HSJ Live 09.08.2013 Integrated care fund could be used to protect social care

3.22pm Macmillan Cancer Support has published new YouGov research which showed that an estimated 18,000 cancer patients’ medical files are lost during their hospital stay every year. The research also revealed that cancer patients had been patronised by hospital staff and some had been examined on an open ward, with no privacy.

In light of the findings the charity welcomed a commitment from NHS England to continue with the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey. Macmillan director of external affairs Hilary Cross said: “We are pleased that NHS England has recognised the importance of the National Cancer Patient Experience survey and has outlined its commitment to continue it. The survey has been hugely effective as a warning system for hospitals to improve the care they give to cancer patients and its continuation will help to put patient experience at the heart of the NHS – where it needs to be.”

2.42pm Our story about the integration and transformation fund now includes quotes from Foundation Trust Network chief executive Chris Hopson.

He warns against health and wellbeing boards being given the “whip hand” over how the cash is spent, and says there’s an “arm wrestle” going on between the NHS and social care over how the money can be used.

2.11pm Sir Michael Rawlins has been appointed to chair a clinical advisory group on the reconfiguration of children’s heart surgery services by NHS England. The Safe and Sustainable reconfiguration proposals have been abandoned following a judicial review bought by one of the trusts that was set to lose services. The former chair of the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence will support NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh in drawing up new proposals.

In a letter informing health secretary Jeremy Hunt of the arrangement, NHS England chair Malcolm Grant said they would be looking “afresh at the demographic and other relevant data” and considering the whole pathway.

He said: “Although the Safe and Sustainable conclusions cannot be implemented, there has

nonetheless been some very good work during the past five years, with extensive involvement from clinicians and patient groups, to develop standards and proposals for networks.”

1.52pm HSJ’s Ben Clover has got the detail on the row over cancer reconfiguration in Manchester we reported onearlier this morning. He writes: “The move is the latest twist in a long-running conflict over where surgery for upper gastro-intestinal cancer and urological cancer is provided in the city.”

12.55pm The story about the £3.8billion integrated care fund has been updated. David Williams and Kaye Wiggins report that councils will be allowed to use some of the fund to protect existing social care services rather than fund service transformation.

12.10pm Commenting on the integrations plans, Bill McCarthy, national director of policy at NHS England, has warned the money will have to come from existing budgets.

He said: “The spending round resulted in a tough settlement for the NHS for 2015/16. The money to be invested in the integration transformation fund will have to be found by CCGs from budgets which will scarcely have grown from the previous year in real terms. However the fund does create a real opportunity to achieve improved outcomes for people.  Our aim is for a health and social care system that is truly seamless so that people receive the right care at the right time in the right place.”

12.08pm Clinical commissioning groups will have to draw up two-year service integration plans by the end of the current financial year under new directions published today by NHS England, HSJ’s David Williams reports.

The national body has released a joint statement with the Local Government Association setting out how the £3.8bn integration and transformation fund is to be managed.

12.03pm Public Health England has stopped producing regular analysis reports which recently revealed an escalating death rate amongst over 75s, HSJ has learned. In an exclusive report Dave West, who revealed the shocking figures last month, investigates what’s behind the decision.

11.48am The British Medical Association has warned the government against making planned changes to how the NHS pension scheme is valued – as revealed by HSJ last week. The doctors union says the changes would have a “significant impact” on patient care.

11.26am The article defending the Berwick review that went live on HSJ this morning is attracting some comments on twitter.

“Not going to apologise for wanting actual action rather then words about culture #Berwick afterall, improve the service improve the culture,” tweets one commentator.

11.01am The Independent carries a prominent opinion piece on the NHS from its chief editorial writer Mary Dejevsky. She lists a litany of bad decisions over recent decades – from PFI deals to the GP contract – and argues in favour of reconfiguration and centralisation of services to make the health service “fit for this century”.

She writes: “Our sepia-tinted self-image is consoling, but it hinders NHS change more than anything else.

“In its organisation and buildings, it is stuck in several time-warps and only the philosophy – a universal service, free at the point of delivery – remains valid.”

10.47am A couple of interesting stories from HSJ Local today. Clinical Commissioning Groups in Cumbria and the North East have formed a collaborative group for joint contracting, system leadership and sharing expertise. The Northern Clinical Commissioning Collaborative includes all 13 CCGs in that patch. It is chaired by Northumberland CCG chief clinical officer Alistair Blair.

Meanwhile in Bristol, social enterprise which saw its non-executives resign en masse earlier this year has been given a “clean bill of health” and awarded a two year contract extension by commissioners.

Read the background to the story here.

10.43am The population boom means 5,000 more midwives are required, the Royal College of Midwives has claimed. Between June 2011 and June 2012 there were more live births in the UK than in any year since 1972. The higher proportion of babies being born to older women is an additional pressure on maternity services, the RCM warns.

10.40am Also new on the website today, Monitor has announced it is investigating complaints from two Manchester trusts about NHS England’s commissioning of cancer services. The investigation will also examine whether any choice or competition rules have been breached in plans for a reconfiguration of cancer surgery services in the area. More detail to come later today.

10.03am Professor Don Berwick and leading members of his patient safety review group have hit back and critics who dismissed their report as “soft”. The government commissioned report was published earlier this week but was dismissed by some for lacking specifics. Professor Berwick and review group members David Dalton and Elaine Inglesby-Burke tell HSJ’s Sarah Calkin why the report matters.

8:10am: There is consensus in health policy that the service needs a radical shift from hospital to community based care.

But while reconfiguration occupies the headlines, an equally significant engine to drive a more sustainable NHS  is “co-production” − the idea that those who use health and care services can be centrally involved in critiquing them and reshaping them.

Today on HSJ’s innovation and efficiency channel, Don Redding of National Voices, says that given a central role reshaping services, healthcare users can drive better patient experience and create a more sustainable use of resources.