This bulletin highlights recently produced documents that have appeared on websites. The aim is to trawl the web and produce a fortnightly review of what is found (coverage may not be comprehensive). If you have any comments or suggestions regarding this Bulletin, please send an email to library.pct@sthk.nhs.uk. All links are correct at time of publishing. Some documents are large and may take time to open so please be patient when waiting for links to open. If a link is incorrect please email me and I will correct the link and send you the document.For those that are receiving this through an email or through a third party you can view the original Bulletin at http://www.newdocumentsbulletin.blogspot.com/ and also sign up to receive the Bulletin by RSS.
Personal Care at Home Bill 2009-10 (25th November 2009)This Bill was presented to Parliament today. The Bill will provide for those with the greatest care needs to be offered free personal care at home.
Bill
The Hospital Guide 2009 (29th November 2009)The Hospital Guide highlights some dramatic improvements in the NHS but also serious concern about the variations between hospitals. This year’s Hospital guide focuses on safety and previews Dr Foster quality accounts.
Publication
Understanding college students' alcohol-related social norms in Sefton: Interim Findings (30th November 2009)This report builds on previous research conducted in schools in Sefton into social drinking norms in young people.
The survey results showed that 97.3% of respondents had consumed alcohol. Their motivations to drink alcohol were:
- pressure from friends (12.4%)
- celebrate special occasions (95%)
- it was fun (79%)
- to get drunk (62%)
- to cheer themselves up (49%)
- to feel more confident (44%)
- to forget their worries (30%)
Report Lancashire: Brief Intervention Online Training Evaluation - Final Report (30th November 2009)This report, by Centre for Public Health, evaluates the online training programme that NHS Central Lancashire commissioned DeltaNet International Limited to construct, on the theory and practice of delivering brief interventions (BIs) that aimed to reach a wide audience.
The two central recommendations are:
Commissioners and/or DeltaNet International Limited should examine the IT systems used to house the program and make recommendations to the participants regarding the technical specifications of equipment and basic computing skills required.
Commissioners should examine whether the profile of the participants who took part matched the intended target audience as many participants found the material basic.
ReportImpact of Alcohol in Greater Manchester, quarter one: September 2009/10 (30th November 2009)This report identifies available alcohol intelligence from across Greater Manchester. The data are separated into six categories:
consumption
health related impacts of alcohol
crime
young people, and
examples of interventions to tackle excessive alcohol consumption
Report Why do people drink at home? An exploration of the perceptions of adult home consumption practice (November 2009)The first Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England (The Prime Ministers Strategy Unit 2004) made no mention of the challenges posed by drinking away from licensed premises. However the most recent strategy (Home Office 2007) recognises that home drinkers do present a significant health burden.
This report uses a qualitative methodology to examine some of the reasons put forward by male and female participants age range 15-75 for drinking away from licensed premises. The authors are defining an adult as 16 and above. This is the age when it is legal to drink alcohol accompanied by a meal.
Final Report
Related Insight No. 68
DH International annual report 2008-09 (3rd December 2009)DH International is the specialist team supporting health initiatives overseas, working in partnership with all major stakeholders. DH International sits within the Department of Health's International Division, which has overall responsibility for the strategic direction of the Department's global and EU business.
Annual Report Cancer reform strategy: achieving local implementation - second annual report (1st December 2009)In the second annual report of the Cancer Reform Strategy, Professor Mike Richards, the National Cancer Director, sets out the progress made in implementing the strategy since its publication in December 2007. As with the first annual report, this report covers a wide range of actions that were set out in the strategy, highlighting areas of particular progress and setting out a range of priorities for the future. This report also provides detailed information on meeting local progress, especially regarding standards which should now have been met.
Annual Report
Emergency planning: development of an integrated plan for the management of blood shortages (25th November 2009)This paper updates the integrated plan for blood shortages released in 2004 and the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) external document ESD/PCS/HL/001/012 released in January 2005. The original plan was prepared by the Chief Medical Officers National Blood Transfusion Committees (NBTC) subgroup on contingency planning, and lists actions to be taken by both NHSBT, then the National Blood Service, and hospitals in the event of a potential or actual red cell shortage.
Paper
Performance judgements for adult social services (3rd December 2009)The Care Quality Commission has praised improvements in adult social care but called for a renewed effort to eliminate poor quality services.
The main findings are:
- 95% of local authorities are performing either excellently or well in their commissioning of adult social care (compared to 87% in the previous year).
- One quarter of councils are rated only adequate in terms of giving people choice and control over their care.
- A third of councils must do more to care for people with dignity and respect.
- 77% of care homes, home care agencies, nursing agencies and shared lives schemes are rated excellent or good (compared to 69% in 2008).
- Around 400 regulated adult social care services are rated as poor and 3,500 as adequate.
- In care homes for older people, a fifth fail to meet the standard on social contact and activities.
Reports Guidance on meeting new essential standards of quality and safety (8th December 2009)The Care Quality Commission is today launching guidance for all health and adult social care providers on meeting new essential standards of quality and safety that will apply across the care sector.
Providers must show they are meeting essential standards as part of a new registration system which focuses on people rather than policies, on outcomes rather than systems.
Guidance
Oneplace for an independent overview of local public services (9th December 2009)A new website for Comprehensive Area Assessment has been launched. Oneplace is for those who pay for local services, those who provide them and those who use them.
Resource
Click Clever, Click Safe. The first UK Child Internet Safety Strategy (8th December 2009)A coalition of Government, industry and charities will today launch the first UK internet safety strategy to help children and young people stay safe online. The strategy, drawn up by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), will be launched at the first UKCCIS Summit today in London.
Press Release
Strategy
Other Documents from the Summit Staying Safe Survey 2009 - Children and Parents' Attitudes around Internet Safety (8th December 2009)The Staying Safe Survey is the Department for Children, Schools and Families; new tracking survey of young people and parents' attitudes and confidence around a number of safety issues. The results in this report were commissioned specifically to inform their work on child internet safety.
Report
Responsibilities and operational requirements for the correct use of choose and book (8th December 2009)This guidance helps organisations to understand the importance of using Choose and Book correctly to ensure that all patients wherever they are in England experience the same high quality access to NHS care.
Guidance
World Class Commissioning for the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities (25th November 2009)Recent inquiries have demonstrated the health inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities; and the reasonable adjustments needed to overcome them. This is a practical guide to support commissioners to meet the needs of this group, and ensure they are fulfilling their duty to promote equality.
Publication The Commissioning Friend for Mental Health Services. A guide for health and social care commissioners (2nd December 2009)This guide, published by Commissioning Support for London and the National Mental Health Development Unit, covers mental health services across England and will act as a useful reference tool on key issues to support commissioners to carry out their day to day work.
Guide How to use NICE guidance to commission high quality services (3rd December 2009)A new guide has been launched at the NICE conference which explains how NICE guidance supports the commissioning of high quality services and describes how the guidance can be used throughout the commissioning cycle.
Guide Commissioning for quality (2nd December 2009)Primary care trusts (PCTs) have two key roles as commissioners: to drive up the quality of care as advocates for patients; and to drive efficiency and productivity as custodians for the taxpayer.
The NHS Confederations recent discussion paper, Commissioning in a cold climate, considered what commissioners need to do to prepare their health economies for the financial challenges now facing the NHS.
This paper focuses on commissioners' other key role: acting on behalf of the populations they serve to ensure local healthcare services are safe, effective and accessible and that quality of care in and patients’ experience of the NHS continues to improve.
Paper A commissioner's guide to service user involvement in the re-commissioning of day and vocational services for people with mental health conditions (1st December 2009)This is a concise guide for health and social care commissioners on how to involve people with direct experience of using mental health services in the re-commissioning of day and vocational services. It is based on the experiences of commissioners and service users who collaborated on re-designing and modernising local services.
Guide Resources to support commissioners of services for women and girls who are victims of violence (December 2009)NHS Primary Care Commissioning have a new web page to support commissioners of services for women and girls who are victims of violence.
Resources PBC Connection - what's new (26th November 2009)New resources, including Commissioning for COPD, have been added to the PBC Connection website to aid commissioners.
Resources
Healthy children, safer communities - a strategy to promote the health and well-being of children and young people in contact with the youth justice system (8th December 2009)This cross government strategy aims to help tackle youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and contribute to community safety in England. It sets out a strategic approach to inform the work of the Healthy Children, Safer Communities Programme Board to fulfil the vision that children and young people will be safer, healthier and stay away from crime.
Strategy
Improving information for stakeholders: a report of a PCT and SHA working group to improve community information (2nd December 2009)This report sets out the findings of a joint DH/SHA/PCT working group to improve community information. The report provides a framework for commissioners and providers to improve information on community services and include a number of case studies from NHS organisations.
Report Quality framework for community services: directory of indicators. Draft version (1st December 2009)This directory sets out a list of quality indicators that are currently being developed for publication. The Department is piloting these indicators at 23 sites and is looking to publish amendments or changes to these at the end of the year.
Publication
Pharmacy in England: building on strengths - delivering the future - Draft regulations under the Health Act 2009: pharmaceutical needs assessments. Consultation document (1st December 2009)Following consultation in Autumn 2008, two clauses were introduced in the Health Bill 2009 (now the Health Act 2009).
- to require Primary Care Trusts to develop and publish pharmaceutical needs assessments (PNAs); and
- then to use PNAs as the basis for determining market entry to NHS pharmaceutical services provision
In July 2009, a regulatory Advisory Group drawn from interested parties was set up, chaired by Paul Burns. The first set of draft regulations regarding PNAs have now been prepared by the Department of Health with assistance from the Group and are available for consultation.
Closing date for comments is 28th February 2010.
Consultation A Consultation on proposals for the Innovation Pass pilot (28th November 2009)In July the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) published the ‘Life Sciences Blueprint’ which announced a package of measures to help maintain a competitive life science sector. One of the initiatives announced in the blueprint was the introduction of an ‘Innovation Pass’.
This consultation seeks views from the NHS, industry and other stakeholders on the Government’s proposals for an Innovation Pass pilot. These proposals will be revised in light of comments received as part of this consultation and will be used to inform the first set of decisions for the pilot in 2010/1
Closing date for comments is 8th February 2010.
Consultation Personal care at home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance (25th November 2009)A consultation document containing proposals for regulations and guidance made under the Personal Care At Home Bill has been published today. An impact assessment accompanying the consultation is also available. An easy read version will be available soon.
Although closing date for comments is 23rd February 2010, the Department of Health would like, if possible, comments to reach them by 26th January 2010.
Consultation Provision of calorie labelling at point of choice in catering outlets (3rd December 2009)The Food Standards Agency is seeking views on how a voluntary scheme to display calorie information on menus would work best in practice.
A calorie labelling scheme would help people make healthier choices when they are eating out, by letting them see the number of calories in the food and drink they order – whether they are in restaurants, coffee and sandwich shops, pubs, leisure attractions or staff restaurants.
Closing date for comments is 11th March 2010.
Press Release
Consultation
Response to the consultation, and final guidance, to deal with nuisance and disturbance on NHS premises (30th November 2009)The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 provides a power to remove those causing a nuisance or disturbance on hospital premises in England.
This response to the consultation produces a final version of the guidance for the use of these powers, which gives NHS bodies a framework in which to use this legislation.
Consultation Response Summary of Responses to the Consultation on the Additional Uses of Patient Data (30th November 2009)This document reports the findings of the responses received from the: “Consultation on the Public’s, Patients’ and Other Interested Parties’ Views on Additional Uses of Patient Data”. The consultation, which was carried out on behalf of NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH), closed on 12 December 2008.
Responses
Safe management and use of controlled drugs (25th November 2009)Letter highlighting the recommendations in the recently published annual report of the Care Quality Commission on the safer management of controlled drugs, and the responsibilities of trust Chief Executives to support their Accountable Officers in their day-to-day role in delivering these recommendations.
Information
Guide to Data Protection (26th November 2009)The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has produced a new guide to handling personal information.
The Guide offers practical advice to those with day-to-day responsibility for data protection, taking a straight-forward look at the principles of the Data Protection Act, helping organisations safeguard personal data.
Press Release
Guide
Local self-assessment audit for assessing implementation of HTM 01-05: decontamination in primary care dental practices and related infection prevention and control issues (1st December 2009)The Department of Health and Infection Prevention Society (DH/IPS) audit tool has been produced jointly by the Department and the Infection Prevention Society to allow practices to assess their level of compliance with HTM 01-05. It will allow practices to identify areas where they need to improve the quality of the decontamination process to achieve essential quality requirements and best practice as identified in the guidance document.
The Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices is also available.
Audit Tool
Food Standards Agency's Strategy for 2010-2015 (7th December 2009)Consumers should expect to be eating safer food and be choosing healthier and more balanced meals by 2015 as a result of the Food Standards Agency’s Strategy for 2010–2015, published today.
The five outcomes the Agency aims to deliver are:
- food produced or sold in the UK is safe to eat
- imported food is safe to eat
- consumers understand about safe food and healthy eating, and have the information they need to make informed choices
- food products and catering meals are healthier
- regulation is effective, risk-based and proportionate, is clear about the responsibilities of food business operators and others, and protects consumers and their interests from fraud and other risks
Strategy
Tuberculosis in the UK: Annual report on tuberculosis surveillance in the UK 2009 (2nd December 2009)In 2008 in the UK, 8,655 cases of tuberculosis were reported, a rate of 14.1 per 100,000 population. This represents an increase of 2.2% in the rate of disease compared with 2007.
The main burden of disease was concentrated in major urban areas; 39% of cases were reported from London, a rate of 44.3 cases per 100,000. Nineteen primary care organisations had a rate of 40 per 100,000 or over, all of which covered major urban areas.
Report
An in depth investigation into causes of prescribing errors by foundation trainees in relation their medical education. EQUIP study (3rd December 2009)Prescribing errors in hospitals could be reduced if a standardised prescription chart was introduced in all UK hospitals, according to research commissioned by the General Medical Council (GMC).
An in-depth study into the causes and prevalence of prescribing errors made by Foundation Year 1 doctors (first year foundation trainees) has found that prescription errors are not solely, or even primarily, a problem of the most junior trainees and that doctors at all levels, including consultants, make mistakes.
The five main targets for interventions to improve patient safety by minimising prescribing errors are:
- clinical working environments
- undergraduate medical education programmes
- Foundation Year 1 education
- Other parts of the medical education continuum
- Interprofessional education
Press Release
Report
Carlisle's Lifestyle on the Road (2nd December 2009)Carlisle's LifeStyle on the Road project provides public health and fitness provision to schools and the community. It uses a unique van for specialist coaches and fitness equipment to be transported to venues.
Information
Getting On: Well-being in later life (1st December 2009)There is a lively policy debate about later life, dominated by how to improve pensions and social care, and who will foot the bill. But there is much less information about people’s experiences of growing older: their quality of life, their expectations and their emotional wellbeing. ippr’s work on ‘the politics of ageing’ seeks to plug this gap, and, further, to place a clearer focus on inequalities in older people’s wellbeing.
This report sets out a wider agenda for policymakers and practitioners. It reviews UK policies for older people and international practice, as well as the priorities of older people in urban versus rural locations. It concludes with recommendations for action, which signal a fresh approach to later life and seek to challenge outdated assumptions.
Report
The Quarter: quarter 2, 2009/10 (8th December 2009)David Flory has released his second quarterly report of 2009/10, which details NHS finance and operational performance. It shows that the NHS has built on a strong start to 2009/10 by sustaining delivery on key priorities such as reducing waiting times and healthcare associated infections (HCAIs), increasing access to primary care and maintaining good financial health. However, there are still a few organisations struggling to balance their finances and attention will be focused on these. Against a background of good overall operational performance, there also remain some organisations still not delivering standards on a consistent basis. Such deficiencies in performance need to be addressed locally.
Report
One year on: initial impact of the Forced Marriage Act 2007 (3rd December 2009)A report reviewing the impact of the Act in its first year of operation.
The 2007 Act enables a number of family courts to make a Forced Marriage Protection Order to prevent a forced marriage from occurring or to protect the victim and help remove them from a situation where a marriage has already taken place.
Forced marriage is not the same as an arranged marriage where both spouses can choose whether or not to accept the arrangement. In forced marriage, one or both spouses do not, or cannot consent to the marriage and duress is involved.
Report
Shaping personal health budgets: a view from the top (3rd December 2009)Personalisation is a key aspect of future health policy, but how close is it to becoming a reality? This report presents the opinions of local health and social care leaders on the future of personal health budgets. It portrays their understanding of the key issues, as well as their expectations, hopes and doubts.
Publication
Tackling health inequalities: 2006-08 policy and data update for the 2010 national target (3rd December 2009)This document provides an update on progress to meet the health inequalities national target to reduce the gap as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy, by 10% by 2010. It includes an assessment of whether the 70 spearhead area local authorities, which map to 62 PCTs, are on track to meet the life expectancy target.
Report
HIV in the United Kingdom: 2009 Report (27th November 2009)The number of people living with HIV in the UK continues to rise, with an estimated 83,000 infected at the end of 2008, of whom over a quarter (27%) were unaware of their infection.
During 2008, there were 7,298 new diagnoses of HIV in the UK. This represents a slight decline on previous years, predominantly due to fewer diagnoses among black African women who acquired their infection abroad.
Report
No One Left Out: communities ending rough sleeping - An annual progress report: November 2008-November 2009 (27th November 2009)The government's new rough sleeping strategy No One Left Out: communities ending rough sleeping was launched on 18 November 2008. Building on the success in reducing the numbers of people sleeping rough by two thirds over the last 10 years, the strategy sets out a new ambitious objective of ending rough sleeping in England by 2012.
The strategy was backed by a 15 point action plan. This report reflects on the progress during the first year of the strategy's delivery.
Report
Equal access? A practical guide for the NHS: creating a Single Equality Scheme that includes improving access for people with learning disabilities (7th December 2009)This is a guide to support the NHS to include people with learning disabilities in their equality schemes, with practical examples of reasonable adjustments to achieve equality of access.
Guidance
LAC (DH) (2009)8 Autism strategy: improving services for people with autistic spectrum conditions (7th December 2009)This circular highlights arrangements for the design and delivery of a new national strategy for adults with autistic spectrum conditions.
Publication Valuing health: business case literature review (8th December 2009)The Healthy Communities programme has produced a literature review which summarises the available evidence and research on the financial and non-financial impact of health improvement activity. This review highlights the need for a greater focus on the financial impact of health improvement activity on local government services, but does indicate that there are a number of areas where local authorities could expect to make efficiency savings. These include older people’s health and independence, workforce health and climate change and sustainability.
Report Assessments relating to people with learning difficulties: Guidance to Local Authorities (November 2009)The transition from school to a new learning establishment can be a difficult time for any young person. Those with learning difficulties are at particular risk of not making a successful transition. As a result, young people with learning difficulties are less likely to participate in education or training post-16 as those without, and are twice as likely to be NEET (not in education, training or employment).
The guidance is designed to help local authorities make consistent, effective and robust decisions but does not tell them what to do in each individual case. The guidance is current to March 2010 when new guidance published in Spring 2010, reflecting changes brought about by the ASCL Act, comes into effect.
GuidanceAssessments relating to people with learning difficulties: Guidance to Local Authorities - Analysis of consultation responses (November 2009)The Education and Skills Act 2008 section 80 states that “in exercising its functions under this section, an authority must have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State”.
The Education and Skills Act 2008 inserted Sections 139A to 139C into the Learning and Skills Act 2000 which placed a statutory responsibility on local authorities in relation to assessments relating to learning difficulties. The purpose of this consultation was to seek views on the draft statutory guidance.
The consultation ran from 23 April to 16 July 2009. A total of 70 responses were received. A summary of responses to each question is provided and a list of the respondents is included in the Annex.
Responses Safeguarding children and young people: a new scrutiny guide (4th December 2009)The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) have published a new guide to support overview and scrutiny committees in fulfilling their critical role in relation to safeguarding children.
The guide is designed to assist both councillors and officers in shaping and developing local safe services. The document includes:
- suggestions for approaches to scrutiny
- key references and advice for further reading
- a series of questions that committee members may want to consider when testing whether local arrangements are robust.
Guide
'Your health, your way - a guide to long term conditions and self care' for social care professionals (3rd December 2009)A brief overview of ‘Your health, your way – a guide to long term conditions and self care’ for social care professionals. It discusses the concept of personalised support planning for people with long-term conditions (LTCs) and supported self care with points for consideration when starting the support planning process.
Guidance
The Family Nurse Partnership Programme (3rd December 2009)This letter from Ann Keen and Dawn Primarolo informs about the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) Programme. FNP is an evidence-based, preventive programme for vulnerable first-time young parents, delivered from early pregnancy until the child is two. Extensive evidence points to short and long term benefits for children and parents.
Information Birth and beyond: stakeholder perceptions of current antenatal education provision in England (8th December 2009)This research examined stakeholder perspectives about current NHS ante-natal education across ten strategic health authorities in England. The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Health.
Report Birth and beyond: a review of the evidence about antenatal education (8th December 2009)The aim of this study was to synthesise published evidence concerning the cost and effectiveness of antenatal education, alongside evidence about stakeholder perspectives.
Report Getting Maternity Services right for pregnant teenagers and young fathers - 2nd edition (November 2009)This guide is aimed at practitioners working in mainstream services or areas where the prevalence of teenage pregnancy is relatively low and where there are no dedicated services for pregnant teenagers. It sets out the reasons why it is important to improve the maternity service offered to young parents, and offers practical guidance on working with pregnant teenagers and young fathers.
This guide, originally produced in 2008, has been revised following feedback from midwives and other maternity workers saying that they would welcome more guidance on ways of effectively engaging with young mothers. The content has been revised with the close involvement of the Fatherhood Institute and offers practical guidance on working with pregnant teenagers, young mothers and young fathers.
Guide
New Horizons: a shared vision for mental health (7th December 2009)New Horizons is a cross-government programme of action with the twin aims to:
- improve the mental health and well-being of the population
- improve the quality and accessibility of services for people with poor mental health.
New Horizons sets out an intention across a wide range of agencies to move towards a society where people understand that their mental well-being is as important as their physical health if they are to live their lives to the full. It describes some of the factors that affect well-being and some everyday strategies for preserving and boosting it. It also sets out the benefits, including economic benefits, of doing so.
Guidance Working our way to better mental health: a framework for action (7th December 2009)The Government has launched the first ever national mental health and employment strategy.
The framework is designed to:
- Improve well-being at work for everyone, and
- Deliver significantly better employment results for people with mental health conditions, supporting them into work, helping them to stay in work and assisting them to return to work more quickly after sickness absences.
FrameworkRealising ambitions: Better employment support for people with a mental health condition (7th December 2009)This report sets out the reviewers’ vision for change to ensure the Government can better help more people with mental health conditions who are workless into sustained employment.
It sets out a number of recommendations for Government. These fall in to three broad groups:
- increasing capacity and dispelling myths within existing structures so they are better able to meet the needs of people with a mental health condition
- “model of more support”: implementing Individual Placement and Support (IPS) in a Great Britain context
- establishing effective systems for monitoring outcomes and driving change.
ReportWork, Recovery and Inclusion: Employment support for people in contact with secondary mental health services (7th December 2009)Work, Recovery and Inclusion is a new government delivery strategy that sets out a series of actions that will help meet the aspirations of people in contact with secondary mental health services who want to work. It is deliberately challenging and aspirational and aims to bring about significant changes in outcomes.
The strategy looks to a future where people who are in contact with secondary mental health services are helped to get jobs, where they are equally valued for their contributions to the workplace, and where having a mental health condition is not seen as a barrier to work.
Strategy Mental health clinical costing standards 2009/10 (4th December 2009)Best practice guidance for organisations using and implementing Patient Level Costing and Information Systems (PLICS) in a mental health setting.
Guidance Revision of Preventing Suicide: A toolkit for mental health services (25th November 2009)The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has launched a revision of "Preventing Suicide: A toolkit for mental health service". The toolkit was originally published in 2003 and has been amended to reflect recent policy changes and has had input from key stakeholders, service users, carers and experts.
Toolkit At a glance 18: Personalisation briefing: implications for community mental health services (November 2009)This briefing, from Social Care Institute for Excellence, examines the implications of the personalisation agenda for practitioners and managers in community mental health services.
Briefing (Web Page)
Briefing (PDF)
Guidance on provisions to deal with nuisance or disturbance behaviour on NHS premises in England (30th November 2009)Guidance to provide NHS bodies with a framework in which to use the power of removal in dealing with nuisance or disturbance behaviour on NHS premises in England through the use of powers contained in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
Guidance Applying the NHS Performance Framework to Mental Health Trusts (26th November 2009)This document informs mental health trusts, PCTs and SHAs of the criteria against which mental health performance will be assessed. It should be read alongside Implementing the NHS Performance Framework.
Guidance Interventional radiology: improving quality and outcomes for patients. A report from the National Imaging Board (25th November 2009)The National Imaging programme is lead by Dr Erika Denton, National Clinical Lead for Diagnostic Imaging and chair of the National Imaging Board.
A sub-group of the National Imaging Board, has produced this report to inform and stimulate discussion about how Interventional Radiology (IR) Services can support the quality and productivity agenda. The document has been produced by interventional radiologists, nurses, radiographers, a patient representative and members of the Department of Health and National Imaging Board.
The report illustrates how the NHS can improve quality, safety and productivity while delivering comparable or better outcomes for patients with shorter hospital stays and fewer major complications. It suggests and describes how IR services can help to ensure patient safety whilst delivering the highest quality care.'
Report Windmill 2009. NHS response to the financial storm (3rd December 2009)It is clear that the era of unprecedented investment in health care is over, and prospects for future funding now look bleak. But just how the NHS will respond to this is uncertain. To test how those in the system might respond, KingsFund used a behavioural simulation – Windmill 2009, designed by Loop2. From this event, and discussions with policy-makers, regulators, commissioners and providers, managers and clinicians, they developed an analysis of what will be required if health and social care systems are to respond effectively to the major challenges that lie ahead. They identify key themes and recommendations for action in each of these.
Report
The NHS Constitution - The State of Readiness Group (SoRG) report (2nd December 2009)From January 2010, all providers and commissioners of NHS care will be under a new legal obligation to have regard to the NHS Constitution in all their decisions and actions. This means that the Constitution, its pledges, principles, values and responsibilities need to be fully embedded and ingrained into everything the NHS does. The State of Readiness Group (SoRG), convened at the request of the NHS Management Board, has produced a report containing recommendations and examples of good practice designed to help.
Report
Advice from the H1N1 Critical Care Clinical Group (2nd December 2009)Letter introducing documents prepared by the Clinical Group to support the NHS in ensuring that critical care arrangements are strengthened during both the current H1N1 pandemic and any future, potentially more serious, pandemic strain.
Information Flowchart for triage: swine flu patients - for GP practice managers and receptions (2nd December 2009)The Department of Health and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) have produced a flowchart to assist GP receptionists to determine which symptomatic swine flu patients should be seen most urgently - particularly in the case of patients referred by the National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS)
Guidance Swine flu: updated guidance for mental health services (26th November 2009)This is updated guidance for Mental Health services and partners on planning and responding to the Swine Flu H1N1 pandemic.
Guidance Swine flu and rough sleepers for organisations working with rough sleepers in England (25th November 2009)This information has been prepared for those who are working with or providing services for rough sleepers during the swine flu pandemic. It provides advice on how to support rough sleepers and signposts to guidance and other useful sources.
Guidance A(H1N1) swine flu influenza: phase two of the vaccination programme; children over 6 months and under 5 years (8th December 2009)Ian Dalton, National Director for NHS Flu Resilience, has today written out to Chief Executives of Primary Care Trusts in England to update them on plans for phase two of the swine flu vaccination programme.
Information
Barnsley's Community Parents (2nd December 2009)After an assessment showed that parents with young families suffered from social isolation, depression and anxiety about parenthood, the Community Parents programme was developed. Funded by Communities for Health, it essentially involved training volunteer local parents – also known as Community Parents – to help other local parents. It was piloted in Darfield successfully and is administered by Barnsley Primary Care Trust (PCT).
Information
Buying food when you have a food allergy or food intolerance. Helping you make the right choices (1st December 2009)An advice leaflet for people who have been newly diagnosed with a food allergy has been published by the Food Standards Agency in collaboration with six allergy and nutrition organisations.
The leaflet, ‘Buying food when you have a food allergy or intolerance’, guides people with a food allergy or intolerance, including coeliac disease, through the steps to remember when buying food and when eating out. The topics covered include:
- checking the label on pre-packed food
- what to look out for when foods aren't pre-packed
- talking to restaurant staff about your allergy
- what to watch out for when using self-service restaurants
Press Release
Leaflet
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
Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2009 (3rd December 2009)The New Policy Institute has produced its twelfth annual report of indicators of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom, providing a comprehensive analysis of trends and differences between groups. This is the first report to be written in an economic downturn, and the recession is the focus of much of the analysis.
Report and Summary
NHS Stop Smoking Services: service and monitoring guidance 2010/11 (4th December 2009)This document provides best practice guidance relevant to the provision of all NHS stop smoking interventions and sets out fundamental quality principles for the delivery of services which can be used to inform the development of local commissioning arrangements. It also includes full details of the data reporting requirements for NHS Stop Smoking Services.
Guidance
Evaluating the use of APHO Disease Prevalence Models in PCTs - Final Report (December 2009)Public Health Action Support Team (PHAST) on behalf of the Department of Health (DH), commissioned York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) to carry out an evaluation of the use, by PCTs nationally, of six disease prevalence models developed by the Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO). This is the report of the evaluation..
The six models evaluated were:
- Chronic Kidney Disease (Interim)
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD)
- Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)
- PBS Diabetes Phase 3
- Hypertension
- Stroke
Report Recycling and Public Health (26th November 2009)This report, produced by the Centre for Public Health for HIA Gateway, examines the evidence for the health impacts of recycling.
Report
Screening programmes across Cheshire and Merseyside primary care trusts (26th November 2009)This is a report of the review of screening programmes across primary care trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside which was commissioned by the Cheshire and Merseyside Public Health Network (ChaMPs).
Report
Top Tips for Sexual Health Promotion (30th November 2009)The full report of the summary that was published in October, is now available.
This is the fourth in a series of "Top Tips" documents aimed at promoting public health. The top tips provide a common sense approach to sexual health issues with practical suggestions that will make a positive difference both at home and in the workplace.
Full Report
Halton - Smoke-free programme (27th November 2009)The aim of this programme is to reduce local health inequalities by taking advantage of the July 2007 Smoke Free England ban, and the predicted increase of 1,500 residents who want to quit.
Information Pendle - Smoke-free workplaces (27th November 2009)Pendle Borough Council used Communities for Health funding to help prepare businesses for the smoking ban in July 2007. The council worked in partnership with East Lancashire PCT on the project.
Information
Building a safe, confident future: the final report of the Social Work Task Force (1st December 2009)The Social Work Task Force has published its final report, Building a safe, confident future, which sets out 15 recommendations. The Government has accepted this radical package of recommendations to transform social work and public understanding of social workers’ crucial contribution to our society.
Report Safeguarding and social care research 2009-10 (December 2009)The Every Child Matters website has a new section that contains recent research relating to safeguarding and social care issues that are of particular relevance to the children's workforce. It is regularly updated with the most recently published appearing first.
Resource
SHA process for PCTs to be listed in the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) Authorisation Directions 2008 as amended (2nd December 2009)This letter and supporting documents have been issued to set out the process that all SHAs will need to follow to request Secretary of State directions, to enable PCTs to authorise their primary medical services contractors or any practice established by the PCT to use Release 2 of the Electronic Transmission of Prescriptions (ETP) service.
Information
