Category: NHS

Public Health

Current Awareness

Staying mentally well: winter plan 2020 to 2021 Gov.uk. 23rd November 2020

(This plan sets out the support that will be in place in the immediate term to help support individuals to stay well during the second wave of Covid-19 and the winter months ahead.)

Learning from local authorities with downward trends in childhood obesity Public Health England

(This report, a set of practice examples researched by University College London and an executive summary by Public Health England, identifies common approaches being implemented by local authorities that had a small but significant 10-year downward trend in childhood obesity. The findings show the value of engagement with and integration of the National Child Measurement Programme and the importance of addressing health inequalities, with 76 per cent of local authorities having a focus on deprivation.) To view the summary click here.

How are the lives of families with young children changing? The changing face of early childhood in the UK Nuffield Foundation

(This evidence review reveals the extent of changes to family life in the UK over the past 20 years and highlights how these changes are experienced unequally across the population. The report argues that, without understanding family life today, the policies and initiatives that seek to address other key areas of society – education, the economy, physical health and mental health – will falter.)

National Child Measurement Programme: childhood obesity.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Research by University College London shares learning from local authorities that have a downward trend in childhood obesity, including practice examples.)

COVID-19: suggested principles of safer singing.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Outlining the available evidence on virus transmission associated with singing and suggested actions to reduce the risk of transmission while singing.)

The state of ageing in 2020.
Centre for Ageing Better; 2020.

(This online, interactive report captures a snapshot of how people in the UK are ageing today, while looking at past trends and our prospects if action isn’t taken. It warns that the Covid-19 pandemic risks setting people in mid-life on a path to poverty and ill health in old age.)

Covid 19

Winter Plan

The UK Government’s COVID-19 Winter Plan presents a programme for suppressing the virus, protecting the NHS and the vulnerable, keeping education and the economy going and providing a route back to normality. The plan sets out the Government’s approach to ending the national restrictions on 2 December.

To find out more or read the summary click here.

Allied Health Professionals

Research project opportunity

We have joined up with UHMB Library and Knowledge Services within the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust to deliver a program on evidence based practice.

The project aims to:

  • Map the distribution of AHPs across the ICP, breaking it down by professional role, who they work for and who they serve including any cross-organisational working
  • Increase the awareness of Library services and provide support to aid with the treatment of patients
  • Facilitate links across the Trust and within local authorities to create long lasting contacts and to share knowledge and good practice
  • Offer an educational programme of evidence-based practice based on the concept of critically appraised topics supported by a series of lectures and workshops delivered by Lancaster University
  • Stimulate engagement with research and service development in the ICP and provide the groundwork for research collaboration
  • Equip staff with the knowledge, confidence and support to undertake their own research projects

The project is open to all Allied Health Professionals across the Trust. If you are interested please email your details (name, job role, contact information, place of work) to katie.roper@lscft.nhs.uk

Covid 19

The impact of health for NHS Staff

Source: King’s Fund- Health Management and Policy Alert

This report reveals the extensive mental and physical health impact on the NHS, and health and care professionals across the UK, as a result of working and living through Covid-19. It also identifies organisational priorities for recovery, both as the country enters the next phase of the pandemic and for the longer term.

Doctor, Nurse, Nhs, Medical, Health, Hospital

To find out more click here.

The gift of time

The impact of Library and knowledge services

According to this report, specialist library services are freeing up the time of clinicians, enabling them to devote more hours to patient care, and could be saving the NHS as much as £77 million a year. It finds that if the ratio of librarians to health professionals was increased to the level recommended by Health Education England, it’s thought that figure could rise to as much as £106 million. It also finds that health librarians and knowledge specialists make the gathering of information as easy as possible for health care professionals, relieving the burden of sourcing and making sense of evidence. This helps NHS organisations meet their statutory duty to use evidence from research within the service.

To find out more click here.

To find out about all our Library services on offer visit our Trustnet page, or feel free to email us; academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk with any questions or queries you may have. We are always here to support you and your colleagues.

The Strategy Unit

Working together for a healthier post- Covid future

Source- King’s Fund

This analysis, commissioned by the Healthier Futures Academy in the Black Country and West Birmingham, illustrates the effects that a Covid-driven recession could have on population health. It frames a discussion about how the NHS, with other local organisations, can more effectively address the causes as well as the effects of ill health.

To read the summary click here.

Mental Health

Current Awareness Updates

Advancing mental health equalities strategy.
NHS England; 2020.
[This strategy summarises the core actions that we all need to take to bridge the gaps for communities fairing worse than others in mental health services. It is also an important element of the overall NHS plans to accelerate action to address health inequalities in the next stage of responding to COVID-19.]

Children and young people’s mental health review: findings from a questionnaire to health and wellbeing boards on local actions.
Care Quality Commission (CQC); 2020.
[Follow up of a 2018 review looking at the quality of, and access to, mental health services for children and young people. It sets out the findings of a 2019 independent follow-up self-assessment questionnaire, to find out the extent to which health and wellbeing board areas in England had progressed with implementing the local recommendations made.]

Mental health rehabilitation inpatient services: 2019 update.
Care Quality Commission (CQC); 2020.
[Updated findings from 114 mental health rehabilitation inpatient providers about patients that were occupying a mental health bed at the time of the information request. Questions included number of beds, current number of patients and their distance from home, funding and number of locked wards.]

Assessment of mental health services in acute trusts.
Care Quality Commission (CQC); 2020.
[Findings from over 100 acute hospital inspections, how well the mental health care needs of patients were met and where trusts, and the wider system, need to improve.]

MeeTwo mental health app: case study.
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; 2020.
[The app provides safe, fully-moderated peer support to 40,000 young people aged 11 to 25 across the UK. The free app enables users to anonymously share their feelings and help each other in a safe, moderated digital environment. Peer support has been shown to improve quality of life, wellbeing, self-esteem and social functioning, as well as reductions in hospital admission rates and use of hospital emergency services.]

State of Care

CQC annual assessment of health and social care

State of Care 2019/20.
Care Quality Commission (CQC); 2020.
[CQC annual assessment of health care and social care in England. The report looks at the trends, shares examples of good and outstanding care, and highlights where care needs to improve. It describes the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, including the unequal impact, DOLS and innovation.]

Covid 19

Updated guidance

Source- King’s Fund

COVID-19: guidance on shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable – GOV.UK

(Information for shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable from COVID-19.)

COVID-19: guidance for the public on mental health and wellbeing – GOV.UK

(Advice and information on how to look after your mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.)

Coronavirus (COVID-19): admission and care of people in care homes – GOV.UK

(How to protect care home residents and staff during the coronavirus outbreak.)

Supported living services during coronavirus (COVID-19) – GOV.UK

(Guidance for providers of supported living settings.)