The Patient Feedback Challenge is about getting the NHS to use feedback from patients to improve services, by spreading the best approaches already out there. NHS organisations will be able to bid for funding, which will be used to help them spread their approaches to improving patient experience to new settings.

A web channel will be used to collect ideas and support the development of strong bids and projects. This ‘crowdsourcing’ of ideas is a fundamental part of the bidding process, giving organisations the chance to share their ideas, convince others of their value, get feedback to improve them and build links that will help ideas spread further. Once projects are chosen, the web channel will become the place to find out what is happening with each successful project.

The successful projects will receive dedicated support, which will have been identified through the selection process. New relationships will be developed with collaborators to raise the profile of the programme and make the most of exceptional practice in other sectors. We hope that these ways of working will prevent the challenge from being ‘the next initiative’ so that it can really work for patients and their families.

The challenge’s expert panel is currently on the lookout for NHS-based projects that use feedback from patients to systematically improve experience. The challenge is backed by a £1 million challenge fund, which will be used to support ambitious projects chosen by the panel that:

• set out to develop a fully integrated patient experience measurement system that leads to continuous improvement cycles
• create wholly patient focused organisations
• encourage spread and adoption of positive patient experience practice within and across organisations
• develop sustainable approaches that live beyond the initial programme

If you want to take part in the NHS Patient Feedback Challenge, register your ideas now on the Patient Feedback Challenge website.

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EAGA annual report 2010

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HIV post-exposure prophylaxis: guidance from the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Expert Advisory Group on AIDS (September 2008)

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Management of HIV-infected healthcare workers – a paper for consultation (1 December 2011)

BHIVA/CHIVA position statement on infant feeding in the UK(November 2010)

British HIV Association: UK National Guidelines for HIV Testing 2008

NHS Infectious Diseases in Pregnancy Screening Programme Standards and Laboratory Handbook (September 2010)

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The letter also provides information how these services are likely to be commissioned from April 2013, in accordance with the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and confirms the allocations for 2012-13.

This transfer has enabled local commissioning of a fully integrated treatment service which is in line with the vision set out in the the National Drug Strategy and the report – Reducing Drug-Related Crime and Rehabilitating Offenders – by Professor Lord Patel, Chair of the Prison Drug Treatment Strategy Group. For the young people’s secure estate, the emphasis should be on preventing any escalation of drug or alcohol related risk in order to avoid progression to adult dependency.

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Responses to consultations

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At a time of financial pressures there is a need to ensure that funding for social work education delivers value for money. In order to ensure quality and achieving value for money it has been decided to consult on reforming the bursary. Five options are set out in the consultation document.

In preparation of this consultation the Department has discussed the range of possible options with representatives of the Social Work Reform Board and an External Reference Group. Their involvement has been helpful in developing the five options.

The aim is to introduce the reformed social work bursary during the 2013 academic year.  Existing students, including those starting in academic year 2012, will remain on current schemes and will not be affected by this review.

Comments are welcomed from social work students (prospective and current), social work employers, higher education institutions offering social work qualifying courses and service user and carers by 27 July 2012. Comments should be submitted through the response form to: swbursaryconsutation@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Read the consultation document

Read the impact assessment

Download response form

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Technology appraisals

The following technology appraisals have been referred to NICE.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of bortezomib within its licensed indication for induction therapy prior to high dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of bortezomib within its licensed indication for consolidation therapy after autologous stem cell transplantation for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of canakinumab within its licensed indication for the treatment of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of mipomersen, within its licensed indication for the prevention of cardiovascular events in people with homozygous or severe heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of rivaroxaban within its licensed indication for the prevention of adverse outcomes in patients after the acute management of acute coronary syndrome.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of tofacitinib within its licensed indication for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis after the failure of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of bendamustine in combination with rituximab within its licensed indication for the first-line treatment of mantle cell lymphoma.

• To appraise the clinical and cost effectiveness of loxapine inhalation for the treatment of acute agitation and disturbed behaviours in people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Read about NICE technology appraisals on the NICE website.

About NICE referrals

NICE is an independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on promoting good health and preventing and treating ill health.

Department of Health ministers refer topics to NICE and NICE schedules these topics into its work programme, to begin the process of developing guidance for each topic.

Depending on the type of guidance and its complexity, this can take between 6 months and 2 years.

NICE guidance includes technology appraisals, clinical guidelines, public health guidelines and quality standards.

Find out more about NICE guidance on the NICE website.

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The department will be posing questions on doc2doc to generate debate about the strategy among professionals working with people with long term conditions. We are keen to learn from their experiences and hear their ideas on what could be done to improve the lives of people with long term conditions.

Have your say on the long term conditions strategy.

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UK health ministers want to see all food manufacturers and retailers using the same system to show – on the front of packs – how much fat, salt and sugar, and how many calories, is in their products.

This would make it easier for consumers to compare the nutritional information provided on the food they buy.

Providing nutrition information consistently on the front of food packs across a wide range of products is key to consumers’ noticing and using this information to improve their diets and to help control calorie intakes.

Different labelling systems

Around 80% of food products sold in the UK already have some form of front-of-pack-labelling. But different retailers and manufacturers use different labelling systems which can be confusing for consumers.

Some use labels showing Guideline Daily Amount (%GDA), which are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and calories required for a healthy diet, some use traffic light colour coding that highlights high fat sugar and salt content, and some use both.

If the biggest 7 supermarkets use the same labelling for their own brand foods, this would equate to around 50% of the food sold in the UK and would also encourage others to adopt the same scheme.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:

“Being overweight and having an unhealthy diet can lead to serious illnesses such as cancer and type 2 diabetes. We must do everything we can to help people make healthier choices.

“Offering a single nutrition labelling system makes common sense, it would help us all to make healthier choices and keep track of what we eat. 

“Making even small changes to our diet can have a major impact on our health. Cutting our average salt intake by 1.6 grams a day would prevent over 10,000 premature deaths a year.”

The UK has always led the way in providing consumers with information on food labels. Building on this, we want to work with businesses and others to provide consistent, useful information for consumers across the UK.

Consulting now should help industry to identify a common scheme, which will bring benefits to consumers.

Aim of the consultation

The shared objectives of the 4 UK Governments are to:

• maintain and extend the use of front-of-pack labelling across the widest possible range of food and drink products
• achieve the greatest possible consistency in the content and presentation of front-of-pack nutrition labelling, in a form that is clearest and most useful to consumers

Officials in all UK countries intend to share the received consultation responses, so that UK Ministers can consider them in their post consultation deliberations.

The consultation runs until Monday 6 August.

People in England can respond online, or by email: fop.nutrientinformation@dh.gsi.gov.uk.

More about the consultation for anyone in Northern Ireland, in Scotland  or in Wales.

• Have your say on front-of-pack labelling
• Read the full front-of-pack labelling consultation document

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