Fade Skinny: The article discusses the most common risk factors, advantages and disadvantages of risk assessment tools and challenges in prevention.

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Scan or click to download 'House of Commons Health Committee: Public Expenditure Thirteenth Report of Session 2010-12: Volume 1 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence'

The Skinny: This report is a review of progress within the health and care system towards meeting ‘The Nicholson Challenge’ to find £20bn in efficiency savings by 2014-15 against the backdrop of unprecedented healthcare reform. It identifies that the key pressures which are building in the system arise from the fact that demand is continuing to grow at a time when health and social care budgets have stopped growing. In order to achieve this it recognises the importance of developing new structures which deliver genuinely integrated services.

In order to achieve these savings it suggests hospitals were resorting to short-term “salami slicing” and that “The reorganisation process continues to complicate the push for efficiency gains”. The reforms have facilitated savings in some cases, but the report suggest that it more often creates disruption and distraction that hinders the ability of organisations to consider truly effective ways of reforming service delivery and releasing savings. The report also notes a “marked disconnect between the concerns expressed by those responsible for delivering services and the relative optimism of the government” when it comes to achieving the cuts

Publisher: TSO

Published: January 24th 2012

Size: 138p.

Additional Document: House of Commons Health Committee: Public Expenditure, Thirteenth Report of Session 2010-12: Volume 2: Additional Written Evidence

Fade skinny: This article describes the risks involved in preparing injectable medicines in clinical areas – such as wards, theatres, clinics or patients’ homes. It also outlines the key principles to ensure that they are prepared safely in these areas.

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Fade Skinny: This article reports on a year-long pilot of a practice-nurse led scheme that used a holistic approach towards self-care in obesity management. The pilot was set up to reduce cardiovascular risk and to improve quality of life. This person-centred approach may offer an important tool in the management of these patients in the GP surgery.

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Fade Skinny: This research was commissioned as part of a larger study to explore the context of revalidation and a consideration of the possibilities for the process. The researchers sought to capture the perceptions of the GP educators on the key opportunities and potential challenges of implementing a revalidation system.

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Fade Skinny: Student nurses should be introduced to the principles of evidence-based practice (EBP) as part of their pre-registration education. EBP within nursing is achieved by developing and supporting patient-centred approaches to care using the most current evidence.

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Fade fave: Health promotion and ill-health prevention: the role of the general practice

Fade skinny: This paper reports on the research undertaken by King’s Fund into quality in general practice and examines the role of health promotion and the general practitioner.

An NHS Athens password is required to access this article online. Follow this link to register for Athens. Alternatively, contact the Library for a copy of this article.

Fade skinny: This article sets out key knowledge and resources to help nurses provide compassionate and person-centred care in dementia.

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Fade skinny: This article discusses some of the consequences of poor sexual health and gives advice on how nurses can introduce the topic with patients.

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Fade Skinny: The media has reported failing in care as failures in nursing but has not distinguished between care delivered by nurses and care delivered by unregistered healthcare assistants and other support staff. The boundaries between different nursing roles has become increasingly blurred. This article examines the role of the nurse in an evolving healthcare climate.

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Scan or click to download 'Contract implementation guidance: Choice of named consultant-led team'

Title: Contract implementation guidance: Choice of named consultant-led team

The Skinny: Following on from the consultation ‘Liberating the NHS: Greater choice and control’, this document provides guidance to providers and commissioners on implementation of the Government commitment to introduce choice of named consultant-led team for a first outpatient appointment for elective care where clinically appropriate.

Publisher: DH

Published: October 2011

Size: 17p.

'Drug enforcement in an age of austerity: Key findings from a survey of police forces in England'

Title: Drug enforcement in an age of austerity: Key findings from a survey of police forces in England

The Skinny: Reports on a survey which finds that as a result of austerity measures:

1. Drug-related policing expenditure and activity is expected to decrease and there is a perception that it is faring worse than other police activities.
2. Proactive work related to the detection of drug supply is expected to decrease. Activities such as covert surveillance, test purchasing and other intelligence gathering work were most often mentioned as likely to decrease. This may have an impact on the police’s ability to monitor the drug problem in their area and to contribute to broader initiatives such as Street Level Up.
3. Those drug-related activities that appear likely to increase are ones, such as asset forfeiture, that could contribute to income.
4. Uncertainty about partner agencies is high and less partnership working and work with community groups is expected. This is of concern given the evidence of the importance of partnership working and community engagement for effective drug-related policing.

Publisher: UK Drug Policy Commission

Published: October 2011

Size: 18p.

Scan or click to download 'Essential functionality of computerised support systems for medical appraisal and revalidation - v0.9 Draft'

The Skinny: Draft document that the minimum requirements for computerised support systems for medical appraisal and revalidation that will allow these processes to fulfil their objectives and be managed effectively.

Publisher: Revalidation Support Team

Published: October 2011

Size: 16p.

Scan or click to download 'Information flows for medical appraisal and revalidation in England - v0.12 Draft'

The Skinny: Draft document that describes the essential information flows that will be required to ensure revalidation is effective in its primary aims. It is targeted at responsible officers and those who will be designing organisational information systems to support revalidation.

Publisher: Revalidation Support Team

Published: October 2011

Size: 11p.

Scan or click to download 'Management and quality assurance information - v0.5 Draft'

The Skinny: This draft describes the management information which designated bodies in England can use to provide the GMC and, where appropriate, the national healthcare system regulators (the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Monitor) with
assurance that they have effective systems in place to support responsible officer (RO)
recommendations about individual doctors.

Publisher: Revalidation Support Team

Published: October 2011

Size: 13p.

Scan or click to download 'Product pricing project'

The Skinny: NHS providers face a significant challenge to deliver the efficiency savings that the current economic environment demands.The National QIPP Procurement Workstream, aims to support trusts in achieving £1.2bn savings through improved procurement.

To improve procurement efficiency trusts need to overcome considerable barriers such as a lack of transparent and comparative information on prices. This pilot benchmarking exercise was conducted to examine the prices paid by individual trusts for
the same goods, and promote the greater transparency between trusts that is needed to
deliver greater efficiency.

Publisher: DH

Published: October 2011

Size: 8p.

Stretched to the limit: An audit of physiotherapy services in England'

The Skinny: Results of an audit by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists that finds that two thirds of managers (65.7%) surveyed by the CSP have said they do not expect to have sufficient resources to meet demand for physiotherapy services in this financial year. This results from the drive to deliver short term financial savings and will result in increased numbers of patient readmissions and increased costs to the NHS and social care services in the longer term.

Publisher: Chartered Society of Physiotherapists

Published: October 2011

Size: 12p.

Scan or click to download 'The NHS as a driver for growth: A report by the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology'

The Skinny: Report that focus’ on the practical changes that will help unleash the potential of innovation in the NHS to exploit the opportunities created by developments in science and technology. It is the government’s belief that this will depend on a fundamental cultural change within the NHS, supporting innovation in ways that increase health benefits while driving out costs across the system. Consequently the NHS must be open to earlier and fuller engagement with innovative businesses of all sizes, and to engagement with innovators in sectors like engineering which do not have a long tradition of working with health practitioners.

Publisher: Council for Science and Technology

Published: October 2011

Size: 8p.

Scan or click to download 'Access all areas: Linking people to jobs'

Title: Access all areas: Linking people to jobs

The Skinny: This report examines how transport can improve access to work in four case study areas: the wider Milton Keynes area; South Hampshire; Greater Manchester and the Sheffield City Region.
Transport has a key role to play in helping overcome spatial mismatches between the places where lower skilled people live and where the jobs they seek are located. Connecting people to employment sites has been a key aim of past travel-to-work initiatives from which three main lessons have emerged. Transport initiatives tend to be most effective in linking people to jobs when:

• they are designed with the needs of different individuals and places in mind;
• they integrate and assist individuals in the use of existing transport provision;
• and when they work alongside initiatives in other policy areas.

Publisher: Centre for Cities

Published: October 2011

Size: 58p.

Scan or click to download 'The Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2012-13'

The Skinny: Document that describes the national priorities, and requirements for NHS organisations to maintain and improve the quality of services provided, while delivering transformational change and maintaining financial stability.

Sets out practical steps that need to be taken to ensure the NHS is financially viable, maintaining high quality standards and financial grip, as the NHS undertakes the reforms envisaged in Liberating the NHS.

Key issues covered are:

1. Quality
2. Reform
3. Finance and Business Rules
4. Planning and Accountability
5. National Performance Measures

Publisher: DH

Published: November 2011

Fade skinny: The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies model raises many questions for mental health nurses, including whether nursing continues to have a place with primary mental health care.

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Scan or click to download 'Achievement of foundation status by NHS hospital trusts'

The Skinny: Report looking at the processes the Department of Health has put in place to help NHS trusts achieve foundation status which highlight the challenges many trusts face in proving their long term viability.

It identifies that many NHS trusts need to tackle a range of financial, quality and governance issues if they are to meet the standards required of them to become self-governing foundation trusts by 2014. At least 20 trusts face such substantial problems that they have recognised they are not financially or clinically viable in their current form. These problems are often deep-seated and long-standing. Size and location can cause problems, including a mismatch between hospital capacity and local demand for services from commissioners.

Publisher: National Audit Office

Published: October 2011

Size:39p.

Scan or click to download 'Cities outlook 2011'

The Skinny: Report that highlights some of the challenges confronting cities today: economic development, unemployment, changing demographics, ever-increasing resident expectations – all
coupled with significantly reduced budgets. Leaders will need to act decisively and on a broader range of topics if their cities are to transition successfully into ‘Smarter Cities’.

Publisher: Centre for Cities

Published: 2011

Size: 68p.

Scan or click to download 'Equality and human rights in the essential standards of quality and safety: An overview: Guidance for compliance inspectors and registration assessors'

Title: Equality and human rights in the essential standards of quality and safety an overview: Guidance for compliance inspectors and registration assessors
The Skinny: Resource from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for inspectors who would like clarification of equality and human rights issues when monitoring compliance of health and adult social care services under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

• An overview of human rights and equality legislation and how such legislation impacts upon CQC’s regulatory role.
• Information about CQC’s approach to equality and human rights.
• Information about what you should do if you have a concern that a provider may be in breach of equality or human rights law.

Publisher: CQC

Published: October 2011

Size: 45p.

Scan or click to download 'Future health: Sustainable places for health and well-being'

Title: Future health: Sustainable places for health and well-being

The Skinny: Report that detailshow good design makes healthy places. Bringing together lessons learned about sustainable, health-promoting environments together with the latest thinking about health and well-being. The report explains the win-wins that can happen across the health, well-being and sustainability agendas, and describes why and how:

1. Planners can have long-term positive effects on public health, for example through supporting green infrastructure and sustainable transport networks
2. Healthcare trusts can bring down carbon footprints and reduce costs by integrating and co-locating health and community service
3. Designers and health estates managers can influence peoples’ wellbeing through sustainable design
4. Policymakers can help truly healthy, sustainable communities happen by emphasising the wholelife value of early and integrated decision-making.

Publisher: Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

Published: 2009

Size: 20p.