Academy of Medical Sciences, December 2018
New data-driven technologies, powered by novel ways of linking and analysing patient data, are set to transform the way that health and social care is delivered as well as the ways in which we manage our own health. Technologies such as wearable devices, mobile apps and intelligent monitoring devices that use machine learning, provide an opportunity for the NHS to harness the breadth and depth of patient data that it holds to support a healthier future for patients and the public. This report outlines a set of principles based on dialogues with patients, the public and healthcare professionals, for the development, evaluation and deployment of data-driven technologies in healthcare. Embedding these principles will be essential if we are to realise the anticipated benefits of these innovative technologies whilst maintaining trust in their use in health and social care sectors. Central to this are meaningful partnerships with patients and the public and their health and care professionals.
Click here to view the full report.
Month: December 2018
Filling the chasm: Reimagining primary mental health care
Centre for Mental Health, December 2018
Report from the Centre for Mental Health exploring a number of local initiatives which are bridging the gap between primary care and secondary care services, supporting people who fall into this ‘grey area’ due to having more complex needs, not meeting secondary care thresholds, or presenting with multiple or medically unexplained symptoms. It looks at
- Identifying the opportunities for prevention and promotion of mental health
- Maximising social interventions for mental health
- Culture change – embracing the holistic approach
- Empowering the person – moving ‘from patient to person’
- Bridging the gap between primary and secondary care
Click here to view the full report.
Modernising the Mental Health Act: Increasing choice, reducing compulsion: Final report of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983
Department of Health and Social Care, December 2018
The final report sets out recommendations covering 4 principles that the review believes should underpin the reformed Act:
- choice and autonomy – ensuring service users’ views and choices are respected
- least restriction – ensuring the Act’s powers are used in the least restrictive way
- therapeutic benefit – ensuring patients are supported to get better, so they can be discharged from the Act
- people as individuals – ensuring patients are viewed and treated as rounded individuals
The review looked at:
- rising rates of detention under the Act
- the disproportionate number of people from black and minority ethnic groups detained under the Act
- processes that are out of step with a modern mental health care system
Click here to view the report.
Promoting independence through intermediate care: A quick guide for staff delivering intermediate care services
Social Care Institute for Excellence, December 2018
Intermediate care involves working closely with people to agree what intensive support they need to improve their independence. This quick guide from the Social Care Institute for Excellence outlines how intermediate care functions.
Click here to view the guide.
Inspire, Attract And Recruit: An Interactive Toolkit To Support Your Workforce Supply
NHS Employers, December 2018
NHS Employers toolkit offering guidance, good practice, checklists, top tips, questions and leading examples from across the NHS, to help employers take stock of what may need to be done to sustain a workforce pipeline. It aims to provide practical information on understanding audiences, how to attract the right people and ensuring employees have the best on-boarding experience.
Click here to view the toolkit.
Fair care: A workforce strategy for social care
Institute for Public Policy Research, December 2018
Adult social care is an essential public service and a growing part of our economy. However, the social care system in England faces a workforce crisis which is set to grow in the coming years; by 2028, we estimate there will be a shortage of over 400,000 workers in social care.
The challenges of recruiting and retaining workers in the sector is inextricably linked to low pay and poor working conditions. This is itself related to the under-funding of social care and a commissioning and delivery model based on cost not quality. Providers have competed by driving down pay and conditions, and they have faced little resistance given the limited bargaining power of the workforce and the limited enforcement of employment rights. These factors are combining to create a social care workforce crisis.
The solution is a sustainable long-term funding settlement for social care and a transformation of the social care workforce model. This should be based on the establishment of decent pay and terms and conditions through sectoral collective bargaining, and a professionalisation of the social care workforce. These measures would help ensure high-quality work for care workers, and high-quality care for those who need it.
Click here to view the full report.
Care staffing in the NHS: the good, the bad and the promising
BPP University School of Nursing, December 2018
Report from BPP University School of Nursing looking at nurse recruitment. It finds while it is clear that NHS trusts are having to deal with budgetary pressures and a skills shortage which may be exacerbated by Brexit, they are also facing significant changes to their traditional training models. This includes factors such as cuts to bursaries and the declining numbers of those applying for nursing degrees.
Click here to view the full report.
Community Mental Health Survey 2018
Care Quality Commission, December 2018
Research on the experiences of people receiving community mental health services. It finds that people’s experiences of the care they receive from community-based mental health services have continued to deteriorate. Key concerns are expressed around:
- access to care,
- care planning
- mental health conditions in relation to physical health needs
- financial advice
- advice on benefits.
Click here to view the full report.
Making Every Contact Count Bulletin – December 2018
The Gosall Library, December 2018
This Library bulletin provides further reading to support the ‘Making Every Contact Count’ programme.
There are links to recent research papers and articles in each of the MECC areas to give you further background information and evidence to consolidate what you have learned in your training, and to give you ideas and confidence for using MECC in your day-to-day encounters.
Click here to view the bulletin.
Intellectual engagement and cognitive ability in later life (the “use it or lose it” conjecture): longitudinal, prospective study
BMJ 2018;363:k4925
This longitudinal, prospective, observational study aims to examine the association between intellectual engagement and cognitive ability in later life, and determine whether the maintenance of intellectual engagement will offset age related cognitive decline. The study concludes that self reported engagement is not associated with the trajectory of cognitive decline in late life, but is associated with the acquisition of ability during the life course. Overall, findings suggest that high performing adults engage and those that engage more being protected from relative decline.
Click here to view the full paper.