2011 news
19 December 2011
The Cancer Commissioning Toolkit is the first point of contact for cancer commissioners to benchmark the services they commission at National, NHS Trust, Primary Cart Trust, GP practice, and Clinical Commissioning Group level.
The toolkit now includes new data and a wide range of high level indicators and profiles across the patient journey.
For more information, see: Cancer Commisssioning Toolkit - December release
View the NHS Cancer Commissioning Toolkit
15 December 2011
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has launched a new website for health and social care staff who want to provide support to people at the end of their lives. The End of Life Care Hub provides information and ideas for social care professionals who work with people at the end of their lives, and their families. It will also be of interest to medical colleagues who work with them.
View SCIE's End of Life Care Hub website.
End of Life Care Profiles updated
13 December 2011
The National End of Life Care Intelligence Network has updated the End of Life Care Profiles with 2010 data - the latest available nationally. This brings the Profiles right up-to-date. We have also made improvements to the display and changes in how some of the data are categorised in response to feedback from users.
Take a look at the updated End of Life Care Profiles now.
Plans to improve cancer intelligence published
13 December 2011
The Department of Health and NCIN have published a Cancer Intelligence Framework. This sets out commitments for action and aspirations for the future. The aim is to make cancer intelligence services truly world class and to meet the needs of all stakeholders.
See: In Intelligence Framework for Cancer
7 December 2011
The latest annual edition of the National Council for Palliative Care’s Specialist Palliative Care Workforce Survey, produced by the National Council for Palliative Care, expresses concerns that an ageing nursing workforce combined with staff shortages could post serious problems in the future and impact on the quality of care that the terminally ill receive.
Download the report:NCPL Specialist Palliative Care Workforce Survey
National General Practice Profiles and Disease Prevalence Estimates
7 December 2011
The East of England Public Health Observatory (erpho), on behalf of Public Health Observatories in England, has updated its National General Practice Profilesand Disease Prevalence Estimates tools.
1 December 2011
Data released by Dr Foster shows that chances of surviving hospital treatment depend not just on where you are treated but also when. Patients admitted as an emergency at weekends are significantly more likely to die. The hospitals with the fewest senior doctors available at the weekend have the highest morality rates.
Download the report: Inside your hospital
30 November 2011
NICE is an independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance and standards on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill health. In collaboration with the NHS and social care sectors, NICE has published new quality standards for end of life care for adults across the NHS in England.
View End of life care for adults quality standard
24 November 2011
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have published a report revealing disturbing evidence that the poor treatment of many older people is breaching their human rights.
Download the report: Close to home: An inquiry into older people and human rights in home care
New report on suicides and self-harm in the South West
4 October 2011
A report published by the South West Public Health Observatory highlights recent increases in both suicides and hospital admissions for self-harm in the South West of England. This follows a pattern across other regions. The report makes recommendations for prevention, including calling on a wide range of agencies and partners to develop strategic plans for suicide and self-harm prevention at a local level.
The report can be downloaded from the SWPHO website.
8 September 2011
The National End of Life Care Programme and the Department of Health are currently developing a new national information standard.
Throughout September 2011 they are asking professionals, partners and the public about their views on the core data that will make up the information standard. This data will be collected when a person approaches the end of life and recorded on electronic registers.
For further information and to complete the survey, visit the National End of Life Care Programme website. The deadline for completing the survey is Friday, 30 September.
5 September 2011
The Centre for Workforce Intelligence has recently published a new report on the medical workforce with recommendations for training numbers by speciality and geography. The report includes a factsheet on Palliative Medicine.
26 August 2011
Thinktank Demos has published a report, The Truth about Suicide, which, through a literature review, FOI requests, semi-structured interviews with coroners and an in-depth case study of Norwich District Coroner’s office, investigates the truth about suicide and serious physical illness. It finds wide variation in how verdicts of suicide are recorded by coroners and made available to the public and policymakers.
To download the report (free), go to http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/thetruthaboutsuicide
2 August 2011
A new report compares people's preferences for place of death with actual place of death as recorded by Office for National Statistics mortality data. A population based telephone survey was used to explore people's preferences. The study was carried out by Barbara Gomes, Natalia Calanzani and Professor Irene Higginson from Cicely Saunders International. It was commissioned by the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network. It provides better information to direct service improvements, enabling more people to die in their place of choice.
Download the report: Local preferences and place of death in regions within England 2010
End of Life Care Quality Assessment (ELCQuA) Tool
20 July 2011
This online self-assessment tool has been developed by Mayden, on behalf of the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, to help commissioners and providers of end of life care monitor the quality of services.
Progress can be assessed against a set of core specifications based on the Department of Health’s End of life care strategy: quality markers and measures for end of life care (2009), which was published to support implementation of the national end of life care strategy.
It also links to the NHS Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention Challenge (QIPP), the end of life care key performance indicators (KPIs) and the Care Quality Commission prompts for end of life care. Once published, the NICE Quality Standards for end of life care will be incorporated as well.
For more information
5 July 2011
Care coordination and communication with people at the end of life is fundamental to the provision of high quality care, and to support people to plan their care and articulate their wishes and needs.The Department of Health and the National End of Life Care Programme have supported 8 pilot sites across England to explore the feasibility and testing of electronic end of life care registers to support coordination of care. This project has now completed and the final project evaluation report has been published.
The report highlights the achievements of the pilot sites, identifies factors for consideration and good practice and the collective learning from the project. The report is particularly relevant for all those who are engaged in commissioning end of life care services. It will also be of interest to health and social care professionals involved in delivering coordinated end of life care.
Download the report, End of Life Locality Registers Evaluation.
1 July 2011
The Palliative Care Review funding team has published its final report and made their recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health. These include:
- the introduction of the first per-patient funding system for palliative care in the NHS;
- the development of a palliative care tariff based on need;
- a funding system which incentivises good outcomes for patients, irrespective of time and setting; and
- providing incentives for commissioning integrated care packages which stimulate community services.
Download the report.
28 June 2011
People in England are living longer and fewer people are dying prematurely from heart disease and stroke. The 2011 Local Health Profiles, published by the Public Health Observatories, in partnership with the Department of Health, provide statistics for each local area and indicate how any area is performing against the national average.
View the media release.
View the Profiles.
21 June 2011
Earlier discussion and planning of end of life care could result in more people dying in their place of choice, according to a report published today.
It notes that 69% of people with respiratory conditions other than lung cancer die in hospital - compared to an average of 58% of all deaths. That figure is higher than for any other condition and such patients are also the least likely to die at home (13%).
Published by the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, the report also suggests that the likelihood of dying at home depends on the type of respiratory condition a person has.
Read the media release.
Download the report.
16 June 2011
The National End of Life Care Intelligence Network is one year old. This document reviews achievements, developments and progress over the last year.
12 May 2011
BBC News report on the 'Council Spending: Making it Clear' survey, which looks at planned expenditure of 76% of councils in England.
11 May 2011
Report making recommendations for a single, clear, modern statute and code of practice that would pave the way for a coherent social care system.
15 February 2011
The NHS is failing to treat elderly patients in England with care, dignity and respect, an official report says. The Health Service Ombudsman came to the conclusion after carrying out an in-depth review of 10 cases. The ombudsman, which deals with serious complaints against the NHS, said the patients - aged over 65 - suffered unnecessary pain, neglect and distress.
24 January 2011
Quarter of a million people with dementia are being let down by care and support that fails to meet their needs an Alzheimer’s Society report found today (Tuesday 25 January 2011).
According to 'Support. Stay. Save. Care and support of people with dementia in their own homes', this substandard care will result in 50,000 people being forced into care homes early. For each avoidable month these people spend in care, the state will face a bill of at least £70 million. Tens of thousands more will be admitted to hospital unnecessarily.
Carers who said the person with dementia was not receiving sufficient care and support (50%) spoke of people being left bedridden, wearing unchanged incontinence pads and malnourished. More than half (52%) of carers were also being put at risk of stress, depression and other serious illnesses because they were being left to struggle unsupported...
Read the media release.
Read the report Support. Stay. Save: Care and support of people with dementia in their own homes