The week: 22 – 28 March 2013
for NHS and social care leaders

Issue: 291

On the agenda

Government publishes initial response to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Public Inquiry Report and revised NHS Constitution

The Department of Health has published its initial response to the recommendations of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry. 'Patients First and Foremost' sets out an initial response, on behalf of the health and care system as a whole. It details key actions to make sure patients are ‘the first and foremost consideration of the system and everyone who works in it’ and to restore the NHS to its core values.

It sets out a collective commitment and a five-point plan of action to eradicate harm and aspire to excellence, focused on:

•	preventing problems 
•	detecting problems quickly 
•	taking action promptly 
•	ensuring robust accountability 
•	ensuring staff are trained and motivated. 

You can read 'Patients First and Foremost' at 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-initial-response-to-the-mid-staffs-report

A revised NHS Constitution was also published on 26 March at 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-constitution-for-england

The NHS Constitution was revised following a public consultation. It also incorporates some changes based on the recommendations made by Robert Francis QC in his inquiry. An updated handbook to the NHS Constitution and the Government's response to the public consultation were also published this week.

Policy news
No news this week.

Consultations and evaluations
1. Extension of the Information Commissioner's powers to issue assessment notices 
2. National GP training survey 2013 launched 

Publications
3. 2011-12 Programme budgeting benchmarking tool  
4. Best practice guidance for weight management services 
5. Safeguarding children and adults – revised guidance 
6. General Medical Council publishes latest edition of Good medical practice 
7. Mapping future housing and care choices  

Conferences and events

i. what’s new
No news this week.

ii. places still available
No news this week.

Patient safety alerts
Refer to website below

Extra notes
Chief executives are reminded that all communications requiring the attention of NHS and local authority management must include a Gateway reference number. In order to streamline the number of communications issued by the Department, these will continue to be summarised in ‘the week’ every Thursday.

Policy news
No news this week.

Consultations and evaluations

1. Extension of the Information Commissioner's powers to issue assessment notices
(Gateway reference number: 18900)
On 25 March 2013, the Ministry of Justice published a consultation paper proposing to extend the powers of the Information Commissioner to carry out compulsory assessments of NHS bodies’ compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and its data protection principles. The Information Commissioner's proposals are based on his view that there is strong evidence of significant and widespread data protection compliance concerns in the health sector.

Link: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/ico-assessment-notices
Action: NHS chief executives who wish to respond to the consultation should do so by 17 May 2013. 

2. National training survey 2013 launched
(Gateway reference number: 18901)
The results of the national training survey help deaneries, local education and training boards and local education providers to monitor the training they deliver. All doctors in foundation and specialty, including GP training programmes, should respond to the survey online from 26 March to 8 May 2013.

Links: http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/nts_gmconline.asp
http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/surveys.asp
Action: NHS chief executives will wish to make sure doctors training in their organisation are aware of the survey.

Publications

3. 2011-12 Programme budgeting benchmarking tool 
(Gateway reference number: 18585)
The programme budgeting benchmarking tool is a source of comparative information on NHS expenditure by healthcare condition. It provides data on expenditure, which can be linked to health outcomes. This can help commissioners assess how their current resources are being deployed and prioritise their future investment of resources.

Link: http://www.networks.nhs.uk/nhs-networks/health-investment-network/news/2011-12-programme-budgeting-data-now-available
Action: NHS chief executives will wish to review the latest available programme budgeting expenditure data to support strategic planning.

4. Best practice guidance for weight management services
(Gateway reference number: 18703)
This best practice guidance has been developed to help improve the commissioning of tier 2 weight management services. The guidance includes explanatory notes for developing a specification, and includes two best practice example specifications for adults and children. They include information on outcomes.

Link: http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2013/03/guidance-commissioning-weight/
Action: NHS chief executives may wish to consider how this guidance can support local areas in becoming effective commissioners of weight management services.

5. Safeguarding children and adults – revised guidance 
(Gateway reference number: 18902)
The Department for Education has published revised inter-agency statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children. To complement it, the NHS Commissioning Board has published its Safeguarding Vulnerable People in the Reformed NHS: Accountability and Assurance Framework. This updates interim advice on arrangements for children’s and adult safeguarding issued last September. 

Links:http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/safeguardingchildren/protection/a00210235/consultation
http://www.commissioningboard.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/safeguarding-vulnerable-people.pdf
Action: NHS chief executives will wish to ensure their organisations comply with the statutory guidance and familiarise themselves with the accountability and assurance framework.  

6. General Medical Council publishes latest edition of Good medical practice 
(Gateway reference number: 18905)
The latest edition of the General Medical Council's core guidance for doctors, Good medical practice was published on 25 March 2013. This is an update to the 2006 edition of the guidance, which details the standards expected of every doctor on the register. Good medical practice 2013 will come into force from 22 April 2013. By then, doctors should have read the document and should be applying these principles in their practice.

Link: www.gmc-uk.org/gmp2013  
Action: NHS chief executives will wish to ensure relevant staff use the updated edition of the guidance from 22 April 2013. 

7. Mapping future housing and care choices
(Gateway reference number: 18903)
A free predictive modelling tool that forecasts the demand for specialist housing and care will enable commissioners to better understand their local housing with care markets. Working with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), the online strategic housing for older people analysis tool has been designed to identify the housing choices and tenure options for older people up until 2030.

Link: http://www.housinglin.org.uk/SHOPAT
Action: NHS and local authority chief executives may wish to use the tool to inform their local strategic assessments and plans for developing specialist housing for older people.

Conferences and events

i. what’s new
No news this week.

ii. places still available
No news this week.

Patient safety alerts

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has sent the NHS the latest medical device alerts in the link below. NHS trusts are expected to take the specified action by the date given.

Link: www.mhra.gov.uk/Publications/Safetywarnings/MedicalDeviceAlerts/index.htm

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Change in contact details
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Final Department of Health edition of ‘the week’ 
This is the final edition of ‘the week’ published by the Department of Health. The NHS Commissioning Board will produce regular news updates for senior leaders in health and social care from 2 April 2013. If you have any questions about this, please contact Sally Kenny, sally.kenny@dh.gsi.gov.uk, Tel: 020 7210 5018.

Unless otherwise stated, guidance referred to in the bulletin has not been commissioned or endorsed by the Department of Health – it is evidence that organisations and professionals may find helpful in improving practice. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is the Department's provider of accredited evidence and guidance, which can be found on the Institute's website at www.nice.org.uk