Category: NHS

Covid

Current Awareness Updates

Covid-19 recovery and resilience: what can health and care learn from other disasters? The King’s Fund

What do communities need to be able to recover from Covid-19 and build resilience? This long read identifies key insights from people involved in disaster recovery around the world.

Covid-19: rapid point of care or near-person testing for service providers Public Health England

(This guidance, aimed at service providers, describes the main types of coronavirus (Covid-19) tests currently available for use in point of care or near-person settings.)

Factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among minority ethnic groups, 17 December 2020.
Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE); 2021.

(Paper by the ethnicity sub-group on factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among minority ethnic groups. It was considered at SAGE 73 on 17 December 2020. The paper is the assessment of the evidence at the time of writing.)

COVID-19 Clinical management: living guidance.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.

(This document is the update of interim guidance published in May 2020. This guideline now also includes Best Practice Statement on caring for COVID-19 patients after their acute illness and 5 new recommendations.)

Prioritising the first COVID-19 vaccine dose: JCVI statement.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.

(Statement from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) about increasing the short-term impact of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Updated 26 January 2021: Added document ‘Annex B: comparison between 1 and 2 dose prioritisation for a fixed number of doses’.)

COVID-19: Ensuring a quality patient experience with the rise of digitisation in a healthcare setting.
Mobiquity; 2021.

(This report, commissioned by Mobiquity and conducted by Censuswide, reveals that half of UK patients aged over 55 preferred digital tools instead of in-person consultations during COVID-19. The most preferred digital tools used by over 55s included remote monitoring (50%) and video examinations (50%).)


Covid Virtual Ward (secondary care).
Wessex Academic Health Science Network (AHSN); 2021.

(The Covid Virtual Ward model is a secondary care led initiative to support early and safe discharge (step down) for Covid patients and builds on the Covid Oximetry @home model. NHS England and Improvement has now written out to all ICSs and trusts in the country; outlining why this work must be implemented, and how to do it.)

Toolkit

Deafness and Hearing Loss

Source: KnowledgeShare

Produced by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP); 2021; the resources developed aim to educate GPs and GP trainees on deafness and hearing loss, help reduce variations in accessibility to GP practices and ensure deafness and hearing loss are considered across all aspects of primary care activity including consultations and continued care. The toolkit supports GPs and GP trainees to implement the latest NICE guidelines and NHS Accessibility Quality Standard and guidance across the UK.

To access the toolkit click here.

Royal Marsden Manual

New content

Royal Marsden have updated Chapter 15- Medicines Optimisation with new content on “Monoclonal Antibody Preparation and MAB risk assessment”.

Find all the information here or alternatively please click on the link on the homepage.

Remember you can access Royal Marsden Manual with your Open Athens account by signing in here: https://openathens.nice.org.uk/Auth/Login

Communications Toolkit

Improving communication with black, Asian and minority ethnic women and local maternity teams

Source: The King’s Fund; Health Management and Policy Alert

This toolkit aims to provide helpful suggestions about how to communicate with women of different backgrounds, about the extra support that is available to them, as well as signposting to currently available publications, messaging, insights and templates.

Delivering Core NHS Services

Government response to the Committee’s second report of session 2019–21

Source: The King’s Fund; Health Management and Policy Alert

This report finds that the Covid-19 response has greatly accelerated the use of digital technology, has mainstreamed remote consultations, and similar effects are being seen for remote monitoring. There has been greater flexibility and resilience in the workforce, as well as improved decision-making and access to information through the better use of data and simplified information governance guidance. It concludes that these changes should be embedded and extended to support the health and care system’s recovery from the pandemic and ongoing resilience.

Covid 19 Communication Handbook

A practical guide for improving vaccine communication and fighting misinformation

A practical guide (in wiki format) for improving vaccine communication and fighting misinformation. This project tracks behavioural science evidence and advice about COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

A Close-Up View of a Covid-19 Vaccine Vial on Blue Background

To find out more click here.

Covid 19

Current Awareness updates

Evidence base for PCR and lateral flow testing.
Carried out by Frankie Marcelline from Brighton and Sussex on 7/1/2021
https://www.knowledgeshare.nhs.uk/index.php?PageID=literature_search_request_download&RequestID=26921
(This is a rapid review for evidence on PCR and lateral flow testing. It focuses on the most recent articles including evaluations on their use in the community.)

Clinical practice guide for improving the management of adult COVID-19 patients in secondary care: Shared learning from high performing trusts during COVID-19 pandemic
Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT); 2021.
(Summarises challenges faced and responses used by high performing trusts visited as part of the GIRFT cross-specialty COVID-19 deep dives, as well as identifying successful innovations they implemented.
Covers infection prevention and control, emergency medicine, critical care and anaesthesia, acute and general medicine, respiratory medicine, geriatric medicine and community care and diabetes. Cross cutting themes: Trust leadership and management, research and clinical coding).

Ensuring provision of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (SRH) services during the second COVID-19 wave and beyond in the UK.
Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH); 2020.
(This latest FSRH guidance is aimed at healthcare professionals and commissioners across the UK. It outlines essential services that must remain available to women during and past the pandemic as well as recommendations on delivering services and prioritising patients.)

COVID-19 vaccination: easy-read resources.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
(Easy-read guides providing information on coronavirus (COVID-19) and vaccination.)

UK COVID-19 vaccines delivery plan.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
(How the UK government was able to build up a supply of vaccines and how it is planning to deploy them. 11 January.)

Prioritising the first COVID-19 vaccine dose: JCVI statement.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
(Statement from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) about increasing the short-term impact of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. 6 January.)

2020 reviewed

The Health Policy Year in 12 Charts

Source: King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

The wheels of health policy turn quickly. So, as 2021 begins Siva Anandaciva looks back at the key health policy moments of 2020 to consider the challenges and opportunities the year brought. The blog sums up the year of changes and influences of Covid 19 throughout the year.

To read the review click here.

Perspectives from the front line

The disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on BME communities

Source: King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

This report finds that the effects of longstanding health and socio-economic inequalities and institutional racism lie behind the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. It distils the findings of a research study into the underlying factors. It is based on interviews with BME NHS leaders, clinicians, community organisations and service users, and a survey of more than 100 members of the NHS Confederation’s BME Leadership Network.

For more information click here.