Securing the NHS Workforce for the Future

The King’s Fund has published a detailed set of recommendations to help secure the future NHS workforce. The work recognises that people are the NHS’s greatest resource and that real progress depends on strong plans, good leadership and meaningful engagement with staff.

The report highlights key areas such as improving staff health and wellbeing, fostering compassionate leadership, and giving staff a voice in decision making. It also calls for workforce planning that is realistic about training times, shifts in where care is delivered, and the skills needed for new technologies.

For anyone interested in how the NHS can build a skilled and resilient workforce that delivers better care, this long read offers practical insights and thoughtful proposals.

Read the full piece from the King’s Fund here: Securing The NHS Workforce For The Future: Our Recommendations For Action | The King’s Fund

Library Christmas Opening Hours

We would like to wish all our friends, family and colleagues a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope, whether you are working the holiday season or not, you get to enjoy some quality times with your loved ones.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2026.

Just to remind you that the Lantern Centre is closed between 12pm on 24th December – 1st January 2026. The Library will operate a limited virtual service on non-bank holidays between this period and re-open as normal on Friday 2nd January 2026.

Christmas opening hours 2025Download

Community Health

December Bulletin

You can view the latest Community Health Bulletin, completed by our colleagues at Mersey Care, here: https://www.evidentlybetter.org/community-bulletin/2025/12/16-december-2025/

In this edition:

  • Medicines in community mental health services
  • Co-occurring mental health and substance use: delivery framework
  • Youth Matters: A new national strategy and a critical moment for young people’s mental health
  • ‘Life being stressful is not an illness’ – why this BBC headline misses the point
  • Review launched into mental health, ADHD and autism services
  • New research collaboration to tackle ethnic inequalities in perinatal severe mental illness
  • Plus much more

Dementia

December Bulletin

The latest dementia bulletin from Mersey Care Evidence and Library Service is available to view: https://www.evidentlybetter.org/dementia/2025/12/10-december-2025/

In this issue:

  • Physical Activity Over the Adult Life Course and Risk of Dementia in the Framingham Heart Study
  • Crossing the brain’s protective barrier – the next generation of dementia treatments
  • UK charity records original music by people living with dementia
  • Brain-healthy gifts to bring home this Christmas
  • Plus much more

Learning Disabilities and Autism

December Bulletin

You can view the latest edition of this bulletin, completed by our colleagues at Mersey Care, here:  https://www.evidentlybetter.org/learning-disability-autism/2025/12/17-december-2025/


In this edition:

  • Learning disabilities and adolescent suicidal ideation: Findings from the z-proso cohort study
  • Neurodiversity-Affirming Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (NDA-DBT) Informed Group Skills Training Programme for Autistic Adults: A Pilot Study
  • Effects of a repeated reading intervention on the reading fluency of adolescents with intellectual disability
  • Review launched into mental health, ADHD and autism services
  • Education Committee publishes Govt’s response to landmark SEND report
  • Working effectively with Autistic parents
  • Plus much more

Lancashire Health Hub

Silver Award

We are pleased to announce that the Lancashire Health Hub was awarded the Silver Prize at the LIHNN Service Developments Awards last week. The Library team works in part of collaboration between the Lancashire Council and 4 other local NHS Trusts to educate professionals around health/digital literacy and ensure the public have a ‘one stop’ shop for reliable health related information. If you haven’t taken a look, please visit: Lancashire Health Hub | Health Information Lancashire. Our simply aim is to help the people of Lancashire find trusted health information with ease.

Suicide Prevention and Self Harm

December Bulletin

The latest Suicide Prevention and Self Harm bulletin from Mersey Care Evidence and Library Service can now be viewed at https://www.evidentlybetter.org/bulletins/suicide-prevention/

This webpage features key links and emerging reports about suicide prevention.

In this issue:      

  • Domestic violence and suicide in women: insights from a national UK study
  • Predictors of suicidal ideation in UK doctors: retrospective case–control study from NHS Practitioner Health
  • Characterisation of a university student sample with a lifetime history of non-suicidal self-injury: mixed-methods analysis of stress factors, coping mechanisms and reasons for self-injury
  • New BSI standard for suicide and the workplace
  • Why online safety is core to suicide prevention
  • Plus much more

Alcohol and drug misuse prevention, treatment and recovery guidance

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID); 2025.

Information and other resources to support commissioners, service providers and others providing alcohol and drug interventions. ‘Co-occurring mental health and substance use: delivery framework’ also added.

Alcohol and drug misuse prevention, treatment and recovery guidance – GOV.UK



How did we help you?

An overview of some evidence searches completed last month

Take a look at some of the literature searches we completed last month. The outcomes help to support clinical decision making, inform patient care or plan for service developments.

If you would like to request a literature search, please complete the form below and send it back to academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk

Literature search form 2025Download