News

INJURY PREVENTION NEWS – NOW AVAILABLE!

Injury Prevention News is the joint electronic newsletter of the Injury Observatory for Britain and Ireland (IOBI) and the Collaboration for Accident Prevention and Injury Control (CAPIC).

The purpose of this newsletter is to support injury prevention practitioners working in all areas of injury prevention and dealing with all age groups. Injury Prevention News is a FREE source of information on new initiatives, publications of statistics, research findings, opportunities and training events and will highlight new additions to the IOBI and CAPIC websites. The newsletter will be produced three times yearly with editions in January, May and October. The first edition is available at:
http://www.injuryobservatory.net/documents/January_2008_first_issue_IPN.pdf

Tuberculosis prevention and treatment: a toolkit

The DH published a toolkit on 15 June to assist the NHS with implementing the TB action plan.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications
/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_075499

Clean, safe care: reducing MRSA and other healthcare associated infections - a national update

In November 2004, the Department announced its target to halve the number of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia by 2008. Now in its third year, the MRSA/Cleaner Hospitals programme has seen a huge surge in learning on how to reduce healthcare associated infection (HCAI) and, most importantly, a noticeable decrease in the number of MRSA infections.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications
/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_075499

The Healthcare Commission launches biggest ever programme of visits on healthcare acquired infection

The Healthcare Commission is to carry out unannounced inspections at 120 NHS trusts over the coming year in its biggest ever programme of visits relating to healthcare-associated infection.

The Commission will check compliance with the Government’s Hygiene Code, which outlines 11 compulsory duties to prevent and manage healthcare-associated infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile.

More information available at http://www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases.cfm
/cit_id/5466/FAArea1/customWidgets.content_view_1/usecache/false

The National Child Measurement Programme

The Information Centre has released a web-based tool that will allow PCTs to upload their National Child Measurement Programme measurements for national analysis.

More information available at http://www.ic.nhs.uk/news-and-media/latest-news/the-national-child-measurement-programme

Informing healthier choices: information and intelligence for healthy populations

The DH launches its health information and intelligence strategy.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/Organisationpolicy/Modernisation/Choosinghealth/DH_075162

New information source for commissioners

A national practice based comparators website has been launched by the Information Centre. The website allows comparison of activity, referral patterns and outcomes for a number of key conditions.

More information available at http://www.knowledge.ic.nhs.uk/floats/news_item.asp?item_ID=64

Safe, sensible, social - the next steps in the National Alcohol Strategy.

The Department of Health document, published on 5 June reviews progress and outlines further national and local action.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_075218

Fertility rate is highest for 26 years

Provisional fertility rates for 2006 give an average number of 1.87 children per woman in England and Wales, the highest since 1980, according to data released today by the Office for National Statistics. The 2006 total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.87 is up from 1.80 children per woman in 2005, the fifth consecutive annual increase from a low point of 1.63 in 2001.

More information available at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/frc0607.pdf

Department of Health: Departmental Report 2007

The Department of Health has published its 2007 Annual Report. It includes a progress report on health promotion and protection.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/AnnualReports/DH_074767

Varencline (Champix) for Smoking Cessation

NICE has issued the draft version of its guidance on the use of varencline (Champix) for smoking cessation. Final guidance is expected July 2007

More information available at http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=433526

Local spending for local needs: how the NHS intends to use the money

Local Spending for Local needs including systematic inequalities reduction project plan for Yorkshire and the Humber

This report sets out how £8 billion in additional funding in 2007/08 will be spent by the NHS and shows the scope and range of challenges facing the NHS in England today.

Appendix 1 shows how the regional share of the money will be spent on a project to reduce inequalities in the region.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074652

Palliative care services for children and young people in England: an independent review for the Secretary of State for Health

The independent review of palliative care services for children and young people in England is based on findings from a wide consultation with stakeholders, including children and young people and their families, commissioners and providers of services along with commissioned research from Department of Health Analysis and the York Health Economics Consortium.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074459

Heatwave plan for England 2007

The Department of Health have published the Heatwave plan for England 2007

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074539

Infant Feeding Survey 2005

The information centre have publised the Infant Feeding Survey for 2005. Provides information on the incidence, prevalence and duration of breast feeding across the United Kingdom.

More information available at http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/health-and-lifestyles/infant-feeding/infant-feeding-survey-2005

Statistics on Drug Misuse, England, 2007 (full report)

The Information Centre has published a report on the statistics of drug misuse in England 2007. The report covers prevalence and trends in drug misuse for children and adults and related health outcomes.

More information available at http://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/drugmisuse07/Drugs%20misuse-England%202007.pdf

Workplace Smoking

NICE have published public health intervention guidance on workplace smoking. The guidance recommends the most effective and cost-effective approached to supporting and encouraging employees to stop smoking.

More information available at http://guidance.nice.org.uk/PHI5

Choosing health progress report - May 2007

The public health white paper, Choosing health, published in 2004, set out a commitment to reduce health inequalities and better tailor health and care services to meet individual needs. It set out action that individuals and organisations could take to make this a reality. Since its launch, there has been significant progress over a wide range of areas. As this update report demonstrates, we know more about what works and where to focus effort and have tangible evidence of where action set out in Choosing Health is achieving success.

More information available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_074286

Promoting the Commissioning of Diabetes Services

CHKS*, the National Diabetes Support Team, The University of York and Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory are pleased to announce a joint work programme designed to promote effective commissioning of diabetes services.

Key experts from each of the partners, together with the University's York Health Economics Consortium, will focus on development of an online interactive model which will support practical solutions for improving the use of NHS resources for patients with diabetes as well as those at risk of it.

Much of the work will be an extension of the existing tool developed by Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory to support the Diabetes Commissioning Toolkit. The overall objective will be to produce a user-friendly programme which is based on fit-for-purpose data sources.

The project will be managed through a collaborative steering group and CHKS and NDST have agreed to fund an information post to support the initiative.

*CHKS provides information products, accreditation and consultancy services to enable clinicians and managers to improve patient care and to manage their healthcare services more efficiently and effectively. Their services focus on performance benchmarking, corporate governance, financial efficiency, quality assurance, clinical effectiveness and patient reported outcomes. More information available at www.chks.co.uk

No injustice greater than inequality - The Information Centre for health and social care funds the Health Poverty Index (HPI)

The NHS Plan (2000) stated that "no injustice is greater than the inequalities in health which scar our nation" and in response, the Department of Health proposed a number of developments to help combat this situation.

One was the development of the Health Poverty Index (HPI), a web-based tool, originally commissioned by the Department of Health and now funded by The Information Centre for health and social care. It helps tackle inequalities by illustrating measures of health poverty for areas in England. By looking at geographical, social, health and economic factors as well as cultural factors, the HPI tool can be used to support and guide local action aimed at addressing health inequalities and their causes.
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