Carers strategy – deadline 20th September

There are so many at the moment -

DWP: 21st century welfare – deadline 1st October

NHS white paper consultations: 5th / 11th October

Download the white paper
List of live consultations:

• Transparency in outcomes
• regulating health care providers
• report of the arms length bodies review
• commissioning for patients
• increasing democratic legitimacy in health

There’s a new website for the consultation on the Outcomes Framework, part of the consultation process for the White Paper.

Tulisa: My Mum and Me

BBC Three, Tuesday 10th August 2010, 9pm

According to the Royal College of Physicians, there are 175,000 young people across the UK caring for an adult with mental health problems. Tulisa Contostavlos from the chart topping band N-Dubz was one of them.

In this documentary, Tulisa speaks candidly about her experiences and draws on her own childhood years as she meets young carers from around the country. Together they explore the day-to-day realities of life as a young carer.

A call for evidence as they refresh the national carers strategy – looking for views from individuals as well as organisations.

Electronic copy only

Deadline 20th September 2010

Another consultation – this time for the DWP.

“Through this consultation the Department for Work and Pensions seeks views to inform our thinking on reforms to the benefits and Tax Credits system, including the idea of a single integrated Universal Credit.”

Responses needed by 1st October 2010.

Specifically of interest to Cumbria colleagues – event about broadband access in Cumbria

On Saturday 18^th September, Rheged Centre Penrith, Cumbria

THE TRIANGLE OF CARE – Carers Included: A Best Practice Guide in Acute Mental Health Care

launched at a reception at the House of Commons on July 28th 2010

from The Princess Royal Trust for Carers (PRTC) and The National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU).

The title refers to the ‘essential 3-way relationship between professionals, service users, their carers and families’.

‘The guide emphasises the need for better local strategic involvement of carers and families in the care-planning and treatment of people experiencing mental ill-health and calls for better partnership working between service users, their carers and providers of services in order to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said: “Increasingly we are becoming aware that mental health issues touch all of us. One in four of us will experience some kind of mental illness in our lifetime but the wider role of family and friends in helping to care for those affected is still too easily over looked, especially when crisis situations arise. “Caring can be rewarding but it can also be challenging. This guide shows how professionals, service users and carers can better work together to access the support needed.”

Download the Triangle of Care ‘

(from NMHDU – acute care programme).

More electronic only consultation documents on the NHS white paper -

Regulating health care providers

This document is part of a public consultation on implementation of proposals in the White Paper and supporting papers. It further outlines proposals on foundation trusts and the establishment of Monitor as an independent economic regulator for health and adult social care. It seeks views on specific consultation questions

Report of the arms-length bodies review

The report of the review, which follows the publication of the White Paper, Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS, sets out our proposals for ALBs in the health and social care sector. These proposals form part of the cross-Government strategy to increase accountability and transparency, and to reduce the number and cost of quangos.

Commissioning for patients

The document ‘Liberating the NHS: commissioning for patients’ provides more detail on proposed arrangements and seeks views on a on a number of areas including:

• How GP consortia and the NHS Commissioning Board can best involve patients in improving the quality of health services
• How GP consortia can work closely with secondary care, community partners and other health and care professionals to design joined-up services that are responsive to patients and the public
• How the NHS Commissioning Board and GP consortia can best work together to make effective and efficient commissioning decisions
• How the NHS Commissioning Board can best support consortia and ensure they achieve improvements in outcomes within NHS resources

Increasing democratic legitimacy in health

This document links closely to the consultation on commissioning for patients. Taken together, these two documents set out the strategy for commissioning of health, care and wellbeing. They set out how the new system will work together to provide improved outcomes for patients, users and the public.

Here are some of the questions from the consultation on the Outcomes Framework for the NHS white paper. It is disappointing that the document is only available electronically.

1. Do you agree with the key principles which will underpin the development of the NHS Outcomes Framework?

The key principles are:

• Accountability and transparency
• Balanced
• Focused on what matters to patients and healthcare professionals
• Promoting excellence and equality
• Focused on outcomes that the NHS can influence but working in partnership with other public services where required (They note that separate outcomes frameworks will be constructed for public health and for social care.)
• Internationally comparable
• Evolving over time (They note that it will be reviewed annually.)

2. Are there any other principles which should be considered?

3. How can we ensure that the NHS Outcomes Framework will deliver more equitable outcomes and contribute to a reduction in health inequalities?

4. How can we ensure that where outcomes require integrated care across the NHS, public health and/or social care services, this happens?

5. Do you agree with the five outcome domains that are proposed in Figure 1 as making up the NHS Outcomes Framework? These are:

1. preventing people from dying prematurely
2. enhancing quality of life for people with long term conditions
3. helping people to recover from episodes of ill health or following injury
4. ensuring people have a positive experience of care
5. treating and caring for people in a safe environment and protecting them from avoidable harm

6. Do they appropriately cover the range of healthcare outcomes that the NHS is responsible for delivering to patients? (noting that public health and prevention will be covered in a separate consultation.)

7. Does the proposed structure of the NHS Outcomes Framework under each domain seem sensible?

For each of the 5 outcome domains there will be

• overarching indicator to frame the NHS Commissioning Board’s broader responsibilities
• about 5 improvement areas – each with outcome indicator – small set of specific areas chosen by an evidence-based method
• NICE quality standards

The consultation then considers each domain and considers what an NHS Outcomes Framework could look like.

This is a lengthy document which is only available online. It ends with the following general questions:

27. What action needs to be taken to ensure that no-one is disadvantaged by the proposals, and how do you think they can promote equality of opportunity and outcomes for all patients and, where appropriate, NHS staff?

28. Is there any way in which the proposed approach to the NHS Outcomes Framework might impact upon sustainable development?

29. Is the approach to assessing and analysing the likely impacts of potential outcomes and indicators set out in the Impact Assessment appropriate?

30. How can the NHS Outcomes Framework best support the NHS to deliver best value for money?

31. Is there any other issues you feel have been missed on which you would like to express a view?

Timeline to the NHS Outcomes Framework

• 19 July 2010 – publication of consultation document and consultation opens
• July – October 2010 – engagement process as part of full public consultation
• 11 October 2010 – consultation closes
• End October / early November 2010 – Government response to the consultation
• End 2010 / early 2011 - publication of the first NHS Outcomes Framework alongside the NHS Operating Framework for 2011/12

Here’s the link to the live consultations page on the Department of Health website. This currently (July 2010) shows the consultations for the white paper – with deadlines of 11 October 2010.