Care England Policy Insight (14.08.2023)

 

Major conditions strategy: case for change and our strategic framework

Today, the DHSC has published their Major Conditions Strategy Policy Paper. In this paper, the DHSC recognise that while the current health and social care model has supported us so far, it needs to evolve significantly to meet the future needs of an ageing population living with multiple health conditions. The strategy focuses on addressing major health conditions like cancers, cardiovascular disease (CVD) (including stroke and diabetes), musculoskeletal disorders (MSK), mental ill health, dementia, and chronic respiratory disease (CRD). It emphasises utilising proven enablers like digital technologies, innovation, research, and leadership to support this.

The strategy outlines a 5-year plan with five key areas of impact, which are listed below. It acknowledges the collective effort required from the government, healthcare providers, patient representatives, industry, and partners. While the focus is on England, there's a commitment to improving health services across the entire UK. The strategy development involves analysing responses from the call for evidence, of which Care England submitted evidence. The ultimate aim is to safeguard and improve health for future generations through:

  • rebalancing the health and care system, over time, towards a personalised approach to prevention through the management of risk factors

  • embedding early diagnosis and treatment delivery in the community

  • managing multiple conditions effectively - including embedding generalist and specialist skills within teams, organisations and individual clinicians

  • seeking much closer alignment and integration between physical and mental health services

  • shaping services and support around the lives of people, giving them greater choice and control where they need and want it and real clarity about their choices and next steps in their care

In the next phase of the strategy development, the DHSC states that they will continue to engage closely with people with lived experience, academic and other experts and representative organisations. They also state that they will work within the framework set out in this document and further develop the themes and issues they have identified. They will also draw on the recently closed call for evidence and potentially add further themes and issues suggested by that process within the overall framework.
You can view the full publication here

Letter from Health Secretary to devolved administrations

Yesterday, The UK Government Health Secretary wrote to the devolved administrations inviting them for talks on how the UK can work together to tackle waiting lists.
It details:

  • His offer to facilitate a Ministerial working group session to share lessons on work across the UK to tackle the elective waiting list

  • His openness to considering any request for patients waiting for lengthy periods for treatment in Scotland and Wales to be able to choose from alternate providers in England

  • He welcomes the work being done to improve data comparability on key UK-wide health performance metrics

You can read the letter in full here

£25m funding boost for research into Long Term Health Conditions

The NIHR and the UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are investing £25m to fund ambitious new research to improve the lives of people with multiple long-term conditions (MLTC).


Older people are more likely to live with MLTC than younger populations. Yet, the burden of MLTC at all ages is significant, and younger people will be living with MLTC or complex care needs requiring treatment, care, and support for longer.


 This new research brings together different communities, health researchers, and engineers to advance and develop research in MLTC, for the benefit of people with MLTC and their carers.
Click here to read the full announcement

NHS delivers another record year of lifesaving cancer checks for patients

Today, NHS England has reported that the number of people receiving lifesaving checks for cancer in the last year has hit nearly three million (2.92m) – more than any other year on record.
 
It was stated that, in June alone, over a quarter of a million people (261,000) were seen for urgent cancer checks by the NHS, which is well over double the number of people checked in the same month a decade ago (101,592).
 
Furthermore, a record 335,000 people have also started treatment for cancer in the last year (July 2022 – June 2023), up by over 20,000 on same period before the pandemic (July 2018 – June 2019).
 
Ensuring people are diagnosed with cancer at an early stage is a key priority for the NHS as treatments are more likely to be successful, giving people a greater chance of surviving the disease.
 
This record year of checks comes despite NHS staff managing one of the busiest and most challenging winters and the most significant period of industrial action the health service has ever experienced.
 
To meet the increasing demand for cancer services, the NHS is investing billions in diagnostics and treatments, including through the expansion of dozens of community diagnostic centres across the country, mobile lung trucks, and cancer symptom hotlines.
 
To read the full press release, click here

Health care students could be 1 in 6 of those starting higher education by 2031/32 under NHS workforce plan

Today, a new analysis by the Health Foundation shows the scale of the challenge facing universities and healthcare providers as they prepare to expand the intake of clinical students to meet the commitments set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. 

The analysis highlights the speed at which universities and the NHS will need to expand capacity to meet the Plan’s commitments, and the implications for the workforce needed to train the doctors and nurses of the future. It calls for more detail on how the funding of these commitments will be phased and implemented, and on how universities and employers will be engaged. The analysis also emphasises the importance of making the NHS a more attractive place to work to ensure that students take up expanded training places in sufficiently large numbers. 

Nursing and midwifery training intakes (including nursing associates and health visitors) would increase by around 32,000, from 40,400 in 2022/23 to 72,400 by 2031/32. Medical school places would increase by 7,500 to a total of 15,000 by 2031/32. Adding in the projected increases in the number of midwives, allied health professionals and other clinical roles, the total intake of clinical students would increase to around 125,700 in 2031/32, up from 76,300 in 2022/23 (excluding GP specialty trainees).  

To deliver on the plans, universities and NHS providers will need to ensure there are sufficient teaching staff to deliver the expanded training and provide sufficient clinical placements to enable on-the-job training.

You can read the full analysis by The Health Foundation here

Tenders and contract opportunities for adult social care

The link below lists recent tender and contract opportunities for adult social care providers to consider. 


Click here to see full list of tender and contract opportunities.

Care England re-issues gas and electricity tender for care providers

Care providers with energy contracts expiring before 2026, who wish to secure the lowest  possible energy price available at their renewal date and to benefit from support and solutions not available to individual organisations on their own, should register their interest here and complete the expression of interest link. 

 
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