Public Health

Current Awareness

Are UK health systems dementia ready?: Comparing dementia policy across the four nations of the UK.
Future Health; 2024.

(A dementia diagnosis remains one of the most feared by the public. The potential arrival of new treatments creates an opportunity to improve patient outcomes. But to do so will require health systems to be dementia ready quickly. Urgent action is now needed to make them so.)
Freely available online

When I’m 64: A strategy to tackle poverty before state pension age: summary report.
Fabian Society; 2024.

(The UK is facing a hidden poverty crisis among 60 to 65-year-olds. Since 2010, no significant measures to ameliorate the impact of the rising pension age have been introduced. This report looks at the roots of the problem and presents a strategy for solving it.)
Freely available online

The future for health after Brexit.
Nuffield Trust; 2024.

(This report tracks issues that are important for the delivery of health and care in the UK to understand how our changing relationship with Europe is changing the picture for the NHS and health more generally, and what the prospects are for the future. This latest report shows that global medicine shortages are being felt particularly acutely in the UK, and the country’s reliance on migration as a source of health and social care staff is intensifying.)
Freely available online


Internet Watch Foundation Annual Report 2023: #BehindTheScreens.
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF); 2024.

(IWF works to end child sexual abuse imagery online. The annual report contains 2023 trends and data, and case studies and provides some analysis on the distribution of child sexual abuse images and videos on the internet. The new data reveals thousands of images and videos of three to six year old children who have been groomed, coerced and tricked into sexually abusive acts, are now being found on the open internet.)

On the path to ending smoking: using new funding.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH); 2024.

(With a major opportunity to reset our local strategies and make rapid progress towards ending smoking for all populations this paper has been developed by ASH in partnership with DsPH and Humber and North Yorkshire’s Centre for Tobacco Control Excellence to support local decision making in spending new funding to address smoking. It has been reviewed and endorsed by the Association of Directors of Public Health.)

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Covid 19

Current awareness updates

Characterisation of in-hospital complications associated with COVID-19 using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK: a prospective, multicentre cohort study.
Drake TM. The Lancet 2021;:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00799-6.
[Complications and worse functional outcomes in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are high, even in young, previously healthy individuals. Acute complications are associated with reduced ability to self-care at discharge, with neurological complications being associated with the worst functional outcomes. COVID-19 complications are likely to cause a substantial strain on health and social care in the coming years.]

COVID-19 and the digital divide: Supporting digital inclusion and skills during the pandemic and beyond.
Centre for Ageing Better; 2021.
[This report offers examples of good practice and recommendations for organisations that deliver services to users and help digitally excluded people with skills training. The report finds that the key to building digital inclusion isn’t only about getting more people online, but also building skills and confidence.]

Alcohol consumption and harm during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[A report collating data on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in England during the COVID-19 pandemic and comparing it to data from previous years. The report improves our understanding of how alcohol consumption and harm changed in England while physical and social restrictions to prevent and control coronavirus were in place. The findings help to understand whether pandemic-related changes have affected rates of alcohol hospital admissions and deaths as well as health inequalities.]

COVID-19 vaccination of children and young people aged 12 to 17 years: JCVI statement.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2021.
[Statement from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on COVID-19 vaccination of children and young people aged 12 to 17 years.]

NHS COVID Pass Verifier app.
NHS England; 2021.
[A fast, secure and easy way of allowing people to demonstrate their COVID pass is valid, giving staff confidence in the legitimacy of what is being presented to them. It is a fast, secure way to scan the 2D barcode on an individual’s NHS COVID Pass and verify whether or not they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, had a negative test, or have recovered from the virus – allowing staff to check the legitimacy of what is being presented to them.]

JCVI issues advice on COVID-19 vaccination of children and young people.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is today advising that children at increased risk of serious coronavirus (COVID-19) disease are offered a vaccine.]

The impact of Brexit and COVID-19 on nursing in the UK. [Comment]
Carvalho F. British Journal of Nursing 2021;30(13):822-823.
[Over the years, many experts have stated that nursing in the UK is in crisis and nurses are struggling owing to the increasing number of older and sicker patients, staff shortages and budget cuts that have affected working conditions (Beech et al, 2019). With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented levels of pressure were placed on an already strained nursing workforce.]

A healthy recovery – Acting on findings from the COVID-19 impact inquiry
The Health Foundation; 2021.
[Launched in October 2020, the COVID-19 impact inquiry has been carefully exploring the pandemic’s broad impact on health and what this means for improving health and reducing health inequalities in the UK – now and in the future. The inquiry launched its final report on 6 July 2021. This webinar, held on the same day, discussed key issues raised in the report – the impact of the pandemic and what needs to be done in recovery to create a healthier, fairer society.]

Unequal pandemic, fairer recovery: The COVID-19 impact inquiry report.
The Health Foundation; 2021.
[By mid-March 2021 the pandemic had led to 119,000 excess deaths in the UK and in 2020 caused a 9.9% drop in GDP. Behind these overall figures lie the unequal burdens carried by different population groups and regions. Although the pandemic is still ongoing, this report explores these impacts and the range of different, intersecting factors influencing them. It provides an initial assessment of the effects of the pandemic using evidence available up to May 2021.]


Brexit and Health Care

Understanding the impact of Brexit on health in the UK

Source: King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

This report maps out the health areas that will be affected by the exit from the European Union and discusses the dilemmas confronting the health sector in the face of legislative changes. It suggests that new barriers to migration, an unknown level of disruption to medicines and devices, a prolonged economic slowdown and barriers to investment in science could impact the health sector almost immediately.

To find out more information click here.

Brexit Health Alliance

Prioritising health in our future relationship with the EU

Following the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK now has until the end of this year to define its future relationship with the EU. The Brexit Health Alliance is concerned that the safety and health of patients and citizens could be overlooked during the negotiations over the next 11 months and has produced a briefing and summary to highlight why time is of the essence and health must be a priority in the future relationship negotiations.

Read the briefing here