Public Health

Current awareness updates

The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Intimate Partner Violence and Mental Health.
The Mental Elf; 2022.
(Rachel Milligan summarises the recently published Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Intimate Partner Violence and Mental Health, which establishes a roadmap for strengthening responses across mental health services, research, and policy.)

Indicator: Hospital admissions as a result of self-harm in children and young people.
Nuffield Trust; 2022.
(Early identification, accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of mental health conditions can help to prevent self-harm and suicide in children and young people. Self-harm is when somebody intentionally damages or injures their body, and is a common way of coping with or expressing overwhelming emotional distress. Hospital admission rates are a useful measure of intentional self-harm, and an indicator of how well we are preventing this suffering from occurring.)

Finding an NHS dentist in England.
House of Commons Library; 2022.
(This page provides information on how to find an appointment with an NHS dentist in England, including a summary of guidance from the NHS and Healthwatch websites. It also provides information on NHS dental charges. The Commons Library debate pack on NHS Dentistry in England (June 2022) – https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2022-0112/ – provides more in-depth, contextual information on Government policy, dental contracts and provision.)

Improving the way family support services work for minority ethnic families.
Early Intervention Foundation (EIF); 2020.
(This report explores the experiences of minority ethnic families in accessing and receiving family support, to better understand the challenges and opportunities in how family support services work for minority ethnic families and young people.)

Improving children and young people’s mental health services Local data insights from England, Scotland and Wales.
The Health Foundation; 2022.
(This briefing presents analysis from the Health Foundation’s Networked Data Lab (NDL) about children and young people’s mental health. The analysis highlighted three key areas for urgent investigation, to help ensure children and young people get the care they need. These are: rapid increases in mental health prescribing and support provided by GPs; the prevalence of mental health problems among adolescent girls and young women; stark socioeconomic inequalities across the UK.)

Medical emergencies in eating disorders

Guidance on recognition and management

Source: The King’s Fund

This report finds that signs that someone with an eating disorder is dangerously ill are often missed by health care professionals due to lack of guidance and training. The research finds that hospital admissions for eating disorders have increased by 84 per cent in the past five years, reaching a total of 24,268 admissions. Children and young people with eating disorders are the worst affected, with a rise of 90 per cent in the five-year period. This guidance is aimed at frontline staff so that people with eating disorders needing urgent care can be identified and treated earlier.

Public Health

Current awareness updates

Low life expectancy in Glasgow, and what to do about it.
The Health Foundation; 2021.
[In this podcast Chief Executive Dr Jennifer Dixon, Dr David Walsh is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow and Sir Harry Burns is the Professor of Global Public Health explore: What is fraying health to this degree in Glasgow? What is being done to help? And what can we all learn from Glasgow’s longstanding efforts to try to mend the health fabric, as we all attempt to build back better after the pandemic?]

Flu vaccination in schools.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[This guidance has been produced to assist all school staff and headteachers with any questions about annual flu vaccination programme for 2021 to 2022. 28 July 2021: Updated the reason for extending the programme in secondary schools section.]

Associations between smoke-free vehicle legislation and childhood admissions to hospital for asthma in Scotland: an interrupted time-series analysis of whole-population data.
The Lancet Public Health; 2021.
[Although legislation banning smoking in vehicles did not affect hospital admissions for severe asthma among children overall or in the older age group, this legislation was associated with a reduction in severe asthma exacerbations requiring hospital admission among preschool children, over and above the underlying trend and previous interventions designed to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke.]

Covid 19

Leaders warn of “full blown second surge” as hospital admissions rise

Healthcare leaders have warned that the NHS will face a full blown second suge of Covid without immediate action.

Yvonne Doyle, medical director for Public Health England, said, “We’re seeing a definite and sustained increase in cases and admissions to hospital. The trend is clear, and it is very concerning. Numbers of deaths from covid-19 are also rising so we must continue to act to reduce transmission of this virus.”

There are rising concerns that we could soon be back to where we were in April if we do not take action now. To find out more click here.