Biologising parenting

Dr Jan Macvarish, Research Fellow at CHSS is quoted in an article in the New York Times, 24 November 2014 ‘Can brain science be dangerous?’

Dr Macvarish is quoted as part of a growing critique of ‘neuroparenting’ policy.

Reference is also made to ‘The ‘First Three Years’ Movement and the Infant Brain: A Review of Critiques’, an article co-authored by Dr Macvarish.

Who is involved?
Dr Jan Macvarish

View on the Centre for Health Services Studies site.

Posted in news | Leave a comment

Runners raise £6000 for Pilgrims Hospices

Our Athletics and Cross Country team, who ran over 200 miles from our Canterbury campus to Paris, have raised £6000 for Pilgrims Hospices.

The runners completed over 26 miles a day for eight consecutive days – the equivalent of over eight marathons in a row.

Watch the video of the Campus2Campus challenge.

Jon Solley, the student who organised the run said, ‘We never imagined we’d raise so much, so today is truly something special. The legacy the project has left its testament to the team’s hard work.’

Pam Meller, Acting Fundraising Manager from Pilgrims Hospice said:

‘We are so grateful to the team for choosing to support Pilgrims Hospices in this impressive Campus2Campus challenge. We realise how much planning and work must have gone into making this possible, both before and during the event, and we think Billy and the team should be really proud of themselves for this fantastic achievement.

‘With the majority of Pilgrims Hospices funding coming from the local community, this huge contribution is wonderful and really will make a difference to what we do here. We look forward to working with the team again in the future’.

View original here.

Posted in news | Leave a comment

Research to shape exhibition on child migration

Research on child migration by Professor Gordon Lynch will shape a new exhibition at the V&A Museum of Childhood, London in 2015.

The touring exhibition, titled ‘On their own – Britain’s child migrants’ , will draw on Professor Lynch’s research on child migration schemes which sent around 100,000 unaccompanied children from the UK to Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries from 1869 until the early 1970s.

Despite a widely held belief that these children’s lives would be improved by migration overseas, the schemes often failed to take account of its emotional impact on children. In some cases children were sent to institutions in which there was widespread abuse and obstacles were put in the way of them maintaining contact with their birth families.

This resulted in formal apologies from the Australian and British Governments in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Many former child migrants and their families are still coming to terms with their experiences.

Professor Lynch’s research focuses on the moral justifications for child migration that led national governments, churches, major charities and members of the Royal Family to give their support to it. His work also examines how these moral convictions, and the political influence of supporters of child migration, led the schemes to continue long after their short-comings had become increasingly recognised.

Professor Lynch, of the University’s School of European Culture and Languages, is the academic curator for the V&A exhibition which will run for nine months from October 2015.

The exhibition, which expects to attract more than 350,000 visitors, will draw together new material that shows why child migration schemes were set up, how they operated, and their effects on children’s lives.

The V&A Museum of Childhood is the final stage of the exhibition tour and will build upon its current home at the Merseyside Maritime Museum .

More information about the exhibition is available here. 

For more information contact Professor Gordon Lynch.

View original article

Posted in news | Leave a comment

The NHS Five Year Forward View

The NHS Five Year Forward View was published on 23 October 2014 and sets out a vision for the future of the NHS. It has been developed by the partner organisations that deliver and oversee health and care services including NHS England, Public Health England, Monitor, Health Education England, the Care Quality Commission and the NHS Trust Development Authority. Patient groups, clinicians and independent experts have also provided their advice to create a collective view of how the health service needs to change over the next five years if it is to close the widening gaps in the health of the population, quality of care and the funding of services.

The purpose of the Five Year Forward View is to articulate why change is needed, what that change might look like and how we can achieve it. It describes various models of care which could be provided in the future, defining the actions required at local and national level to support delivery. Everyone will need to play their part – system leaders, NHS staff, patients and the public – to realise the potential benefits for us all. It covers areas such as disease prevention; new, flexible models of service delivery tailored to local populations and needs; integration between services; and consistent leadership across the health and care system.

The Five Year Forward View starts the move towards a different NHS, recognising the challenges and outlining potential solutions to the big questions facing health and care services in England. It defines the framework for further detailed planning about how the NHS needs to evolve over the next five years.

Follow the conversation around the Five Year Forward View Twitter using the hashtag #futurenhs.

Or the web version:

Read the full article here.

 
Posted in news | Leave a comment

AHSN Newsletter – 28 November 2014

In this weeks’s edition…

Integration

One of the clearest messages in NHS England’s recent Five Year Forward View is that they do not foresee more reconfiguration of NHS commissioners fixing the problems that healthcare services face.

Change will be on the provider side, in terms of models of care and organisational form.

Developing these new models of care and service provision will be helped fastest in “test bed” sites. These will be sites for combinational innovation, involving health, social care, industry and academia.

Academic Health Science Networks, as systems enablers and catalysers, are in place to support this approach.

Kent Surrey Sussex investment

This gives us an opportunity to build on existing activities designed to increase out of hospital capacity and capability.

Our latest example of this is our work with the Local Pharmacy Networks (funded by Health Education Kent Surrey Sussex) to enhance community pharmacy capability. Funded by £85,000 investment from Health Education England, it will support better access to healthcare advice and treatment through the community pharmacy networks across Kent, Surrey and Sussex. This will help to relieve pressure on Primary Care services, A&E and support patients to self manage their care – increasing independence and quality of life, particularly for older people.

Topical

There are two other recent documents which contribute significantly to the integration debate. On 11 November, The King’s Fund published Commissioning and contracting for integrated care and last week the HSJ produced Hospital care for frail older people. This latest document calls on commissioners to “invest in prevention” and help “older people living with long term conditions to avoid crises”. It asserts that better care for frail older people in the community and more integration of health and social care services will lead to “significant, cashable financial savings in the acute hospital sector and across health economies”.

Both documents come in the wake of the joint King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust report The evidence base for integrated care. One the examples cited is the North Lanarkshire Health and Care Partnership. The partnership brings together North Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire to deliver better integrated services to four care groups including older people. Their clinical integration has aligned organisational goals and working practices of staff for better care co-ordination and improved care outcomes.

Local solutions will vary across the country. Collaboration across sectors will determine what those solutions are. To support this, we’ll shortly be launching a series of regular seminars to provoke discussion and knowledge exchange prompted by speakers on a number of issues relating to healthcare innovation. Watch this space for more information next week!

Kindest regards,
Guy Boersma
Managing Director, KSS AHSN


SEHTA Regional Business Awards 2014

[South East Health Technologies Alliance]

As part of Medilink UK, SEHTA is celebrating excellence by organising its annual regional competition to select the best achieving companies of 2014 in 5 categories:

  • Export Achievement
  • Start-up
  • Innovation
  • Outstanding Achievement
  • Partnership with the NHS

Nominations close at 5.00pm on Friday 5th December 2014. Awards will be presented at the KSS Expo and Awards in January.

To download full details and application forms, please click here.


The BMJ Awards 2015

[BMJ Publishing Group Ltd]

Entries are invited to be submitted online for the BMJ Awards via www.thebmjawards.com A shortlist in each category will be announced in February. Judging will take place at the end of March.


Diabetes International Survey 2014

[South East Health Technologies Alliance]

South East Health Technologies Alliance and Healthcare Publishing & Events will shortly be launching ‘Diabetes Professional Care’: a free-to-attend conference and exhibition at the Barbican Centre London on 11-12th November 2015.

To help shape the programme they have created a survey which you can access here. (Please note closing date has been extended to 1 December 2014 for survey responses.)

For further information or any queries please contact Clare Ansett: clare.ansett@sehta.co.uk


CSH Surrey Clinical NED Vacancy

CSH Surrey is in search of a Clinical Non-Executive Director. The post is 2-3 days/ month and requires some-one with a clinical qualification to provide input at Board level as well as to chair the Integrated Governance Committee.

Applicants are encouraged to have a confidential discussion with the managing directors before applying. Please contact Sam Scarrott on 0208 394 3840 or sam.scarrott@nhs.net to arrange. Closing date 9 January 2015.


European Commission innovation procurement funding

[NHS European Office]

The NHS European Office has identified current EU funding pots resulting from Horizon2020, which can assist local health commissioners seeking to procure technology enabled health/care solutions. Relevant to NHS England’s Technology Enabled Care Services (TECS) programme, the funding opportunities cover both:

The calls vary in size from c.€1-5m per project and close in April 2015. The European Commission has recently published a brochure giving an overview of EU funded innovation procurement projects in the ICT domain.

Posted in ahsn | Leave a comment

November 2014 Stakeholder Briefing

In this Issue…

Welcome

This autumn has seen a very productive few months for HEKSS as we continue to work with colleagues across the region to shape the future workforce and there has been significant progress for many of our HEKSS skills development strategy work programmes (see below for details).

At the same time we have been learning more about the national changes to Health Education England and the LETBs and are beginning to work through what that means for our staff. They continue to demonstrate great professionalism and commitment through a time of some uncertainty.

I am very pleased to announce that, following the success of our inaugural ‘The Sound of the Student & Trainee Voice’ event in 2013, we are releasing details of our second conference to be held next year. The first event was a unique opportunity for learners and the professionals who support them to share ideas and experiences. Together we gained a deep understanding of the needs and perspectives of learners and explored how we can continue delivering the very best education and training.

We are still finalising the second event but it already promises to be just as inspirational. More details are below. Places are limited, so book early and please highlight it to any students and trainees with whom you work.

Thank you for your continued support.

Best wishes
Philippa Spicer
HEKSS LETB Director


HEKSS announces new student and trainee conference

Following the success of our first ‘The Sound of the Student & Trainee Voice’ conference, we are delighted to release details of our second conference taking place on 26 February 2015.

The event is for learners from the world of health and social care, allied professionals and support staff, their educators and teachers, and the organisations within which they train and work. The day will be made up of plenary sessions and practical workshops to explore a wide range of themes. It will be an unparalleled opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas to improve health and care education and training today and for the future.

For more information and to book your place, please visit www.kss.hee.nhs.uk/studentvoice2015.


Introduction to practice nursing course launches at four universities

A unique, HEKSS commissioned ‘introduction to practice nursing’ training course has launched at four universities across the region. It aims to equip those new to practice nursing with the core knowledge and skills needed in today’s busy general practice environment. It is the first stage of a three-stage pathway that links entry level with CPD through to advanced practice.

Work-based learning is central, supported by nurse mentors and primary care workforce tutors. Theoretical learning includes core competencies, complimented by personalised study days to meet the specific requirements of the learner’s role within their practice.

HEKSS commissioned the course to ensure the development of a well-trained practice nurse workforce with the skills and knowledge to meet the changing needs in primary care. It was developed by the four participating universities – Brighton, Canterbury Christ Church, Greenwich and Surrey – in consultation with subject experts in general practice, education and clinical commissioning groups.

The course element is fully funded by HEKSS for practice nurses working in the region and includes a contribution towards the student’s travel expenses to university. The personalised element will be funded through CCGs’ CPD funding.

For more information, visit www.kss.hee.nhs.uk/pntraining.


New film highlights Community Education Providers Network

HEKSS has produced a film to demonstrate the potential of the Community Education Providers Network (CEPN). The initiative, which has been rolled out across all 20 CCGs in the region, facilitates educational networks between GP practices with GP and primary care workforce tutors offering support in education, training and workforce planning.

The film was first shown at a recent CEPN stakeholder event which brought together CCGs, local medical committees and higher education providers to review progress (including the launch of the introduction to the practice nursing course – see above) and look at next steps.

For more information and to view the film, visit www.kss.hee.nhs.uk/cepn.


HEKSS promotes health and care careers to over 2,000 young people in Sussex

HEKSS organised an interactive health zone at the recent WorldSkills event for Sussex. The annual careers fair is organised by Sussex Education and Business Partnership and part of the national WorldSkills programme. It offers young people aged 14-19 from schools and colleges across the county an opportunity to explore employment and training options.

Working with Sussex Community NHS Trust, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, HEKSS career progression programme manager Mike Bailey co-ordinated an interactive health exhibition with simulation equipment on display and practice facilitators on hand to talk to attendees.

“We particularly wanted to promote the five simulation technician apprentice posts that we are piloting,” explained Mike. “The apprentices will be employed for 18 months and will be trained to use the simulation equipment to support training for others.”

Mike said: “The event was a great opportunity for local providers to engage young people in the range of employment options available in health and care and it was fantastic to see how enthusiastic so many of the attendees were about the possibilities of a career in healthcare.”


Ground-breaking community pharmacy workforce mapping pilot completed

HEKSS has completed an exercise to map the size and skills of the community pharmacy workforce. The work was carried out as a pilot to help Health Education England shape future data collection across all regions.

While data on the NHS employed pharmacy workforce have been collected annually, little has traditionally been known about the community pharmacy workforce – including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and medicines counter assistants. However, community pharmacy is well placed to do more to reduce the burden on A&E departments and to help GPs manage and support people with long term conditions in primary care.

Along with information on the NHS employed pharmacy workforce, the data will inform the planning of investment in local education commissioning and will support the ongoing development of the HEKSS skills development strategy (SDS). For example, the study found that community pharmacy staff wanted more training on supporting people with dementia and on providing healthy living advice.

The community pharmacy workforce report also makes a number of recommendations for Health Education England around how the data could be collected nationally in future.

For more information on the provider and community pharmacy workforce, visit the HEKSS website and download the community workforce report.


Dementia fellowship places still available

A few places are still available for acute hospital staff on the HEKSS dementia care fellowship. Following the success of the fellowship with GPs, nurses and therapists in primary and community care, Brighton and Sussex Medical School has secured funding to deliver the programme for doctors, nurses and other health professionals and clinical managers in hospital settings in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, including emergency care staff.

Dementia fellows develop the skills and knowledge to strive for best practice in dementia care and to support each other and colleagues to improve quality for people with dementia and their families over the coming years. For more information, please visit the website.

The fellowship is fully funded by HEKSS and is part of the skills development strategy dementia programme. As part of the programme, HEKSS recently supported an integrated health and social care leadership for dementia conference in partnership with the Sussex Dementia Workforce Development Group and Skills for Care. Visit the conference web page for more information and links to the presentations. In addition, HEKSS is on track to deliver the nationally mandated foundation level dementia awareness training across the region.


Read the full newsletter

Posted in letb | Leave a comment

AHSN Newsletter – 14 November 2014

Danish prescription?

Following feedback collected in Aug-Oct, our board meeting next week will focus on the services we offer members in 2015 and beyond. Our intention is to develop our existing range of services, by offering an expanded and refreshed portfolio of exciting knowledge exchange alongside more action oriented delivery projects. I’ll share more information after the Board meeting and for now would like to thank everyone who has helped shape our thinking in recent months.

It was timely then that this week around 30 colleagues from member organisations joined us on a 36 hour study tour of the healthcare innovation system in Southern Denmark. It’s the second time we’ve been there this year with a group from KSS. Once again, seeing what can be achieved by a region working together for the benefit of citizens and patients is truly inspiring and invaluable to shape future collaboration to improve services at pace and scale.

Co-creation

One of the key approaches which has a significant impact on the success of innovative solutions is co-creation. I’d like to share with you the thoughts from one of our Denmark tour delegates, Dr Tim Ojo, Executive Medical Director, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust:

“The lessons I learnt from the study tour of Odense in the main revolve around two central themes. The first of which is the careful attention paid to the multi-perspectival framing of innovation challenges and the clear conceptual articulation of co-created solutions. The second theme was the willingness to direct financial and human resources towards the empirical testing out of the co-created innovative solutions unhindered by fear of failure. The mantra- fail fast but fail cheap- appears to me to be a very good prescription for us in the UK.”

Seminar series launch

In the New Year we’ll be launching a new seminar series aimed at equipping leading innovators with insight, tools and a network of peers to tackle challenges on a region-wide scale. The seminars are being organised with the Health and Europe Centre, a Kent based social enterprise and feature leading UK and European thought leaders and healthcare innovators.

Clinical nominations close today!

Nominations for our healthcare innovations awards close today, 14 November! So it’s not too late but the clock really is ticking. If you’ve been meaning to nominate an outstanding colleague or team, don’t delay, nominate today. The awards celebrate the clinical teams who are raising the bar for sustained improvements in patient care and driving economic growth. Awards will be presented at the Kent Surrey Sussex Expo and Awards event on 13 January 2015.

Full details and a link to the short and simple form can be found here.

Kind regards,
Guy Boersma
Managing Director, KSS AHSN


In this week’s edition:


New SBRI Call: Save The Date

[South East Health Technologies Alliance]

Date: Monday 1st December

Venue: Holiday Inn Gatwick, Povey Cross Road, Gatwick

Duration: 12:30 – 17:00

Cost: Free to attend

Places are limited so early booking essential

  • Are you thinking about applying for the new call
  • or have already started an application and have attended the national meeting?
  • do you need a bit more help?

Why not come and find out more about the new call and get some help with those forms! Please click here for more details of SBRI call.

You will also have the opportunity to have a one to one session with Rob Berry from the KSS AHSN who understands the system – (please apply for a 10 minute appointment). Please contact Clare Ansett to book your 1:1 session – clare.ansett@sehta.co.uk, and click here to register for the event.

PolyPhotonix Wins Market Gravity Innovation Award

[National Business Awards UK/ Market Gravity – Press Release]

Congratulations to bio-photonic research company PolyPhotonix who received the Market Gravity Innovation Award at the National Business Awards earlier this week. Recognising all forms of successfully applied innovation, the award celebrates the ideas that have had the greatest impact on an organisation or industry.

PolyPhotonix is developing innovative light therapy treatments for macular eye disease as well as other medical conditions. The National Business Awards judges said: “A true disruptor, PolyPhotonix has created a radically different solution to a major healthcare problem that could save the NHS £1billion in diabetic treatment.”

The NHS in Kent, Surrey and Sussex is at the forefront of working with PolyPhotonix to bring this radical innovation to patients. KSS AHSN has supported the company to set up trials in the ophthalmology pathways around five local acute trusts for the company’s Noctura 400 Sleep Mask. The trials aim to produce evidence to submit to NICE for a MTEP ‘case for adoption’ endorsement in 2015.

Read the full press release

UK Lifescience Industry Magazine – Issue 8

[Medilink South West]

The UK Lifescience Industry magazine is a collaborative initiative between Medilink UK regional partners and other national and regional life science associations. Hard copies will be distributed to our Members but a PDF is now available online via our website.

Please click here for further information.

NHS Kent, Surrey and Sussex Leadership Summit & Awards

[NHS Kent, Surrey and Sussex Leadership Collaborative]

The NHS Kent, Surrey and Sussex Leadership Collaborative invite you to their 2014 Leadership Summit & Awards on 27th November 2014 at The River Centre in Tonbridge, Kent.

You can find out who is speaking at the summit, who the awards finalists are and book your place, here. You can also get the latest information on twitter using #kssleadsummit

SEHTA Regional Business Awards 2014

[South East Health Technologies Alliance]

As part of Medilink UK, SEHTA is celebrating excellence by organising its annual regional competition to select the best achieving companies of 2014 in 5 categories:

  • Export Achievement
  • Start-up
  • Innovation
  • Outstanding Achievement
  • Partnership with the NHS

Nominations close at 5.00pm on Friday 5th December 2014. Awards will be presented at the KSS Expo and Awards in January.

To download full details and application forms, please click here.

Recruiting participants in health research

[NHS Health Research Authority]

“Recruiting participants for health research: a public dialogue” is being undertaken by the Health Research Authority (HRA) with support from Sciencewise over the month of November. The HRA has commissioned independent research consultancy OPM to undertake the exercise, inviting the public to come together with experts to debate key health research issues such as:

  • Who should be allowed access to patient records in order to find people who might be interested in taking part in a study?
  • Are there alternative ways of approaching patients to invite them to take part in a study?
  • Should the level of consent be different for trials involving treatments that are already being used in the NHS?

Public workshops are being held in England and Wales throughout November. For more information visit their website: www.rphr.org.uk

Read more

Posted in ahsn | Leave a comment

New child protection packages launched

The online simulations, known as Looking out for Lottie and Visiting Elliot, will help child protection professionals identify risk factors in the sexual abuse of vulnerable children and young people.

Looking out for Lottie uses social media to follow the story of schoolgirl Lottie and how she becomes involved with Jake, a seemingly plausible young man, who grooms her for sexual exploitation. By following the simulation, professionals are able to gain insight into the process, the behaviour of the groomer and the implications for the victim.

This simulation was funded by Health Education Kent, Surrey and Sussex . There is also a version for professionals to use directly with young people.

Visiting Elliot focusses on a home visit to a sex offender just released on licence into the community. It provides an opportunity for professionals to identify and then analyse risk factors in Elliot’s life.

The two training simulations are the latest in a series launched by the CCP, which include Rosie 1 and 2. These both offer child protection professionals at all stages of their careers a safe medium to explore and reflect on child protection assessment in a family.

The Centre has also worked with Kent Police and Kent County Council to develop Zak, another training simulation which explores how young people are groomed for radicalisation and extremism.

Posted in news | Leave a comment

KSS AHSN Newsletter – 06 November 2014

Innovation acceleration

This week’s Health Service Journal features the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) healthcare programme and how it boosts SME innovation. It’s well worth a look gain a better understanding of what the SBRI programme is all about and the current opportunities.

The piece quotes Sir Bruce Keogh, National Clinical Director, NHS England:

One opportunity for the NHS to support economic growth is by ensuring that the innovative products we need are developed and grown at home and to NHS specified need. The SBRI programme does exactly this. We define the challenges – we fund companies to match our needs and with the AHSNs we seek to embed these new ways of working throughout the NHS.

That neatly summarises our role: speeding up and extending NHS use of proven new products, technology and services with high potential to improve patient care and drive economic growth. SBRI winners making an impact in KSS include telehealth innovators Docobo working with Sussex Community Trust and PolyPhotonix who we have supported to establish three trial sites for their sleep mask which is a new treatment diabetic retinopathy.

Innovation enabled

SBRI is designed to support economic growth and enable the development of innovative products and services. It achieves those goals by offering significant support to SMEs. It works through a series of “competitions”, each focused on a specific theme. Competition winners are fully funded through three stages, from proof of concept to delivery in the marketplace. AHSNs can often help bidders to apply successfully and at the other end of the pipeline, enhance access to a wider NHS market. Last year we worked with Wessex AHSN and SEHTA to lead the SBRI competition around COPD and the AHSNs are collaborating to share leadership of the programmes based on local priorities.

The current competitions are:

  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health – led by West of England, West Midlands and Imperial College AHSNs;
  • Telehealth/Telecare for outpatients – led by Yorkshire & Humber AHSN;
  • Brain Injury – led by Eastern AHSN with the NIHR HTC and North East & North Cumbria AHSN;
  • Diabetic Foot Ulcers – led by East Midlands and the Innovate UK pathways team;
  • Medical Imaging – led by UCL Partners AHSN.

Applications forms and information for these competitions can be found at www.sbrihealthcare.co.uk and the deadline is 12 noon on 9 December 2014. Links to AHSN information and contact details are on the NHS England website.

Clock ticks on nomination time

The clocks may have gone back but the deadline to nominate outstanding clinical teams and innovators for the prestigious new KSS AHSN awards approaches rapidly! Nominations need to be in by 5pm on Friday 14 November. You can find all the details about the awards and the simple nomination process on our website. Awards will be presented at the KSS Expo and Awards in January.

Kind regards,

Guy Boersma
Managing Director, KSS AHSN

NIHR Fellowships Round 8 is now open for applications
[National Institute for Health Research]

NIHR Fellowships support outstanding individuals to become the health research leaders of the future by buying out their salary costs, meeting their training and development costs and by contributing to the research costs needed to complete an identified research project.

Applications are invited from individuals working in any sector or scientific discipline who propose to undertake people or patient-based clinical and applied health research at an institution based in England.

Five levels of NIHR Fellowship award are available: Doctoral, Post-doctoral, Career Development, Senior Research and Transitional Research.

Closing date for the applications is 21st January 2015 at 1.00pm. For further information, please click here.

HEKSS Innovation Challenge Fund receives 52 entries
[Health Education Kent, Surrey and Sussex (HEKSS)]

Fifty-two proposals have been submitted for the HEKSS Innovation Challenge Fund from a wide range of health and care providers across Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The fund was established to speed up the introduction of new approaches to training and education that will enable health and care professionals to deliver better, more efficient care for patients.

Short-listing is currently taking place and the judging panel, a sub-section of the HEKSS Research, Innovation and Evaluation Programme Board, are aiming to announce the winners later in November.

All those who submitted proposals will be invited to join a HEKSS Research and Innovation Hub event in Spring 2015 to share and develop innovative ideas and provide opportunities for collaboration and access to funding streams.

Posted in ahsn | Leave a comment

KSS AHSN Newsletter – 29 October 2014

Forward thinking

The NHS Five Year Forward View, published 23 October 2014, sets out a vision for a sustainable, comprehensive, tax-funded NHS to be proud of. It represents the shared view of the NHS’ national leadership including NHS England, Public Health England, Monitor, Health Education England, the Care Quality Commission and the NHS Trust Development Authority.

nhs-five-year-forward-view

The Five Year Forward View sets out how the NHS can thrive in the coming years and what it will look like. A common characteristic of each model is the focus on and investment in prevention and early intervention to reduce demand on hospital services. The intention is to reverse the current situation where the NHS spends more on bariatric surgery than it does on lifestyle coaching and proven interventions to reduce or prevent obesity.

There is also a focus on more engaged relationships with citizens to promote well-being and prevent avoidable illness. And when they do need services, the patient can expect far greater control of their own care.

Service transformation

The document offers several examples of transformational changes to reflect local need, local decisions and the diversity of modern English communities.

“In Kent, 20 GPs and almost 150 staff operate from three modern sites providing many of the tests, investigations, minor injuries and minor surgery usually provided in hospital. It shows what can be done when general practice operates at scale. Better results, better care, a better experience for patients and significant savings.”

It also sets out the six new care models that will be promoted in England over the next five years. These include a care model based on the Accountable Care Organisations discussed at our King’s Fund event last month and a care model for enhanced health in Care Homes – a new area of focus for the AHSN following the launch earlier in the month of our Care Homes collaboratives.

Funding scenarios

The Forward View presents three possible future scenarios in response to the challenges facing public services of a growing population, increasing treatment options and the prevalence of avoidable illness resulting from contemporary lifestyles.

In the best scenario, funding from Government increases in line with population growth (rather than the current ring-fenced ‘flat cash’ budget) and enables the NHS to invest in prevention, early intervention and reduce demand for hospital-based services. This investment enables the NHS to raise its efficiency gains to nearer 3% from a current yearly average of 0.8%. Health technology and innovation will play their part here.

Gearing

The new Government will decide the NHS budget after May’s General Election. What is clear though is that a sustainable NHS is one that is geared towards earlier intervention, with sustained social care and more healthcare outside of hospitals.

Support

The AHSN is here to support this future and we were delighted with the positive feedback to the first region-wide Care Homes Collaborative and interest expressed in a Community of Interest, which we will take forward alongside other activity to support service improvement for Older People with multiple long term conditions.

Nominations now open!

Submissions are now open for the Kent Surrey Sussex Service Improvement and Innovation Awards 2015. The deadline for submissions is approaching fast – there are just two weeks to go!

Please click here to enter. Note that submissions are due by 5pm, Friday 14th November 2014. We look forward to receiving your submission!

HSJ showcases the best innovation in Healthcare

All this week HSJ is celebrating the innovators making a difference to patient care and policy in the health service.

The NHS Five Year Forward View last week set out system leaders’ vision for how the health service can meet public demand and remain affordable over the next five years. On innovation and technology, the forward view said the reason investment has not always delivered the return it should is because care models and working cultures have not been ready.

Read more

Invitation to whole system modelling event

System Modelling is a powerful method for testing, understanding the implications of and building consensus around proposed service configurations and care pathway changes.

KSS AHSN is keen to promote the wider use of System Modelling and is holding a one-day event on 6 November 2014 at the Gatwick Holiday Inn.  Key features include:

  1. Aims
  • To demonstrate how System Modelling can be used to test and enable healthcare improvement
  • To identify how System Modelling can improve services for older people in KSS
  • To stimulate interest and connect users and suppliers with an interest in using System Modelling in KSS.
  1. Outcomes
  • Connections made, knowledge exchanged, interest developed
  • Users and suppliers with a better understanding of each other and the potential for System Modelling in improving services for older people in KSS
  • Candidates identified for KSS AHSN joint project(s).
  1. Attendance
  • Users: NHS, Public Health, Social Care and Local Authority staff involved in service improvement and commissioning.
  • Suppliers: Industry, academics and NHS organisations experienced in providing System Modelling software and expertise.

There are slots for Case Study presentations and slots for demonstrations. Please contact Gill Pottsif you are currently active in modelling and are interested in presenting or demonstrating your work / product.

Attendance will be free to AHSN members and presenters and £75 per delegate for others. Please contact: janet.moore10@nhs.net to register andGill Potts for further information.

Jeremy Hunt: message to NHS staff on ‘Sign up to Safety’ campaign

The Secretary of State for Health talks about how improving the safety and quality of care can reduce costs in the NHS:

I am delighted that so many trusts are on board, and I look forward to many more joining the Sign up to Safety campaign to help them make the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world.

While visiting BCH, I spoke to staff about the value of safe care – not just for patients, but for the NHS too. I talked about how unsafe care is costing the NHS between £1bn and £2.5bn each year – money that could be invested in more front line staff, better training, better equipment and more time for you to care.

Read more

New national plan for tackling physical inactivity

Public Health England have published Everybody Active, Every Day, a framework for addressing the national physical inactivity epidemic, responsible for one in six deaths and costing the country an estimated £7.4 billion a year.

Posted in ahsn | Leave a comment