Tag: Health Services Journal

Covid 19

Current awareness updates

Original Research

Factors influencing self-harm thoughts and behaviours over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: Longitudinal analysis of 49 324 adults.
Paul E. British Journal of Psychiatry 2022;220(1):31-37.
[Conclusions: Findings suggest that a significant portion of UK adults may be at increased risk for self-harm thoughts and behaviours during the pandemic. Given the likelihood that the economic and social consequences of the pandemic will accumulate, policy makers can begin adapting evidence-based suicide prevention strategies and other social policies to help mitigate its consequences.]

COVID-19: stepdown of infection control precautions and discharging patients to home settings.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2022.
[17 January 2022: Updated to reflect change in isolation period in hospitals from 14 to 10 days for cases and contacts of cases of COVID-19, as well as clarification of isolation period for severely immunocompromised patients.]

COVID-19: management of staff and exposed patients and residents in health and social care settings.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2022.
[17 January 2022: Updated to reflect change in isolation period in hospitals from 14 to 10 days for cases and contacts of cases of COVID-19 and includes new changes to self-isolation periods for staff in health and care settings.]

COVID-19: infection prevention and control (IPC)
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2022.
[17 January 2022: Updated to reflect change in isolation period in hospitals from 14 to 10 days for cases and contacts of cases of COVID-19.]

Preventing and controlling outbreaks of COVID-19 in prisons and places of detention.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA); 2022.
[17 January 2022: Updated information on: ending self-isolation for prisoners/detainees and staff who test positive for COVID-19; testing information for staff and prisoners/detainees who are identified as a contact; return to work criteria for staff who test positive for COVID-19 or who are identified as a contact; visitors to prisons.]

Daily Insight: Vax to the future.
HSJ: Health Service Journal (Daily Insight) 2022;:7031723.
[The expiry date on some batches of the Pfizer covid vaccine supplies has been extended to 45 days, following concerns that large quantities would be wasted. Also: LSE research finds no significant relationship between the number of managers or the amount spent on management and the quality of NHS hospital services. 18 January.]





Public Health

Current awareness updates

Prime Minister announces new local COVID Alert Levels Press release, Gov.uk, October 2020

(On 12th October, the Prime Minister set out how the government will further simplify and standardise local rules by introducing a three tiered system of local COVID Alert Levels in England.)

So what now? Supporting students through a global pandemic and beyond Health Management and Policy Alert, King’s Fund, October 2020

(This report finds that many student midwives are struggling under the weight of financial concerns, poor mental health and an unpredictable job market. It finds that 96 per cent of student midwives reported having mild or moderate mental health problems since the pandemic began. The survey shows that by the end of July just 36 per cent of students in their final year of midwifery training had been offered a job in the NHS. At the same time, midwifery educator numbers are not keeping pace with the rise in student midwife numbers, potentially leaving students less supported throughout their training.)

Stoptober 2019 Campaign Evaluation Health Management and Policy Alert, King’s Fund, October 2020

(Stoptober is an annual event to encourage smokers to quit for 28 days in October, with the aim of stopping smoking permanently. This report aims to measure the impact of Stoptober during 2019.)

Daily Insight: New wave, new problems.
Health Services Journal (HSJ); 22nd September, 2020.
(The second wave of the Covid pandemic appears to be upon us. While the approach of the second wave has been accompanied by stories of faults and failings in the system delivering vital Covid tests, the first wave in March was accompanied by a crisis in the supply of essential personal protective equipment. The onset of the second wave has also brought a warning from RCEM about English emergency departments reporting “dangerous” overcrowding similar to levels seen pre-covid.)

Use of the NHS COVID-19 app in schools and further education colleges.
Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care; 2020.
(Actions for schools and further education colleges when using the NHS COVID-19 app in education settings. Published 22 September 2020.)

Childhood in the time of Covid.
The Children’s Commissioner; 2020.
(While for some children there were certain aspects of the pandemic that brought benefits such as spending more time with their families, this report sets out how for many of the most vulnerable children the disruption of the past six months has been damaging and compounded existing inequalities. It calls for a comprehensive recovery package for children and provides a roadmap for what should be done to help children to recover from their experiences of the past six months and the ongoing crisis.)

Financial consequences of the coronavirus pandemic for older people ELSA, September 2020

Older people have been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but less focus has been given to the financial impact on older adults. ELSA investigate how adults in their 50s and older have been affected financially by the pandemic.