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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare education and delivery, including both theory and practice learning. Academic staff responded rapidly to move teaching online during the first lockdown, with many returning to practice to deliver care or upskill practice staff to work in critical care. Many pre-registration students responded by becoming paid NHS employees, contributing to care delivery while remaining on their programme of study. Practice learning partners, despite the challenges of the pandemic, continued to support students to achieve their registration status. This occurred within the context of the Emergency and Recovery Standards, published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council between March 2020 and September 2021. This paper sets out the response of students, practice learning partners and higher education institutions involved in pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experience feedback data is increasingly recognised as being helpful in improving healthcare services, and in meeting patient and family needs. This end-of-life care project, based on the principles of appreciative inquiry, sought to learn from the experiences of bereaved people whose relative had died in an acute hospital setting. Informal feedback, offered during a routine telephone call, was thematically analysed and interpreted in an appreciative manner. Confirmatory representations of caring practices and behaviours were identified, categorised and disseminated in a way that enabled staff to come to know and understand end-of-life care at its best, rather than as a set of problematised events. The findings served as a benchmark for individuals and teams to assess and progress their practice reflectively. The authors conclude that staff receptiveness to informal bereaved family feedback may be enhanced by focusing on the positive qualities of end-of-life care within existing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines a service improvement project undertaken in one acute cardiac ward within a regional NHS trust in the east of England that explored the impact of advancing patient- and family-centred care within an acute adult setting. The project was implemented and evaluated over a 9-month period between March and December 2012 and data collected via a pre and post-intervention survey. The results demonstrated that the majority of family carers wanted to be involved in patient care. The provision of flexible family visiting, facilitated and supported family carer involvement in care provision and improved partnership working between family carers and the multidisciplinary team, had a positive impact on the patient and family carer experience. This project has demonstrated the value of involving family carers in acute adult inpatient care provision and the importance of flexible family visiting to enable this to be successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection control has long been the focus of the attention of anyone working in healthcare, due to the risks posed to patients and staff if appropriate infection control procedures are not followed properly. This article explores a recap of important infection control measures and also outlines the Government's policy for tackling antimicrobial resistance, and its link to infection control procedures. The article covers the key points of the recent publication from NHS England on the topic of infection control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emeritus Professor Alan Glasper, University of Southampton, discusses the impact and success of Care Quality Commission hospital inspections since publication of the report into Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The community matron (CM) role was introduced in England to provide a single point of access to patients living with comorbid long-term conditions who had, or were at risk of, frequent emergency hospitalisation. Aim: This study explored the factors that affected embedding of the CM role. The qualitative study was undertaken in community health services in two cities and a rural area in central England. Method: Participants comprised health professionals (n=30) including CMs, community service managers, and service commissioners; patients (n=10); and their family carers (n=5). Results: Findings reveal that participants were largely positive about the role. However, difficulties with role setup had led to numerous changes in service delivery, which affected how the role has embedded. Conclusion: Many aspects of the CM role are invisible to other health professionals. Invisibility of community nursing, rather than autonomy of the CM role, seems to be a key factor in the challenges of embedding the role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal health budgets (PHBs) were introduced at 61 sites across England; 20 of which were evaluated in a report published in November 2012. There has been collective resistance to PHBs and negative reporting in the professional healthcare press. However, there is some early evidence that PHBs are proving to be successful. Nurses in the community are having a pivotal role in their implementation. This article addresses a number of negative and often misleading myths about PHBs that have been publicised in some areas of the professional press. INSETS: Box 1. A 45-year-old disabled woman;Box 2. A young disabled man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emeritus Professor Alan Glasper, from the University of Southampton, discusses a recent report showing how trusts rated as outstanding by the regulator have embedded a culture of change that involves all staff [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]