Covid 19

Current awareness updates

Daily Insight: Covid can’t peak too soon.
HSJ: Health Service Journal (Daily Insight) 2021;:7030598.
[Confirmed covid cases in the community fell again on Tuesday, offering further hope that the current wave could have peaked. Most experts are highly cautious about saying so – there is likely to be further growth following ‘freedom day’. Also: In the Cheshire and Merseyside ICS, the nine local authorities have issued a series of “red lines” and pre-conditions to health service leaders. 28 July.]

Daily Insight: Covid puts one in 10 beds to sleep.
HSJ: Health Service Journal (Daily Insight) 2021;:7030631.
[A major hospital trust has made its highest number of bed closures “for many years” due to covid staffing pressures. Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Trust lost 933 bed days in the first week of June due to staff testing positive for covid or being required to isolate. Also: Latest figures show just 3 per cent of A&E attendances nationally are ‘booked’ through the 111 First service. And Healthwatch England says the NHS has not done enough to publicise this new service. 3 August.]

New study into COVID-19 vaccine dose interval for pregnant women.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
[The Preg-CoV clinical trial has been launched to help determine optimal gap between doses as well as explore potential side-effects in more detail. Research shows pregnant women more likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19 and 98% of those in hospital due to COVID-19 are unvaccinated.]

Coronavirus: the consequences for mental health.
Mind; 2021.
[This research with almost 12,000 people found that those with mental health problems report an increase in the severity of challenges they’re facing now and concerns about the future. The authors call for services to be ready for the increase in severity of people’s mental health problems, and to take into account the trauma that people have experienced over the past year and how this might affect the support they need.]

Coronavirus: Adult social care key issues and sources.
House of Commons Library; 2021.
[House of Commons Library research Briefing updated 23 July 2021. An overview of key issues facing the adult social care sector during the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, with links to some of the key official guidance for the sector.]

Coronavirus and the social impacts of ‘long COVID’ on people’s lives in Great Britain: 7 April to 13 June 2021.
Office for National Statistics (ONS); 2021.
[Indicators from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey covering the period 7 April to 13 June 2021 to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on people by their self-reported long COVID-19.]

Public Health

Current awareness updates

Low life expectancy in Glasgow, and what to do about it.
The Health Foundation; 2021.
[In this podcast Chief Executive Dr Jennifer Dixon, Dr David Walsh is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow and Sir Harry Burns is the Professor of Global Public Health explore: What is fraying health to this degree in Glasgow? What is being done to help? And what can we all learn from Glasgow’s longstanding efforts to try to mend the health fabric, as we all attempt to build back better after the pandemic?]

Flu vaccination in schools.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[This guidance has been produced to assist all school staff and headteachers with any questions about annual flu vaccination programme for 2021 to 2022. 28 July 2021: Updated the reason for extending the programme in secondary schools section.]

Associations between smoke-free vehicle legislation and childhood admissions to hospital for asthma in Scotland: an interrupted time-series analysis of whole-population data.
The Lancet Public Health; 2021.
[Although legislation banning smoking in vehicles did not affect hospital admissions for severe asthma among children overall or in the older age group, this legislation was associated with a reduction in severe asthma exacerbations requiring hospital admission among preschool children, over and above the underlying trend and previous interventions designed to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke.]

Library Bulletins

Mental health current awareness

The current bulletins for Serious Mental Health, Perinatal Mental Health and Community Mental Health, produced by Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, are now available to view and download.

For support accessing any of the articles within the bulletins please contact: academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk

Public Libraries

August Reading for Health Book of the Month: Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen

 

As seen on Channel 5’s Our Yorkshire Farm. Amanda Owen loves her traditional life on her hill farm alongside her nine children and husband Clive. And, as readers of her previous bestsellers will know, every day at Ravenseat brings surprises. In Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda takes us from her family’s desperate race to save a missing calf to finding her bra has been repurposed as a house martin’s nest, and from wild swimming to the brutal winter of 2018 that almost brought her to her knees. As busy as she is with her family and flock though, an exciting new project soon catches her eye . . . Ravenseat is a tenant farm and may not stay in the family, so when Amanda discovers a nearby farmhouse up for sale, she knows it is her chance to create roots for her children. The old house needs a lot of renovation and money is tight, so Amanda sets about the work herself, with some help from a travelling monk, a visiting plumber and Clive. It’s fair to say things do not go according to plan!

Funny, evocative and set in a remote and beautiful landscape, this book will delight anyone who has hankered after a new life in the country.

The book is currently available for free on the Borrow Box app as an eBook and eAudiobook. It is one of the public library’s always available titles, so it means that you won’t have to queue to borrow the book – just download it instantly. To access this, you will just need a Lancashire Library card (you can apply here if you don’t already have one) and download the Borrow Box app for free from the Google Play or App Store. Alternatively, you could also reserve a physical copy from one of the reopened libraries.