26th June 2015

NICE has released a consultation on its draft guidance on the transition from hospital to community care. It is hoped the guidance will ensure transitions are timely, appropriate and safe. The RCS’ coordinated care survey in 2014 also identified hospital discharge as a key area of concern. The survey found that only a quarter of surgeons and stakeholders believe there is a thorough discharge planning process in place for patients and over half (55 per cent) believe that surgeons are not sufficiently involved in patients’ care after patients have been discharged from hospital. NICE is accepting responses to the consultation until 6 August 2015. 

New NICE suspected cancer guidance could save 5000 lives

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has released updated guidance on when GPs should refer patients with suspected cancer for investigation. England’s poor cancer survival rates have been attributed in part to late diagnosis. If followed by GPs, the new guidelines have the potential to save about 5000 lives each year in England. The guidelines suggest all GPs order certain tests directly, side-stepping referrals to specialists first, to speed up access to treatment. The guidance also includes advice on detecting oral cancer, encouraging GPs to consider urgent referral to a dentist for patients with symptoms. The guidelines have been welcomed by the Faculty of Dental Surgery, as they will help to improve early diagnosis of oral cancer.

EU Presidency releases proposal on Medical Devices

After several months the EU Presidency has published its proposal on the EU Medical Devices Regulation. On the 19^th June, the European Council agreed its position on the draft regulation, which will replace existing European directives with the aim of ensuring that devices are safe. As recommended by the College, the Council has further tightened the rules for approval of notified bodies, which approve medical devices for use in the EU. A ‘national authority’ will work with the European Commission (EC) and a new Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) of device experts to decide whether each applicant body is approved.

The Presidency’s proposal also sets out standards for device safety and performance requirements, and requirements for device manufacturers to conduct post-market surveillance of their product. Member States are not allowed to veto the availability of devices which comply with the Regulation. Transparency and traceability of devices is endorsed by the proposal, which suggests implementation of an online databank to allow identification and traceability of devices, monitoring of applications, notified bodies and clinical investigations of devices. Healthcare professionals will be encouraged to report serious incidents to the authorities.

Despite the College’s recommendation that in-house medical devices should be included in the regulation, it will not apply to such devices.

NHS leaders value political support for the NHS and improved mental health care

A survey commissioned by the NHS Confederation has found that the majority of NHS leaders place a high value on Government support to help improve the NHS. Of the 300 survey respondents, the vast majority thought it was important the Government is frank about the need to change the way the NHS provides care; builds a sustainable workforce; and ensures mental health care is as accessible as physical health care. If the NHS does not change the way it delivers care, most respondents considered it likely that NHS organisations will go into financial failure; providers will need to reduce staff numbers; and patients will experience a reduction in the quality of care. Notably, 99 per cent of leaders agreed that cuts to social care funding are putting increasing pressures on the NHS, by increasing hospital admissions and patients’ length of stay in hospital.

BMA calls for suspension of GP practice inspections

At the BMA annual representative meeting, doctors criticised inspections of GP practices by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The BMA argues that ‘the CQC has lost the confidence of the profession’, and many of its assessments are ‘overly bureaucratic and often nit-picking’, ‘of questionable value’ and ‘presented in simplistic, crude terms that tell patients little about the quality of care being provided’.

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) also called for an ‘emergency pause’ of GP practice inspections, as they posed too great a burden on practices which were ‘on the brink of meltdown’.

The CQC responded saying that they carry out inspections to ‘make sure that people across England get safe, high-quality and compassionate primary care’, and were ‘extremely disappointed’ that the RCGP called for a suspension of inspections.

Community pharmacists granted access to Summary Care Records

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has announced new plans to roll out Summary Care Record (SCR) access to community pharmacists. The SCR is a summary of a patient’s clinical information from their GP record. The decision was made to extend SCR access to pharmacists after a pilot launch across 140 sites found that ‘SCR access in community pharmacies delivered benefits to patients, pharmacy and general practice’. In nine out of 10 cases where the SCR was accessed, the pharmacist avoided the need to direct the patient to other NHS services. To prepare community pharmacists to access SCRs, the Government will be investing up to £7.5 million in training and tools.

NICE releases new Medtech Innovation Briefings

NICE has released a number of new briefings on innovative medical technologies, including technologies to be used in spinal surgery and for reconstructing damaged knee ligaments. The briefings describe the new technologies and review the evidence for their benefits and drawbacks.