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Contents
NHS Commissioning Assembly News:
Launch of the Case Studies Pinboard
Strategic issues:
Clarifications post 14 February draft Better Care Fund plan submission
5 year strategic plans – guidance to support CCGs with citizen empowerment and participation
Improving General Practice – A Call to Action – emerging findings report published
Winterbourne View: sharing learning and good practice
Personal Health Budgets –April 2014 legal duties, are you ready?
2014/15 Clostridium difficile infection objectives
Operational issues:
Assuring Transformation: Meeting the NHS Winterbourne View Concordat commitments. Quarterly data collection March 2014
Friends and Family Test (FFT) update
NHS Standard Contract – publication of supporting documents
How NHS England and Monitor are working to make the payment system do more for patients from 2015/16
Dispute Resolution Process for the 2014/15 Contracting Process
Changes to the GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) ordering process- the provision of GP clinical IT systems in England
The system that manages NHS Smartcards is changing!
Maternity and Child Health: Personal Demographics Service
Sustainable Development Management Plan survey – action required
Other News:
Successful Nursing Technology Fund projects announced
Building the House of Care
The Children and Young Peoples’ Improving Access to Psychological Services programme- Launch of 2014 offer.
Complaints cases subject to litigation, inquests and other serious investigations – clarification of position
Letters to CCGs:
Secretary of State for Health writes to NHS staff on supporting staff to raise concerns about patient care and safety
NHS Commissioning Assembly News
Launch of the Case Studies Pinboard
The Case Studies Pinboard, part of The Learning Environment for commissioners, is now available. Developed in response to requests for easy sharing of good practice, this searchable library of case studies from commissioners allows users to browse, add and download good practice from across the country. A wide variety of development areas are covered by these commissioning case studies, including patient and public engagement, collaboration and co-commissioning and commissioning for quality and outcomes. New case studies are being uploaded regularly so keep checking for updates.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please email us.
Please tweet about the Pinboard using #NHSPinboard.
Strategic Issues
Clarifications post 14 February draft Better Care Fund plan submission
Following the initial submission of draft Better Care Fund (BCF) plans, a number of common issues arose that we wanted to address and/or clarify. We have updated a number of documents to help clarify these issues, including:
Better Care Fund technical guidance – we have improved clarity around metric specifications.
Better Care Fund planning template part 2 – it is now clearer exactly what figures are required e.g. total delay days. For the 4th April BCF plan submission this new template should be used in place of the original template.
Statistical significance calculator – updated to address a minor issue although this will only have a small (and in many cases no) impact on the figures it provides.
We have also uploaded a spreadsheet which provides a breakdown by council of the £185m contained within the BCF to spend against the Care Bill reforms in 2015/16
For further information please go to the main BCF planning page.
5 year strategic plans – guidance to support CCGs with citizen empowerment and participation
One of the six characteristics of high quality and sustainable care described in the planning guidance is Citizen Empowerment and Participation. CCG strategic plans will ensure that citizens will be fully included in all aspects of service redesign and also that patients and carers are empowered to become co-producers and participants in their own care. To support this planning, NHS England has published an interactive guide Transforming Participation in Health and Care which provides advice, good practice, evidence and case studies on approaches to support this characteristic. If you require further support please email us.
Improving General Practice – A Call to Action – emerging findings report published
NHS England has published its initial thinking on commissioning general practice services. Building on the outcome of engagement with stakeholders in 2013 under “Improving general practice – a call to action”, the report focuses on the central role for general practice in wider systems of primary care, and describes the ambition for greater collaboration with clinical commissioning groups in the commissioning of general practice services. Whilst transformational change is led locally by area teams and CCGs, the report outlines the national work programme identified as necessary to support local leadership.
In addition, NHS England has published an independent analysis of the responses received during last year’s engagement around this call to action. There will be a further phase now of engagement with patient groups, other partners and stakeholders over the next few months at national and local level to further shape our thinking. The final strategic framework for commissioning primary care will be published in the autumn, taking into account the outcome of similar engagements for NHS dental, community pharmacy and eye health services.
Winterbourne View: sharing learning and good practice
The Winterbourne Joint Improvement Programme is working to support commissioners to improve the lives of children, young people, adults and older people with learning disabilities and / or autism who display or are at risk of displaying behaviour that challenges through better informed local commissioning.
Two key new resources are now available:
The Core Principles Commissioning Tool to be used in health, education or social care commissioning has been published.
‘Personal health budgets: Including people with learning disabilities’ is also available on the Think Local Act Personal Website.
Personal Health Budgets –April 2014 legal duties, are you ready?
From April 2014, people receiving NHS Continuing Healthcare will have the legal “right to ask” for a personal health budget, including a direct payment. Direct payment regulations came into force last summer. Guidance on these regulations and details of the support programme available can be found on the personal health budget website.
All CCGs need to be ready not only to delivery personal health budgets when asked but also to provide people with information about them. Is your CCG ready?
2014/15 Clostridium difficile infection objectives
NHS England has published Clostridium difficile infection objectives for acute trusts and CCGs for 2014/15. These objectives have been calculated on the basis of requiring continuous improvement from all trusts and CCGs, but also reflect a need for organisations with higher rates of infections to do more than those organisations with lower rates.
In addition, NHS England has also published new guidance setting out how commissioners can exercise discretion in deciding whether or not to impose sanctions on providers for breach of their Clostridium difficile objective, allowing them to take into account specific circumstances relating to identified infections in determining whether sanctions are appropriate.
Operational Issues
Assuring Transformation: Meeting the NHS Winterbourne View Concordat commitments. Quarterly data collection March 2014
Each CCG will wish to ensure that a return is submitted for their organisation by the deadline of 5pm 14 April. CCGs may wish to liaise with their NHS England area team on data quality issues prior to submission.
To assure the public that NHS commitments in the Winterbourne View Concordat are delivered a data collection for NHS commissioners was introduced in January 2104.
This is the second data collection published 14 March to be completed and returned by 5pm April 2014 to england.wvdata@nhs.net
We have listened to feedback and have made changes to the data collection workbook, supporting guidance and produced a short FAQ document.
Friends and Family Test (FFT) update
From April 2014, NHS England is introducing the Staff Friends and Family Test (FFT) in all NHS trusts providing acute, community, ambulance and mental health services in England. NHS England’s vision for Staff FFT is that all staff should have the opportunity to feedback their views on their organisation at least once per year.
CCGs need to be aware that guidance for staff FFT is now available. All NHS trusts are to implement staff FFT from April 2014 (and feed results into NHS England for quarters 1, 2 and 4.)
For more information, please see the website, or contact us with any queries.
Guidance for the full roll out of patient FFT across the NHS is in development and will be published at the end of June.
NHS Standard Contract – publication of supporting documents
The following documents have recently been updated and published on the NHS Standard Contract webpage:
Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) 2014/15 Guidance
Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) 2014/15 Guidance – Appendix B (CQUIN picklist)
CQUIN indicator and variation templates
NHS Standard Contract 2014/15 Technical Guidance (updated version)
The following documents will be published shortly:
NHS Standard Contract 2014/15 Technical Guidance (final version)
NHS Standard Contract Schedule 7 (pension arrangements) and guidance
If you have any queries please contact the NHS Standard Contract Team
How NHS England and Monitor are working to make the payment system do more for patients from 2015/16
In this document, NHS England and Monitor describe how we are working towards a longer-term redesign of the payment system.
The document also sets out the policy proposals we are exploring for the 2015/16 national tariff consultation and how commissioners and providers can point us towards the best solutions.
Dispute Resolution Process for the 2014/15 Contracting Process
Working with the Trust Development Agency, NHS England has agreed the following dispute resolution process where contracts between non-Foundation Trusts and commissioners had not been agreed by 28 February 2014.
Where a contract between provider and a commissioner remains unsigned, both parties will now automatically trigger the dispute resolution process.
Please see the website for further information and covering letter from Paul Baumann.
Changes to the GP Systems of Choice (GPSoC) ordering process- the provision of GP clinical IT systems in England
GPSoC is a scheme through which the NHS fund the provision of GP clinical IT systems in England. From April 2014 the Health and Social Care Information Centre will be implementing electronic authorising for ordering GPSoC services. Please click here for more details.
All CCGs need to nominate representative(s) to authorise ordering of GPSoC services by contacting their respective GP IT Delivery Partner (e.g. CSU or HIS). Each GP IT Delivery Partner will register your CCG representative on the ordering system.
Throughout the year, CCGs will be prompted 8 times to review and authorise an order for new GP Clinical System Services. The review will entail checking the details of orders placed on their behalf by the GP IT Delivery Partner and authorising the order. Please see the NHS England guidance on the role of CCGs in authorising GPSoC Services.
Please see further information on the ordering process or email us with any questions.
The system that manages NHS Smartcards is changing!
Following the recent announcement regarding the changes to Spine 2 and the calendar, User Identity Management (UIM) and Card Management Service (CMS) we would like to update you on the latest developments and what you can do to prepare for the rollout of the new IAM (Identity and Access Management) service. The new service will be available by the end of 2014. Further information on benefits of the new system, access to training and guidance and the next steps can be found here together with previous announcements and FAQ’s.
Maternity and Child Health: Personal Demographics Service
The way the NHS Number is issued for newborn babies is changing. From 1 July 2014 the Personal Demographics Service (PDS) will replace the NHS Numbers for Babies service. Maternity and child health units must be using a PDS compliant system by this date. Health and Social Care Information Centre advise that organisations liaise with their system provider to confirm their migration plans. For more information click here.
Sustainable Development Management Plan survey – action required
Thank you to all CCGs who self-certified their commitment to social and environmental sustainability as part of the 2012/13 authorisation process.
The Sustainable Development Unit within NHS England has developed a simple four question survey to self-certify for 2013/14 (ROCR pending). The deadline for responses is 5pm on Friday 4 April 2014.
Other News
Successful Nursing Technology Fund projects announced
In October 2012 the Prime Minister announced the establishment of a Nursing Technology Fund to support nurses, midwives and health visitors to make better use of digital systems to deliver care in all settings.
Following the first round of applications, NHS England has just announced that 75 trusts (86 projects) across the country will benefit from the funding to buy technologies such as digital pens, tablets and clinical software.
CCGs may wish to take a look at any successful projects in their areas and encourage further bids in round two, which will be announced by early summer.
Building the House of Care
The House of Care acts as a framework for person centred coordinated care for people living with long term conditions (LTCs). A toolkit and information dashboard are in development to support commissioners to achieve this. The toolkit provides a summary of components required to “build” the house with links to information resources. The dashboard summarises metrics across health and social care related to LTC comorbidity, quality of life and quality of care. We would welcome feedback from CCGs on the toolkit and dashboard by 4 April 2014.
Please see further information, including the mechanism for feedback.
The Children and Young Peoples’ Improving Access to Psychological Services programme- Launch of 2014 offer.
The Children and Young People’s improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) service transformation programme is launching its fourth round of applications. CYP IAPT aims to improve the quality of CAMHS working across the NHS, local authority and voluntary sectors by supporting services to improve:
Improve information for commissioner on outcomes/effectiveness
Choice/access of four evidence based psychological treatments
Partnership working between the child, young person, parent and therapist, with routine outcome monitoring and feedback
Service user participation across all aspects of service delivery and design
Access through self-referral
Further information and application forms are available on the website
Complaints cases subject to litigation, inquests and other serious investigations – clarification of position
The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 removed a specific exclusion included in the 2004 Complaints Regulations which prevented a complaint being considered if the complainant stated in writing that they intended to take legal action. The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 removed this exclusion, and complaints in these circumstances must now be handled in accordance with these regulations. Some NHS providers are routinely putting the investigation of a complaint on hold if legal action is mentioned; under the 2009 regulations this is not acceptable.
Please see this complaints clarification note and bring it to the attention of your providers.
Letters
Secretary of State for Health writes to NHS staff on supporting staff to raise concerns about patient care and safety
Jeremy Hunt has published his latest message to NHS staff on the gov.uk website. The message outlines the changes being implemented to support staff in raising concerns about patient care and safety.
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