Think Ahead, May 2019
The Think Ahead programme is a fast-track graduate scheme, offering graduates and career-changers a new route into mental health social work. This independent report contains an evaluation of the Think Ahead programme. The findings of the report are mainly positive and the authors call for the programme to continue to be developed and supported.
Click here to view the full report.
Transitions to adulthood: the case for a cross-departmental taskforce
The Children’s Society, May 2019
One in five 16 year olds experience five or more complex issues. Their age means these young people often fall between the cracks of children’s and adults’ services and are left without support. Many face further challenges as support drops off overnight after their eighteenth birthday, making the transition into independent adulthood difficult. This report outlines steps that government departments and other agencies should take to improve transitions for young people. It recommends that the government forms a cross-departmental taskforce to look into transition planning for older teenagers as they move into adulthood, to ensure the best outcomes for vulnerable young people.
Click here to view the report.
Strengthening the frontline: Investing in primary care for effective suicide prevention
Centre for Mental Health, May 2019
This report explores the role of GP and primary care services in helping people who are at risk of suicide. About 6,000 people die by suicide each year in the UK. Only a third are in contact with mental health services in the year before their death, but many visit their GP in the months before their death. The report identifies five areas for improvement to help GPs to offer life-saving support:
- The provision of effective, ongoing training for GPs
- Investment in the capacity of primary care services to enable longer appointments and continuity of care for patients needing ongoing support
- Emotional support for GPs themselves
- More effective care pathways for people who feel suicidal to clinical and social support
- Opportunities to refer patients who need more specialist support.
Click here to view the full report.
Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE): consensus working group report
Brain, awz099, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awz099
This study describes a recently recognized disease entity, limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE). LATE shares similar symptoms to Alzheimer’s disease, but it is a distinct disease linked to different brain proteins. Interventions designed for Alzheimer’s disease will therefore be ineffective for LATE. Developing an understanding of LATE will hopefully lead to new avenues of research into dementia treatments and care.
Click here to access the paper.
Library bulletins – May 2019
The Gosall Library, May 2019
This week’s Library bulletins are on General Health and Suicide Prevention
Autism – overview of UK policy and services: Briefing paper
House of Commons Library, April 2019
This briefing provides an overview of policies and services for people with autism, primarily in England. 2019 marks ten years since the Autism Act 2009 was passed.
Click here to view the paper.
Mental health acute flow improvement tool
NHS Improvement, April 2019
An intuitive data visualisation tool that gives providers of NHS mental health services and their stakeholders extensive information on flow through the adult acute inpatient pathway.
Click here for further information.
Caring for the mental health of the medical workforce
British Medical Association, April 2019
This report provides a summary of findings from a large-scale survey into the mental health of doctors and medical students. The survey, which was open to BMA members and non-members across the UK received over 4,300 responses. Four in ten respondents to our survey reported currently experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, burnout, stress, emotional distress or a mental health condition that is impacting on their work, training or study.
Click here to view the full report.
Caring alone: why Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic young carers continue to struggle to access support
Barnardo’s, April 2019
This report finds that young Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children who care for ill or disabled relatives are more likely than other young carers to be isolated from support services. The concept of a young carer is unfamiliar to many BAME communities as helping your family and extended family is often expected and there is stigma within many BAME communities in acknowledging mental health and disability issues and in seeking support. The report makes recommendations including ensuring that allpatients who don’t speak English should have access to a translator instead of relying on children to translate for their family. The NHS should work with communities to tackle stigma around within BAME communities to reduce the stigma of mental illness, special needs and disability and improve access to services.
Click here to view the full report.
Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
Women and Equalities Committee, April 2019
This report finds that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people have the worst outcomes of any ethnic group across a huge range of areas, including education, health, employment, criminal justice and hate crime. The report makes 49 recommendations for change to policy and health provision.
Click here to view the full report.