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
ARTICLE - Short-term and long-term risk of incident ischemic stroke after Transient Ischemic Attack (3rd December 2009)Most previous studies of stroke did not include comparison groups and so the relative risk of ischemic stroke associated with TIA is not well defined. This study sought to estimate short-term and long-term relative risks of ischemic stroke associated with clinically diagnosed Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA). The conclusion from the study is that for TIA diagnosed within the past 3 months, the relative risk of ischemic stroke was high and moderately high for TIA diagnosed >5 years in the past compared with no history of clinically diagnosed TIA.
Please contact your local health library for the full text of the article. To find your local health library please click here.
Abstract
Together we can end violence against women and girls: a strategy (25th November 2009)This cross-government strategy sets out a range of actions for the police, councils, the NHS and other government departments across three key areas: prevention, provision and protection.
StrategyIt only takes a minute girl - women's perceptions of cervical screening in Blackpool (26th November 2009)This report is the first part of a larger project to increase coverage of cervical cancer screening in Blackpool. Approximately 32% of eligible women between the ages of 25-34 years, living in Blackpool have never attended for cervical smear test. The project aimed to find out what young women aged 25-34 years in Blackpool value and want. Some of the recommendations arising from the focus groups are:
- Display messages through a wide range of media
- Create a website to provide more information
- Set up "Facebook" group
- Open up well woman clinics/sexual health services as drop-in for smears
- Consider the possibility of making the walk-in centre more flexible
- Attempt to overcome perceptions of poor treatment by reviewing the whole service experience
- Reflect on how best to create a positive service experience
Summary
Pandemic influenza: indemnity cover and associated issues in England (3rd December 2009)This document describes the provisions in place regarding indemnity cover for staff working during times of pandemic in England. The arrangements by which staff are, or may be, indemnified for their actions largely depends on who they are employed by and this document expands upon this principle, detailing some specific points of note.
Guidance GMC affiliates pilots: final report of the KPMG evaluation (30th November 2009)In July 2008 the Department commissioned KPMG to undertake an independent evaluation of two pilots introducing a system of GMC Affiliates aimed at closing the regulatory gap between local workplace management of doctors and national professional regulation. The purpose of this evaluation is to produce feedback and provide an assessment of the feasibility, potential benefits, costs and wider impacts of the introduction of GMC Affiliates at a national level.
Report NHS Workforce Planning. Limitations and possibilities (26th November 2009)Workforce planning for the NHS is a large undertaking. The NHS in England employs approximately 1.3 million staff, 70 per cent of recurrent NHS costs relate to staffing, and more than £4 billion is spent annually on staff training.
This report considers the degree to which NHS workforce planning in England is likely to support the delivery of a workforce that is fit for the future. To inform this assessment, the authors examine current developments at national and regional level, highlight relevant international experience, and propose ways in which planning could be made more effective.
Report
