The impact of NHS administration on patient care

Since 2019, National Voices, The King's Fund and Healthwatch England have been collaborating on a project looking at the impact of NHS administration on care.

Their research suggests admin plays a critical role in the overall care experience of people with long-term conditions, who use multiple health and care services or have additional needs.

National Voices’ report, Paper Works: the critical role of administration in quality care, documents the central role administration plays in people’s healthcare experiences.

The King’s Fund report Admin matters: the impact of NHS administration on patient care, says patients, carers and staff all experience NHS admin processes that do not consistently meet the needs of all users and outlines a framework for improvement.

This Healthwatch England article says a bad experience of admin processes can change how patients feel about their care.

Health Information Week 2021

Health Information Week 2021 takes place from July 5 to July 11.

This year the event has returned to its standard format of a suggested theme for each day of the week.

A full list of themes and resources to support activity can be found by clicking on the link below. You can get involved on Twitter using #HIW2021.

Health Information Week

Action to address incorrect exclusions from cervical screening

Around 430 people incorrectly excluded from the Scottish cervical screening programme are being offered fast-track appointments following an urgent review.

The review found some people who had undergone a 'sub-total' hysterectomy since 1997 were excluded from cervical screening in error.

NHS Health Boards have contacted those known to be affected and work is ongoing to review cases prior to 1997.

In partnership with NHS Scotland, PIF member Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust has made its national helpline available to anyone with concerns.

Scottish Government

Co-production Week 2021

National Co-production Week is back for a sixth year from July 5 to July 9.

The event celebrates the benefits of co-production, shares good practice and promotes the contribution of people who use services.

Programmes, activities and events hosted by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and other partners promoting Co-production Week 2020 can be found by clicking on the link below.

SCIE

NHS data sharing success rests on transparency and gaining public trust

In this article, Paul Walker from Skills for Health says informed consent is the key to maintaining public trust on how their information is used by GPs and the wider NHS.

He says, if the ability to opt-out is not accessible and universal, its ethics can be called into question.

HTN

Research shows two million people may have had Long Covid

More than two million people in England are thought to have had one or more COVID-19 symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks.

The government-funded study is based on self-reported data from 508,707 adults aged 18 and above who took part in REACT-2 rounds three to five between September 2020 and February 2021. 

The findings suggest prevalence of Long Covid increases with age, with a 3.5% increase in likelihood in each decade of life. 

Long Covid rates were also higher among women, people who are overweight or obese, who smoke, live in deprived areas, or had been admitted to hospital.

GOV.UK

Training package aims to increase understanding of COVID-19 vaccine

A team from the University of Nottingham’s School of Health Sciences, along with an international review panel, has developed a free training package to help increase understanding of the COVID-19 vaccine.

CoVE Package: COVID-19 Vaccine Education is intended for healthcare professionals and students to help them explain why vaccine uptake is important for individual and societal health.

The free training package is hosted on HELM Open Repository and is available via the link below.

University of Nottingham

Failure to reach migrants living with HIV

The Government and NHS are failing to reach and support migrants in the UK living with or at risk of HIV, according to a report from the National AIDS Trust.

Migrants interviewed by the National AIDS Trust said they experienced significant barriers accessing HIV testing, prevention, treatment, and care, despite being disproportionately affected by HIV.

A key barrier was a lack of access to appropriate information about healthcare entitlements.

National AIDS Trust

NICE recommends mental health support for people who severely affected by acne

NICE has for the first time recommended mental health support for people who are severely affected by their acne in final guidance published last week.

The new guideline is the first by NICE to address acne vulgaris and offers recommendations on pharmacological and photodynamic therapies.

Recommendations also emphasise the importance of supporting the mental health of individuals who are experiencing significant psychological distress as a result of their condition.

NICE

Chlamydia screening to focus on reducing harm

England’s National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) is changing to put a greater emphasis on reducing the harm of untreated infections on young women’s reproductive health. 

The programme will aim to provide treatment more rapidly and expand testing in community settings for sexually active women aged under 25 years.

Until now, the focus has been on increasing chlamydia diagnoses through asymptomatic screening in young men and women. 

The changed approach follows an evidence review and a public consultation.

GOV.UK 

Challenges and opportunities in new era of healthcare digitisation

A new report by the National Association of Primary Care (NAPC) discusses the future of digital healthcare.

No better time to make health tech happen says deep-seated health, social and economic inequalities exposed by the pandemic can be tackled by technology but this should be done using population health principles.

This includes understanding the needs of populations and embedding technology into a range of approaches that aim to serve these needs rather than seeing any single technology as the solution to better outcomes. 

NAPC

Deafblind people’s experiences of accessing social care

In this article, Hannah Tweed and Jonathan Reid from PIF member the ALLIANCE discuss agency, communication and what needs to change for people who are deafblind.

They say there is a need for greater awareness raising and understanding of deafblindness across all sectors. 

In clinical terms, deafblindness can be measured in the loss of acuity to vision or hearing, however, it is the resulting social and emotional barriers that for many are most impactful.

ALLIANCE

International survey on COVID-19 vaccines and brain tumour patients

The International Brain Tumour Alliance (IBTA) has launched a survey on COVID-19 vaccines and brain tumour patients.  

The aim is to collect data on how the coronavirus vaccination programmes in different countries have been organised and offered to brain tumour patients.

The link below will take you to the English version. The survey is available in a further seven languages via the IBTA website.

IBTA