Initial code of conduct for data-driven health and care technology

Department of Health and Social Care, September 2018
This code provides clarification of:

  • what is expected from suppliers of data-driven technologies
  • what the government will do to support and encourage innovators in health and care, including the development of trusted approval systems and a coherent pathway for suppliers to enter the market

The code provides the basis for ongoing engagement and conversation on how we should use new technology to provide better and more sustainable services, with:

  • our partners in academia, industry and the health and care system
  • patients
  • clinicians
  • the wider public

The code provides the basis for the health and care system and suppliers of digital technology to enter into commercial terms in which the benefits of the partnerships between technology companies and health and care providers are shared fairly.
Click here to view the code.

NHS England Test Beds Programme: Information Governance learning from Wave 1

NHS England, September 2018
The Test Beds programme brings NHS organisations and innovators into partnerships to see how combinations of technology and pathway redesign can improve quality of life and experience for patients and carers.  This handbook is relevant for programme leaders, project managers and information governance staff working on similar projects and will enable them to:

  • Understand common information governance challenges, like those faced by Wave 1 Test Beds, and benefit from their learning
  • Plan information governance activity across a project’s lifespan
  • Access tools and guidance that can support their work

It also provides useful links and resources supports the detailed learning captured in NHS England Test Beds Programme: Information Governance learning from Wave 1.
Click here to view the handbook.

The ‘So what, what next?’ project: supporting people with a learning disability, autism or both to use their skills and interests to play a part in the community

Local Government Association, August 2018
The So What, What Next? project was designed by the Transforming Care empowerment steering group to look at ways of supporting people with a learning disability or autism who have recently been discharged from hospital to explore their skills and passions and to find ways to contribute these to their local communities. The focus was on supporting people to use their strengths, become active citizens and to grow their independence. You can read the project report here, including ‘top tips’ for professionals and supporters.
Click here to view the report.

Social reintegration and employment: evidence and interventions for drug users in treatment

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, September 2018
In order to help drug users become full members of society following treatment, measures are needed that address the issues of housing, education, vocational training and employment as part of their recovery. This report considers existing interventions targeting this vulnerable social group. It also provides a set of conclusions targeted at policymakers and drug practitioners, in order to help them develop coherent and comprehensive social integration strategies. Examples of ‘what works’ in practice are a vital first step in developing evidence-based guidelines for future interventions.
Click here to view the full report.

Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff

Royal College of Nursing, August 2018
One of the most important principles of safeguarding is that it is everyone’s responsibility. Health care staff frequently work with people in their moments of greatest need and can witness health and social inequalities which have a direct impact on the lives of people they care for. This intercollegiate document has been designed to guide professionals and the teams they work with to identify the competencies they need in order to support individuals to receive personalised and culturally sensitive safeguarding. It sets out minimum training requirements along with education and training principles.
Click here to view the report.

Reducing emergency admissions: unlocking the potential of people to better manage their long-term conditions

The Health Foundation, August 2018
Health Foundation summary of research that explores the link between how well patients feel able to manage their long-term conditions such as asthma, diabetes and depression and their use of health care.  The findings show the NHS could reduce avoidable health care use and improve people’s quality of life, if they were better supported to manage their long-term conditions.
Click here to view this report.

Admissions Prevention and Facilitated Discharge Service Evaluation

Applied Health and Wellbeing Partnership, September 2018
Over 70% of hospital bed days are occupied by emergency admissions, and over 80% of emergency admissions who stay for more than two weeks are patients aged over 65.  Older people are the main adult users of NHS health and social care services, at any one time occupying more than two thirds of acute hospital in-patient beds.  Understanding and preventing avoidable admissions is a pressing issue, especially with NHS budget restraints, an increasing ageing population, and the demand for care closer to home.
The Admissions Prevention and Facilitated Discharge service was developed in Wirral to reduce the incidence of hospital admissions and facilitate a timely supported discharge process for those admitted into hospital.  The service provides interventions such as increased packages of care within the patient’s home, rapid access to respite and twenty four hour care nursing beds, access to therapies, facilitation of early supported discharge from hospital into alternative community settings, and the service also supports patients into long term care placements where necessary. The service was evaluated to explore the views and experiences of healthcare professionals and family members of patients who had recently used the service.
Click here to view the full report.

Making The Difference: Breaking the link between school exclusion and social exclusion: 60-second Summary

Institute for Public Policy Research, August 2018
Institute for Public Policy Research, report that notes excluded children are the most vulnerable: twice as likely to be in the care of the state, four times more likely to have grown up in poverty, seven times more likely to have a special educational need and 10 times more likely to suffer recognised mental health problems. Yet our education system is profoundly ill-equipped to break a cycle of disadvantage for these young people.  A new programme should be established, committed to delivering the best in education to the most vulnerable children. Run by a dedicated education charity, leaders graduating from this new programme – The Difference – would be a catalyst for change throughout the education system.
Click here to view the report.

The Good Childhood Report 2018

The Children’s Society, September 2018
The Good Childhood Report 2018 is the seventh in a series of annual ‘state of the nation’ reports on children’s well-being in the UK, born out of a desire to fill the gap in what is known about how children feel about their lives. It finds that one in six (16 per cent) of more than 11,000 children aged 14 surveyed reported self-harming. It looks at the reasons behind the unhappiness which increases the risk of children self-harming. The report urges the Government to make sure that every child can talk to a counsellor in their school.
Click here to view the full report.