Active Travel Strategy (22nd February 2010)
The Department of Health and Department for Transport have jointly published a new Active Travel Strategy. The strategy highlights plans to put walking and cycling at the heart of local transport and public health strategies over the next decade. The guiding principles for the strategy are that walking and cycling should be everyday ways of getting around – not just for their own sake but also because of what they can do to improve public health, tackle congestion, reduce carbon emissions and improve the local environment.
Strategy
Health Effects of Exposure to Ultrasound and Infrasound (1st February 2010)The independent Advisory Group on Non-Ionising Radiation (AGNIR), which reports to the Health Protection Agency, has reviewed the latest scientific evidence on the health effects of ultrasound (frequencies above 20 kilohertz) and infrasound (below 20 Hz).
The report finds that the available evidence does not suggest that diagnostic ultrasound affects mortality of babies during pregnancy or soon after birth. The evidence also does not suggest any effect on childhood cancer risk. There have, however, been some unconfirmed reports suggesting possible effects on the developing nervous system - for instance, on handedness of the child.
AGNIR concluded that there is no established evidence that diagnostic levels of ultrasound are hazardous. However, further research is needed to determine whether there are any long-term adverse health effects, especially following exposure of the unborn child.
Report Warrington - using libraries to raise health awareness (21st January 2010)Warrington Borough Council used Communities for Health (C4H) funding to run a health programme based in its libraries.
Information Summary of insight research with middle aged adults (2nd February 2010)Change4Life asked research company 2CV to carry out research to help inform a campaign aimed at adults. The research was carried out between July and October 2009 with middle aged men and women to investigate their habits and attitudes to diet, physical activity and weight status.
Summary A liberal dose? Health and wellbeing: the role of the state (1st February 2010)The role of the state in health and wellbeing is a complex and controversial issue. A difficult question for any government is how far to intervene in the choices and behaviour of individuals in order to promote their own, or others’, health. Good health is a vital ingredient of a good life – but so is freedom.
This report:
- sets out evidence for what the public think about this question;
- explores the key issues at stake and clarifi es principles for state intervention;
- suggests a new framework to guide decision making; and
- proposes a new narrative for future state intervention.
Report Influencing public behaviour to improve health and wellbeing (1st February 2010)This independent report builds on current approaches, using the latest evidence from areas such as behavioural economics and psychology, to suggest ways in which the Government could become more effective in this area, to help people to make healthier choices where they wish to do so.
Report Enabling effective delivery of health and wellbeing (1st February 2010)This independent report offers recommendations to the Secretary of State on how better to enable the delivery of improved health and wellbeing. The terms of reference for this report requested an assessment of the current opportunities and barriers in delivery systems, to identify where practical changes could be made to improve effectiveness.
Report
Blackburn with Darwen - re:fresh(ing) news (2nd December 2009)re:fresh is a campaign by NHS Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the local council. It aims to improve the health and wellbeing, including mental and emotional wellbeing, of locals by encouraging more participation in activities. The PCT and council committed to provide £6 million over three years, and received a Communities for Health grant of £100,000.
Information Couch kids - the nation's future (23rd November 2009)This report, from British Heart Foundation, shows that despite efforts to get kids more active, a disturbingly high number of young people across the UK aren't reaching the target of 60 minutes physical activity each day.
Press Release
Commissioning what works. The economic and financial case for supported employment (22nd September 2009)Commissioning what works: the economic and financial case for supported employment shows that Individual Placement and Support (IPS), which helps people into paid competitive work, is effective, is good value for money and is affordable to the NHS.
Studies have shown that IPS is by far the most effective way of helping people who use mental health services to get jobs. And those who work regularly make less use of mental health services, needing fewer hospital admissions, as well as having a better quality of life and a higher income.
This briefing paper examines the cost of providing IPS services against the cost of other employment services.
Briefing
Let's Get Moving - A new physical activity care pathway for the NHS: Commissioning guidance (24th September 2009)The commissioning guidance sets out an evidence-based behaviour charter model Let’s Get Moving encouraging local commissioning of physical activity interventions in primary care.Guidance
Let's Get Moving feasibility study (24th September 2009)Let's Get Moving (LGM) has been tested in a feasibility trial in 14 surgeries by the British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity and Health, Loughborough University. The results of the trial demonstrated that LGM is feasible for delivery in primary care, and subject to recommendations is suitable for wide-scale implementation. LGM is now available to the NHS for commissioning.Document Commissioning Excellence - issue No. 4 September 2009 (September 2009)Please note you need to be registered with a subscribing organisation to access this quarterly bulletin from NHS Primary Care Commissioning.
Bulletin Virtual conference for World Class Commissioning Assurance - launch of Year 2 (September 2009)Videos, Podcasts and Documents are now available from the conference that was held in London on 16th September 2009. These are additional to the Handbook that was in the last bulletin.
Resources
Let's Get Moving - patient resource (24th September 2009)The Let's Get Moving (LGM) patient pack is designed to support patients in their efforts to become more active and contains helpful hints, practical examples, simple visual tools and personal planning exercises (practitioners might also wish to use the resource to guide patients towards becoming more active).
The pack has templates for relevant local information on indoor and outdoor activity opportunities. These templates should be completed locally, printed and inserted into the LGM patient pack prior to distribution to service deliverers. There is also an online search tool available on NHS Choices. Maps of local walking routes and green space are another supportive tool that can be included in the patient pack: these were very well received by patients in the LGM feasibility pilot.
Resources
Healthy lunch and bowls for over 50s (14th August 2009)‘Fit as a fiddle’ is a national programme supported by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund and delivered by Age Concern. It aims to improve the health and wellbeing of older people, promoting physical activity, healthy eating and developing ‘active networks’ for the over-50s.
Information
Change4Life has only just started! An update on how the campaign is doing (27th August 2009)The Change4Life team have sent out a letter to healthcare professionals to let them know that Change4Life has had a very positive response from young families in its first six months. The letter also recommends that healthcare professionals register as Change4Life Local Supporters and points out the ways they can support the campaign.
A booklet and poster were enclosed with the letter – the booklet offers information about what Local Supporters can practically do to support the campaign, where to find free support materials and offers examples of what is already happening at a local level.
Letter, Booklet and Poster
Spreading the healthy eating message in Northumberland (22nd July 2009)To really understand the importance of healthy eating, it helps to appreciate where food comes from. And that is just what school children in Northumberland have been learning about through the ‘Roots and Shoots’ project.
Information Footballers help children shoot for healthy lifestyles (22nd July 2009)Footballers can often find themselves in the headlines for the wrong reasons. But Newcastle United’s stars are showing they can be positive role models by encouraging children to adopt healthier lifestyles. The club has teamed up with the local city council and primary care trust (PCT) to run activities in schools. They focus on the importance of healthy eating and staying active.
Information
Health Profiles 2009 (July 2009)Health Profiles 2009 for every local authority and region across England have been published. Health Profiles provide a snapshot of health for each local council in England using key health indicators, which enables comparison locally, regionally and over time. They are designed to help local councils and the NHS decide where to target resources and tackle health inequalities in their local area.
Profiles Public health and sustainable composting (6th July 2009)Factsheet about the health effects of composting, at the industrial as well as home and community levels.
Factsheet
Dancing your way to fitness (7th June 2009)Research shows that a boogie is as good as a gym workout. Mendip District Council is getting local people fit by encouraging them onto the dance floor. The Community Dance programme runs a series of classes in village halls and community centres for all ages. They offer everything from ballet to street dance.
Information
Bicycles made for all (18th March 2009)Cycling through beautiful scenery is not only enjoyable it is good for you too. East Hampshire District Council and its partners have set up an innovative project to tempt people into the saddle. It is just one of a range of schemes aimed at encouraging local residents to get active.
Information A systematic review of the evidence base for developing a physical activity and health legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (16th March 2009)A team of experts from Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent were commissioned by the Department of Health, and partly funded by NHS London, to analyse the potential impact of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games on physical activity, sports participation and health. This report presents their conclusions.
Report
Be active, be healthy: a plan for getting the nation moving (11th February 2009)Be active, be healthy establishes a new framework for the delivery of physical activity alongside sport for the period leading up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and beyond. Programmes outlined in the plan will contribute to Government’s ambition of getting 2 million more people active by 2012 and have been designed to leave a lasting legacy from the Games. The plan also publishes the NHS costs of physical inactivity for every PCT in England, averaging £5 million per PCT every year – almost 1000 hip replacements per PCT.Guidance
Cambridge's exercise-on-referral scheme (25th December 2008)Most areas have some form of ‘exercise-on-referral’ scheme, but few are as well-established as Cambridge City Council’s ‘Start-Up’ programme. With nearly 400 people seen each year, the project has a great track record of getting people active and keeping them that way.
Information
Active Hastings (August 2008)
Habits formed in childhood last a lifetime, they say. If this is true, health and council officials in Hastings Borough Council appear to be on the right track. The council is reaching out to young people through an imaginative programme of events aimed at getting them active.
Information
