length. Click here for further information. If you are interested in submitting a case study please contact Sarah Mitchell.