Issue 2: May 2011

Urgent and emergency care clinical audit toolkit
The toolkit from the Royal College of General Practitioners and the College of Emergency Medicine is aimed at all providers of urgent and emergency care and is intended as a practical guide on checking the quality and care provided.

Fundamentals of commissioning health services for children
This paper from the Child Health and Maternity Partnership looks at how some PCTs have not only reduced admissions but commissioned services which deliver better outcomes for children and young people. It also looks at why the current provision of these services is unsatisfactory,

Facing the future: standards for paediatric services
This RCPCH report warns that regardless of the outcome of the current health bill, an extensive re-design of children’s health care is now necessary to safe-guard positive health outcomes for children.

RCN publishes new standards on care of children
The RCN has published new standards to promote the highest level of care and wellbeing for children. Sections 3, 4 and 5 are particularly relevant to service delivery.

Reducing expenditure on low clinical value treatments
This briefing from the Audit Commission suggests that the NHS could save up to £500 million a year by carrying out fewer ineffective or inefficient treatments. It considers some of the efforts to decommission treatments of low clinical value.

Quality indicators for TCS
This document introduces 43 quality improvement indicators for the “transforming community services” programme. They cover many aspects of community services that interface secondary care, and will be of interest to clinicians, providers, as well as commissioners of community services.

Variations in health care: the good, the bad and the inexplicable
This report from the King’s Fund illustrates differences in admission rates for many routine surgical procedures. The existence of these variations in health care directly affect equity of access to services, the health outcomes of the populations and the efficient use of resources.

Rural health economies and the health bill
The Health and Social Care Bill presents an opportunity to improve rural health services by tailoring services to meet the needs of their communities. However, it is important that the specific characteristics of rural areas are taken into account when reforms are being implemented.

Are efficiency and productivity improving in the NHS?
This review by the Audit Commission shows how and where primary care trusts (PCTs) spent their money, how trust income changed and how successful the NHS has been in moving care out of hospitals to more cost-effective settings.




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