Category: Older People

Public Health

Current Awareness

Source: KnowledgeShare

Financial wellbeing: applying All Our Health.
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID); 2022.
(Evidence and information for health and care professionals and the wider workforce to promote the benefits of financial wellbeing. The resource illustrates how money can impact on wellbeing and identifies how frontline health and care staff can use their trusted relationships with patients, families and communities to promote the benefits of financial wellbeing. It also recommends important actions that managers and staff holding strategic roles can take.)

Young Black Men and Mental Health Programme.
Islington Council; 2022.
(This pioneering and innovative programme is designed to improve mental health wellbeing, and wellbeing life outcomes for young Black men. The video promotes the Barbers Project, which is part of Islington Council’s larger Young Black Men and mental health programme.)

A Torn Safety Net: How the cost of living crisis threatens its own last line of defence.
Theos; 2022.
(A report on the effect the cost of living crisis has had on social and economic security. This report is the culmination of a year–long project exploring how economic and social insecurity is affecting churches, faith groups and local communities.)

Child and maternal health statistics.
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID); 2022.
(Statistics to support improvements in decision making when planning services for pregnant women, children, young people and families. Change made: Added the following publications: ‘Child development outcomes at 2 to 2 and a half years: annual data 2021 to 2022’, ‘Breastfeeding at 6 to 8 weeks after birth: annual data 2021 to 2022’ and ‘Health visitor service delivery metrics experimental statistics: annual data 2021 to 2022’.)

Why can’t I get care? Older people’s experiences of care and support.
Age UK; 2022.
(This report aims to answer the question as to why 14,000 people per week are having their requests for care turned down by councils, many of which are facing growing demand and static or reducing resources with which to respond. It highlights the number of unpaid carers who provide hours of care for their loved ones, often at the expense of their own health and wellbeing.)

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Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Age-Friendly Health Systems: Guide to Care of Older Adults in Nursing Homes.
Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); 2022.
(This updated [US] guide helps care teams prepare for, test, and implement age-friendly care practices. Designed to be used with an accompanying workbook for nursing home teams, the guide outlines the 4Ms – What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility – for nursing home care of older adults.)

Cold weather plan for England.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2022.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cold-weather-plan-for-england
(01 November 2022: Updated Cold weather health risks slide set.)

WHO: At least 17 million people in the WHO European Region experienced long COVID in the first two years of the pandemic; millions may have to live with it for years to come.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2022.
(To help address the gaps in our knowledge of long COVID and advocate for people living with the condition, WHO/Europe today announced an official partnership with Long COVID Europe, a network organization that to date comprises 19 patient associations, based in Member States across the European Region.)

Poverty and the health and care system: the role of data and partnership in bringing change .
The King’s Fund; 2022.
(Poverty causes ill health, drives inequality in health outcomes and increases use of health services. This King’s Fund long read considers how successful sharing and acting on data can support health and care systems in mitigating, reducing and preventing poverty’s effects on health.)

Developing learning health systems in the UK: priorities for action.
The Health Foundation; 2022.
(Learning health systems are able to learn from the routine care they deliver and improve it as a result. In this report, we explore in detail what makes a learning health system, and look at how they can be developed. We explore four important areas especially relevant to LHSs: learning from data, harnessing technology, nurturing learning communities and implementing improvements to services.)

Sensory-friendly resource pack: resources to improve the sensory environment for autistic people.
NHS England; 2022.
(During 2021/22 NHS England has funded a variety of projects to support Integrated Care Systems in developing sensory friendly environments for autistic people. This document outlines the projects commissioned and draws them together into a cohesive resource pack for local health systems to use to support their autistic citizens.)

British Geriatric Society

The geriatric medicine workforce 2022

Source: The King’s Fund

This report examines data collected by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on the consultant and Higher Specialty Trainee geriatric medicine workforce. This data, which was collected between 2019 and 2021 as part of the RCP’s annual workforce census, demonstrates the staffing challenges facing older people’s health care. Despite the growth in medical student places, there are not enough specialist health care professionals being trained and retained to meet the needs of the population as it ages.

For more information click here.

British Geriatrics Society

Implementing ‘Virtual Wards’ for older people with frailty

This report explores how ‘virtual wards’ are funded and implemented as well as the potential benefits, limitations, and scientific evidence to be taken into consideration when providing a safe, effective, and patient-centred alternative to hospital inpatient care for older people.

Public Health

Current awareness updates

Our ageing population: How ageing affects health and care need in England.
The Health Foundation; 2021.
[This report examines this dynamic by analysing changes in two measures of need:  an estimate of social care need, drawn from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) ; prevalence of long-term conditions, as a proxy for health and health service demand.   It explores how health and care needs change with age, how the relationship between need and age has changed over time and how long-term conditions and social care needs interact.]

National Diabetes Audit, Report 1- Care Processes and Treatment Targets 2020-21.
NHS Digital; 2021.
[The National Diabetes Audit measures the effectiveness of diabetes healthcare against NICE Clinical Guidelines and NICE Quality Standards.]

Humidification of indoor air for preventing or reducing dryness symptoms or upper respiratory infections in educational settings and at the workplace. [Abstract]
Byber K. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021;12:CD012219.
[OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of interventions that increase indoor air humidity in order to reduce or prevent dryness symptoms of the eyes, the skin and the upper respiratory tract (URT) or URT infections, at work and in educational settings.]

Public Health

Current awareness updates

Violence Prevention Information System (Violence Info).
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
[Developed in collaboration with the Public Health Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Public Health Wales and the World Health Organisation, Violence Info is an online interactive collection of scientific information about the prevalence, consequences, risk factors and preventability of all forms of interpersonal violence. It covers homicide, child maltreatment, youth violence, intimate partner violence, elder abuse and sexual violence.]

Two new tobacco cessation medicines added to the WHO essential medicines list.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
[On 1 October 2021, the WHO announced the updated the Model List where two new medicines have been added, indicating a powerful shift in the fight against the tobacco epidemic. Bupropion and varenicline are medicines which work in a different way from nicotine replacement. The new medicines reduce cravings for nicotine without supplying a nicotine substitute, thereby supporting people in quitting tobacco use and reducing nicotine dependence.]

Healthy weight coach elearning programme: for primary care networks, healthcare practices and pharmacies.
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID); 2021.
[This reference guide is for primary care networks, healthcare practices and pharmacies interested in training staff, and staff interested in undertaking training, to become a healthy weight coach.]

Blood pressure lowering and risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes: an individual participant data meta-analysis.
The Lancet; 2021.
[Blood pressure lowering is an effective strategy for the prevention of new-onset type 2 diabetes. Established pharmacological interventions, however, have qualitatively and quantitively different effects on diabetes. This evidence supports the indication for selected classes of antihypertensive drugs for the prevention of diabetes, which could further refine the selection of drug choice according to an individual’s clinical risk of diabetes.]

Caring for older patients with complex needs: How does England compare with 11 OECD countries?
The Health Foundation; 2021.
[The analysis shows that looking across the system is essential to understand the true resource use of patients with complex needs, if policymakers are to identify areas for improvement in care. The comparatively high mortality rates for people admitted for hip fracture and for people with heart failure and diabetes in England are concerning and require scrutiny by policymakers, commissioners and providers…]

Public Health

Current awareness updates

Alcohol is one of the biggest risk factors for breast cancer.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
[Alcohol is classified as a Group 1 human carcinogen by IARC. It is causally linked to 7 types of cancer. Besides female breast cancer, it increases the risk of developing oral cavity (mouth), pharynx (throat), oesophagus (gullet), liver, larynx (voice box) and colorectum (large intestine and rectum) cancers. There is no safe level of alcohol consumption. The risk of breast cancer increases with each unit of alcohol consumed per day.]

Myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy)/chronic fatigue syndrome: diagnosis and management.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); 2021.
[This guideline covers diagnosing and managing myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy)/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in children, young people and adults. It aims to improve awareness and understanding about ME/CFS and when to suspect it, so that people are diagnosed earlier. It includes recommendations on diagnosis, assessment and care planning, safeguarding, access to care and managing ME/CFS and its symptoms.]

Eligible for a free flu vaccine this winter? Don’t wait, book it.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2021.
[With flu and COVID-19 expected to be in wide circulation together this winter, UK Health Security Agency is urging more people than ever to get their free flu vaccine, if they are eligible. In this blog the UK Health Security Agency answers some common questions about this year’s flu season.]

The use of wearables and health apps and the willingness to share self-collected data among older adults.
Seifert A. Aging and Health Research 2021;1(3):100032.
[The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which older adults utilize mobile health tracking tools in everyday life and their willingness to share the collected health-related data with doctors, health insurance companies, or research institutions. 75.0% of the participants used at least one mobile device; 22.9% used health-related apps. Participants were more often willing to share their data with doctors than with health insurance companies or researchers.]

Changes in childhood experimentation with, and exposure to, tobacco and e-cigarettes and perceived smoking norms: a repeated cross-sectional study of 10–11 year olds’ in Wales.
BMC Public Health; 2021.
[Children’s experimentation with and exposure to tobacco, and their perceptions of smoking as a normative behaviour, have continued to decline alongside growth in exposure to e-cigarettes. Although a large majority of pupils reported they minded people smoking around them, there was some evidence of diminishing disapproval of secondhand smoke since 2007.]

Understanding Sexual Aggression in UK Male University Students: An Empirical Assessment of Prevalence and Psychological Risk Factors.
Sexual Abuse; 2021.
[University-based sexual aggression is an international public health issue; however, to date, there have been no formal assessments of the prevalence or psychological indicators associated with the proabuse behaviors of the most common perpetrators at UK universities: heterosexual male students.]

Patients as team members: Factors affecting involvement in treatment decisions from the perspective of patients with a chronic condition.
Health Expectations; 2021.
[From the patients’ perspective, this study shows that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to involving patients more actively in their healthcare journey. Strategies aiming to enhance active patient involvement among patients with a chronic condition should consider this diversity in perspectives among these patients.]

Lead exposure in children: surveillance reports (from 2021).
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2021.
[Results of laboratory-based surveillance of elevated blood lead concentrations in children in England.]

Seasonal flu vaccine uptake in children of school age: monthly data, 2021 to 2022.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2021.
[Cumulative vaccine uptake data for the childhood seasonal flu programme in England.]

Review: Physical activity interventions for the mental health and well-being of adolescents – a systematic review. [Abstract]
Hale GE. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2021;26(4):357-368.
[Rates of physical activity decline throughout adolescence, and evidence indicates that this has an adverse impact on psychological health. This paper aims to synthesise available evidence for physical activity interventions on the mental health and well-being of young people (11-19 years) from the general population.]

Telehealth interventions: remote monitoring and consultations for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). [Abstract]
Janjua S. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021;7:CD013196.
[BACKGROUND: Face-to-face visits with health professionals can be hindered by severity of COPD or frailty, and by people living at a distance from their healthcare provider and having limited access to services. Telehealth technologies aimed at providing health care remotely through monitoring and consultations could help to improve health outcomes of people with COPD.]

Strategies to improve smoking cessation rates in primary care. [Abstract]
Lindson N. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021;9:CD011556.
[OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of strategies intended to increase the success of smoking cessation interventions in primary care settings. To assess whether any effect that these interventions have on smoking cessation may be due to increased implementation by healthcare providers.]

Living with dementia: my life, my goals.
Alzheimer’s Society; 2021.
[A new self-help guide for people living with dementia. The guide helps people with dementia achieve their goals step-by step. It was created by researchers from the GREAT trial in collaboration with people living with dementia.]

Public Health

Current awareness updates

Are we Improving Access to Psychological Treatment for everyone?
The Mental Elf; 2021.
[Bibire Baykeens reviews a general population cohort study which suggests that recent migrants are less likely to use the Improving Access to Psychological Treatment programme.]

Flu in prisons and secure settings.
UK Health Security Agency; 2021.
[This guidance, updated for 2021/22, details how to respond to cases of seasonal flu in prisons and other secure settings (e.g. immigration removal centres; secure training centres), including vaccination, treatment and managing outbreaks.]

Flu in the children and young people’s secure estate.
UK Health Security Agency; 2021.
[This guidance, updated for 2021/22, details how to respond to cases of seasonal flu in the children and young people’s secure estate (e.g. young offender institutions, secure training centres, secure children’s homes), including vaccination, treatment and managing outbreaks.]

Flu vaccination in schools.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
[Flu vaccination guidance and resources for schools.]

Cold weather plan: action cards for cold weather alert service.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
[These action cards summarise advice on how different organisations need to respond to cold weather alert levels 0 through 4.]

Access to palliative care: the primacy of public health partnerships and community participation.
Mills J. The Lancet Public Health 2021;:doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00213-9.
[This viewpoint highlights that palliative care is a public-health concern and the need to promote equity in access to palliative care through public-health partnerships that prioritise community development and participation in end of life care.]

Forthcoming UK asthma guidelines: an opportunity to improve asthma outcomes.
Bush A. The Lancet 2021;:doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02244-3.
[Comment proposes the guideline committees set SMART objectives, e.g. reporting of patients who access less than 80% of their inhaled corticosteroid requirements, suggesting adoption of their proposed strategies could help the guidelines group rise to the challenge of improving asthma outcomes.]

A public health approach to estimating the need for long COVID services.
Journal of Public Health; 2021.
[This paper illustrates how a public health approach was used to influence and inform the development of post-COVID services across two Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). The findings have been valuable in informing early service developments, engaging with managers and clinicians, and supporting applications for funding at a local level.]

Self-Care Readiness Index.
Global Self Care Federation; 2021.
[The Self-Care Readiness Index (SCRI) is a research and policy initiative by the Global Self Care Federation and supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It explores enablers of self care across the health systems of 10 countries, including the UK.]

Online services in general practice: patterns of use and barriers to uptake.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[This project is in line with the national ambition to support the adoption of a range of technology initiatives in general practice. The aims were to understand the needs of the population relating to the effectiveness of online services to support general practice, and identifying groups and exploring barriers and enablers to the use of GP online services. The report is mainly intended for commissioners and providers of GP services.]

Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Programme: An evaluation.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
[An independent evaluation of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Programme.]

Best foot forward: exploring the barriers and enablers to active travel among 50–70 year olds.
Centre for Ageing Better; 2021.
[This report finds that too many people in their 50s and 60s will remain physically inactive unless we redesign our neighbourhoods to encourage walking and cycling. The report, which looked at the barriers people in this age group face to walking and cycling, says that action is needed from national and local government, service providers and health systems to get people moving.]

Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: October 2021.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
[Experimental statistics on a range of topics including infection control measures, coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations and testing for COVID-19 in adult social care settings.]

Transport initiatives to increase uptake of breast screening programmes.
Carried out by Frankie Marcelline from Brighton and Sussex on 12/10/2021
[The evidence search report covers studies on the links between breast cancer screening uptake and ease of transport to appointments. In Tower Hamlets an initiative for encouraging uptake of breast cancer screening appointments includes transport-related support.]


Covid 19

Current awareness updates

COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing COVID-19.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); 2021.
[On 10 August 2021, NICE corrected an error in the practical info section of the recommendations on corticosteroids. The dose of prednisolone for children with a greater than 44-week corrected gestational age is 1 mg/kg.]

Impact of Covid-19 on physical activity in children in the UK.
Carried out by Frankie Marcelline from Brighton and Sussex on 9/8/2021
[This evidence search consists of short reports on the impact of Covid-19 on physical activity in children in the UK. Most of the results are summaries from Sport England which works to encourage all age groups in the uptake of sports and physical activities in England.]

The impact of Covid-19 to date on older people’s mental and physical health: one year on.
Age UK; 2021.
[This report finds that the impact of the pandemic on the health and wellbeing of some older people in early 2021 is so demonstrably severe that it raises big questions over whether they will be able to ‘bounce back’. The adverse effect may prove long lasting in many cases, or even irreversible, with big implications for the NHS and social care in the months and years to come.]


Public Health

Current awareness updates

Statistics on alcohol: England.
House of Commons Library; 2021.
[Research briefing. This note provides a summary of statistics on alcohol consumption among adults and children in England. Data on alcohol-related hospital admissions in England and alcohol-related deaths in
England, the UK and worldwide is also shown.]

Towards a dementia-inclusive society: WHO toolkit for dementia-friendly initiatives.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
[This toolkit supports individuals, communities and countries in raising awareness of, and empowering people living with, dementia to remain in, and be a significant part of, their community. The toolkit provides practical guidance and tools that can support efforts, including planning and implementation activities, to create dementia-inclusive societies.]

Social isolation and loneliness among older people: advocacy brief.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
[This brief highlights the growing public health and policy concern on these issues, made more salient by the COVID-19 pandemic. The brief summarises the scale, impact, and harms of social isolation and loneliness among older people and outlines what can be done to reduce them. It also describes several policy windows that offer opportunities for addressing social isolation and loneliness among older people and proposes a three-point global strategy for tackling these issues.]

WHO guideline on school health services.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
[School health services are services provided by a health worker to students aged 5–19 in primary or secondary education, either within school premises or in a health service situated outside the school. Schools offer a unique opportunity to implement effective health services at scale for children and adolescents. Web Annexes found at the end of this summary link to intervention and implementation tools.]

WHO Guideline on the prevention of drowning through provision of day-care and basic swimming and water safety skills.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
[This guideline addresses: provision of day-care for children under the age of 6 years and provision of basic swimming skills and water safety training to children aged 6 years and older. Developed following GRADE methodology, approved by the WHO Guideline Review Committee and intended for use by policy-makers and practitioners, the guideline issues strong recommendations in favour of both interventions for drowning prevention.]

Alcohol and drug misuse prevention and treatment guidance.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[Information and other resources to support commissioners, service providers and others providing alcohol and drug interventions. 11 August 2021: Added new group: Opioid substitution treatment good practice resources.]

Supporting mental healthcare in a maternity and neonatal setting: good practice guide and case studies.
NHS England; 2021.
[This guide is for commissioners and staff involved in maternity and neonatal care. It describes the underpinning principles of and good practice for supporting good mental health and psychological wellbeing in maternity and neonatal settings. It also considers the role of specialist maternal mental health services (MMHS) in supporting this function.]

Improving non-emergency patient transport services.
NHS England; 2021.
[This report sets out a new national framework for non-emergency patient transport services to support them in becoming consistently more responsive, fair and sustainable.]

PCN winter planning tool.
Primary Care Commissioning (PCC); 2021.
[PCC has published a winter planning tool to support PCNs in preparing for the winter pressures that are anticipated. The tool is free to download and contains an introductory sheet with instructions for completion. We have also recorded a short video guide to using the tool.]

Responding to pandemics and other disease outbreaks in homeless populations: a review of the literature and content analysis.
Babando J. Health & Social Care in the Community 2021;-(6 April):13380.
[This review illustrates that the current breadth of academic literature on homeless populations has focused on tuberculosis rather than diseases that are more recent and closely related to COVID-19. Thematic content analysis revealed six themes that offer recommendations which include (1) education and outreach, (2) adapting structure of services, (3) screening and contract tracing, (4) transmission and prevention strategies, (5) shelter protocols and (6) treatment, adherence and vaccination.]

Government response to the independent review of drugs by Dame Carol Black.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
[Part 2 of Dame Carol Black’s review set out 32 recommendations for a whole system approach to tackling drug misuse. As a result, the government is developing a long-term strategy which will present a whole-of-government response to drive down drug supply and demand to be published by the end of the year. Immediate actions include a new cross government joint combating drugs unit and development of a national outcomes framework to set out measurable goals for the combating drugs programme.]

Restrictive eating disorders in higher weight persons: A systematic review of atypical anorexia nervosa prevalence and consecutive admission literature.[Abstract]
Harrop EN. International Journal of Eating Disorders 2021;54(8):1328-1357.
[Although atypical anorexia (AAN) appears to occur more frequently than AN in communities, fewer patients with AAN are being referred and admitted to eating disorder specific care, particularly in the United States. Given the significant medical and psychosocial consequences of AAN, and the importance of early intervention, this represents a crucial treatment gap.]

Attentional bias in eating disorders: A meta-review.[Abstract]
Stott N. International Journal of Eating Disorders 2021;54(8):1377-1399.
[There is evidence for attentional avoidance and vigilance in eating disorders depending on stimulus properties (low vs. high-calorie food; high-body mass vs. low-body mass index photos of others) and attentional avoidance of food stimuli in those with anorexia nervosa. Sad mood induction may generate attentional bias for food in those with binge-eating disorder. There may also be attentional bias to general threat in eating disorder samples.]