General Reports and Other Publications

HC: The NHS needs to ensure that it consistently acts on & learns from complaints by patients, the Healthcare Commission has reported when publishing its first audit of how well the NHS handles complaints. The watchdog says it has found considerable variation in performance across the countryand that there is little evidence that trusts are systematically learning from complaints to improve their services.
 
The Commission says trusts should do more to make it easier for people to raise a complaint and they should ensure that the care of those raising complaints is not adversely affected as a result.  They should also strengthen procedures for investigating problems & improving services in the light of the lessons learned.
 
The Commission highlights improvements that trusts can make, which are in part drawn from observations of the best performing trusts.  The Commission will also be working on a toolkit for complaints managers and will make it widely available in the New Year.
Press release ~ NHS Complaints Audit ~ Ombudsman: The six Principles of Good Administration ~ Spotlight on complaints ~ Making Experiences Count: A new approach to responding to complaints - A document for information and comment ~ NHS complaints procedure
 
DCMS: Humanitarian Assistance in the UK: Current Capability and the Development of Best Practice, has been launched by Tessa Jowell, the Minister responsible for Humanitarian Assistance. The research was undertaken as part of the Humanitarian Assistance Unit's work to better understand local capability in this field.
 
The report distils its evidence into key themes and contains a number of recommendations for central, regional and local government.  It also identifies & outlines areas of good practice and cites 22 cases which demonstrate the sorts of activity taking place across the UK.
 
In addition, the researchers highlight three areas that might benefit from a better understanding of key principles: joint working between police family liaison officers and humanitarian response teams; the provision of psychosocial support services; and planning around exit strategies for those services.
Press release ~ Humanitarian Assistance in the UK: Current Capability and the Development of Best Practice ~ Humanitarian Assistance Unit ~ Local Resilience Forum (LRF)
 
DfTPersonal travel planning (PTP) schemes encourage people to consider alternative transport options to the car and research shows it can reduce the number of car journeys drivers make by 10%, and the overall distance travelled by car by 11%.  It also offers value for money for local authorities, giving an average £30 return on every £1 invested over a 10-year period.
 
Personal travel planning (PTP) techniques involve alerting the public to alternative transport options to the car, either by personal visits to targeted households by travel advisors or through local marketing campaigns.
Press release ~ PTP research, 'Making Personal Travel Planning Work' ~ Essential Guide to Travel Planning (Caution VLF 5Mb) ~ DfT National Business Travel Network ~ DfT - Travel Plans
 
Defra: Defra has published a ‘lessons learned’ report following the outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza in Suffolk in February this year, which concludes that the response to the outbreak was effective and highlights the benefits of the contingency planning work over the last six years.
 
The report also makes 34 detailed operational recommendations on the management of an outbreak of avian influenza, or other exotic animal disease.  These recommendations have all been accepted and have already been adopted in our response to the current Foot and Mouth Disease and Bluetongue outbreaks.
Press release ~ Report & related documents ~ Defra – Avian Flu ~ F&M latest situation ~ Bluetongue disease latest situation
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