Serious Mental Illness
The October bulletin, courtesy of Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, is now available to view and download.
Category: Mental Health
Covid 19
Updated guidance
Source- King’s Fund
(Information for shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable from COVID-19.)
COVID-19: guidance for the public on mental health and wellbeing – GOV.UK
(Advice and information on how to look after your mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.)
Coronavirus (COVID-19): admission and care of people in care homes – GOV.UK
(How to protect care home residents and staff during the coronavirus outbreak.)
Supported living services during coronavirus (COVID-19) – GOV.UK
(Guidance for providers of supported living settings.)
Bulletin
Physical Health and mental illness October bulletin
To view the October’s bulletin, as produced by Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, download below.
Mental Health
Impact on children and young people in England
Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Wave 1 follow up to the 2017 survey.
NHS Digital; 2020.
[This is the first in a series of follow up reports to the Mental Health and Young People Survey (MHCYP) 2017, exploring the mental health of children and young people in July 2020, during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes since 2017. Experiences of family life, education and services, and worries and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic are also examined.]
Peer support models for children and young people with mental health problems.
Centre for Mental Health; 2020.
[Centre for Mental Health was commissioned by Health Education England to explore the implications of expanding mental health peer support for specific groups of people. Peer support offers the potential for children and young people to develop the resilience needed to reduce mental health needs and to recognise their wellbeing needs at an early stage.]
Mental Health
Current Awareness
Children and young people’s mental health review: findings from a questionnaire to health and wellbeing boards on local actions QCQ – October 2020
(This report contains an update on work carried out in 2018 looking at the quality of mental health services for children and young people, as well as the access to these services. It sets out the findings of a 2019 independent follow-up self-assessment questionnaire, to find out the extent to which health and wellbeing board areas in England had progressed with implementing the local recommendations made.)
NHS strengthens mental health support for staff NHS England -October 2020
(NHS staff will get rapid access to expanded mental health services that are being rolled out across the country as part of efforts to deal with the second wave of coronavirus. NHS England and NHS Improvement will invest an extra £15 million to strengthen mental health support for nurses, paramedics, therapists, pharmacists, and support staff.)
NHS encourages children and young people to seek help as new data shows rise in mental health problems NHS England – October 2020
(England’s top children and young people’s mental health doctor is encouraging youngsters to seek help if they need it, as NHS Digital’s new survey shows there has been a rise in mental health problems in children and young people during the pandemic.)
The impact of Covid-19 to date on older people’s mental and physical health Age UK- October 2020
(This research finds that some older people are coping with the pandemic, but a sizeable minority are finding life incredibly tough. Those who are not very well and have long term health conditions were particularly likely to report that this is an extremely challenging time for them.The research was made up of a survey of older people, their friends, families, and loved ones (promoted across the Age UK social media channels for two weeks in August 2020 and completed by 569 people) and representative online polling of 1,364 people over the age of 60, conducted by Kantar Polling in September 2020.)
Pushed from pillar to post: improving the availability and quality of support after self-harm in England.
Samaritans; 2020.
[This report finds that there is no consistently effective support available to people who self-harm. The research identified four key support needs for people who self-harm, which are seen as essential to providing effective care: distraction from immediate self-harm urges; emotional relief in times of stress; developing alternative coping strategies; and addressing the underlying reasons for self-harm.]
Commission for Equality in Mental Health: Briefing 3: Inequalities of experience and outcomes.
Centre for Mental Health; 2020.
[This third briefing from the Commission for Equality in Mental Health explores why communities with higher rates of mental ill health often get the least effective support. This is most dramatically evident for people from Black communities in the UK, who experience higher levels of coercion and poorer long-term outcomes. This briefing explores why these inequalities persist, and looks at what can be done to bring about more equal outcomes and experiences from mental health support.]
Mental health rehabilitation inpatient services – 2019 update.
Care Quality Commission (CQC); 2020.
[Based on the results of a request to providers to review progress, the CQC has made recommendations to improve care for people in mental health rehabilitation inpatient services, in line with the recent NICE guidance for the rehabilitation of adults with complex psychosis.]
Advancing mental health equalities strategy NHS England – September 2020
(This strategy summarises the core actions all mental health services need to take to better address inequalities in access, experience and outcomes across the sector. It is also an important element of the overall NHS plans to accelerate action to address health inequalities in the next stage of responding to Covid-19.)
Out of sight – who cares?
A review of restraint, seclusion and segregation for autistic people, and people with a learning disability and/or mental health condition
Source – Kings Fund Health Management and Policy Alert
This report tells the story of restrictive practices from the perspective of people who have experienced it first-hand and looks at how long-term segregation was used. The review finds that the environment of mental health hospitals was often not therapeutic. It also finds that some people were admitted without proper assessment and did not have an assessment of their needs while in hospital, resulting in the lack of a clear care and treatment plan.
Mental health in later life
Minds that matter
This report looks at the life events and circumstances that can affect people’s mental health in later life, including bereavement, loneliness, ill health and caring responsibilities. Focusing mainly on anxiety and depression, the report also describes people’s mixed experiences of seeking support from GPs, therapists and other services. It highlights the common barriers and makes recommendations for what needs to change to improve support for older people and ensure they can live a mentally healthy later life.
To find out more click here.
Mental health
Current awareness updates
Samaritans, October 2020 (This report finds that there is no consistently effective support available to people who self-harm. The research identified four key support needs for people who self-harm, which are seen as essential to providing effective care: distraction from immediate self-harm urges; emotional relief in times of stress; developing alternative coping strategies; and addressing the underlying reasons for self-harm. The report makes several recommendations for how the needs of people who self-harm can be met more effectively.)
Adaptation of evidence-based suicide prevention strategies during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wasserman D. World Psychiatry 2020;19(3):294-306.
[While there is evidence indicating that suicide rates decrease during times of crises, they are expected to increase once the immediate crisis has passed. The scientific community, health care professionals, politicians and decision-makers will find in this paper a systematic description of the effects of the pandemic on suicide risk at the society, community, family and individual levels, and an overview of how evidence-based suicide preventive interventions should be adapted.]
The COVID-19 anxiety syndrome scale: Development and psychometric properties.
Nikčević AV. Psychiatry Research 2020;292:113322.
[In Study 1, a community sample of 292 participants completed the newly developed COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome Scale (C-19ASS) and results were subjected to a Principal Components Analysis. In Study 2, a community sample of 426 participants completed a battery of questionnaires including the C-19ASS. The C-19ASS appears to be a reliable and valid measure of the COVID-19 anxiety syndrome. The implications of these findings are discussed.]
What should be done to support the mental health of healthcare staff treating COVID-19 patients? Tracy DK, Tarn M, Eldridge R, Cooke J, Calder JDF, Greenberg N.Br J Psychiatry. 2020 Oct;217(4):537-539
(There is an urgent need to provide evidence-based well-being and mental health support for front-line clinical staff managing the COVID-19 pandemic who are at risk of moral injury and mental illness. This article describes the evidence base for a tiered model of care, and practical steps on its implementation.)
Covid 19 mental health research
Funding boost
Six new research projects have been awarded a share of £2m funding by NIHR and UKRI to investigate and reduce the impacts of Covid-19 and the pandemic on mental health.
The projects will focus on reducing the negative effects of the pandemic on the mental health of three at-risk groups: healthcare workers, children and younger people, and those with serious mental health problems.
To find out more click here.
Mental Health
Current Awareness Updates
Inquiry into the support available for young people who self-harm This inquiry, led by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention and supported by Samaritans, explored the experiences of young people who self-harm in accessing support services. In particular, it examined: support services currently available in both clinical and the wider community settings (including schools); plans for improving and expanding this support; and the changes needed to ensure that support is made more effective and widely available. It concludes that young people who self-harm are often made to wait until they reach crisis point before receiving support.
How are UK adults managing stress during the pandemic? A survey from the Mental Health Foundation looks at how people are managing their stress during the pandemic. The most popular coping mechanisms were walking, visiting green spaces and contacting family and friends.
Laying foundations: attitudes and access to mental health nurse education Mental health nurses account for over a third of the mental health workforce in England and work across a wide range of health and care settings. However, this report finds that the pipeline of people choosing to study and qualify to become a mental health nurse is unable to meet sharply rising demand for this service. It looks at ways more people might be attracted to apply to study mental health nursing – and reasons why numbers are currently limited.
Digital interventions for suicidal thinking: a tale of two reviews.
In his debut blog, Wouter van Ballegooijen summarises two recent systematic reviews on digital interventions for suicidal thinking, which include more or less the same research, but come to quite different conclusions.
Reducing demand for inpatient mental health beds evidence review
This evidence review explores the evidence for initiatives and interventions which aim to avoid mental health inpatient admissions and re-admissions and reduce inpatient length of stay.
Should European cities be going green for our mental health?
Eleana Frisira summarises a recent scoping review on the impact that green spaces can have on the mental health of people living in urban settings.
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