Category: NHS

Covid 19

Current Awareness Updates

COVID-19: advice for smokers and vapers.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.

(Advice for people who smoke or vape during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. People who smoke generally have an increased risk of contracting respiratory infection and of more severe symptoms once infected. Coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms may therefore be more severe for smokers. This guidance advises how to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 for those who smoke or vape, and how to access support to stop smoking and remain smokefree.)

Crisis, Communities, Change: demands for an equitable recovery.
Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA); 2021.

(This report explores how communities have fared during the pandemic. The survey of 2,600 people in Great Britain found that discrimination in local services was twice as high among ethnic minorities: 52 per cent of Asian and 50 per cent of black respondents have faced discrimination when accessing local services – compared with 19 per cent of the white population. The data suggests that institutional distrust because of discrimination may play a role in vaccine hesitancy.)

Covid 19 and the BAME population Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust

Levelling up health All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity

(This report states that Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the United Kingdom, exposing the nation’s poor health and health inequalities – 90 per cent of those who died with Covid had significant prior poor health. The report explains why a new health care system is essential to confront how unhealthy the UK population is. It proposes a 10-year health improvement plan and new health improvement fund, a shift in political attitudes that have impeded progress, clear priorities for action, and the need to challenge and change organisations that harm children and health.)

NHS Covid-19 app: early adopter evaluation report Department of Health and Social Care

(An NHS Covid-19 app was developed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The NHS Covid-19 app has been trialled in the London Borough of Newham, the Isle of Wight and among NHS Volunteer Responders. This trial period is referred to as the early adopter phase. The NHS Covid-19 app programme commissioned a formal evaluation to ascertain perceptions of the NHS Covid-19 app and (intended) usage of its features during the early adopter phase.)

Longer waits, missing patients and catching up The Health Foundation

(This analysis looks at the impact of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on elective care in England. The waiting list has now reached the highest level since comparable records began, with more patients experiencing long delays in diagnosis and treatment.)


Transforming the public health system

Reforming the public health system for the challenges of our times

Source: The King’s Fund Health and Wellbeing Bulletin

This policy document sets out reforms to the public health system in England to transform our national health protection capabilities, put health promotion at the heart of government, and more deeply embed prevention and health improvement expertise across local and national government and the NHS. The health protection capabilities of PHE and NHS Test and Trace will combine into a new UK Health Security Agency. The current health improvement, prevention and health care public health functions of PHE will transfer to new homes within the health system, aligned to achieve clarity of purpose, accountability and impact. A new Office for Health Promotion will be created in the Department of Health and Social Care, under the professional leadership of the Chief Medical Officer.

To read the King’s Fund response to this click here.

Podcast

The NHS Staff Survey; working through Covid and beyond

Helen McKenna sits down with Suzie Bailey, Director of Leadership and Organisational Development at The King’s Fund and Professor Michael West to explore the results of the 2020 NHS Staff Survey and discuss how the NHS can create an inclusive, compassionate, and supportive working environment for staff.

To listen to the podcast, click on the image below.

Learning from lives and deaths

People with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) policy 2021

This policy aims to set out for the first time for the NHS the core aims and values of the LeDeR programme and the expectations placed on different parts of the health and social care system in delivering the programme from June 2021.

Also available in easy read format.

Putting people first

Supporting NHS staff in the aftermath of Covid-19

Source: The King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

Caring for patients and service users during the Covid-19 pandemic has taken an enormous toll on NHS and social care staff. This report, part of the NHS Reset campaign, considers key factors needed for the NHS to provide the most effective environment to retain – and sustain – staff over the weeks and months ahead.

The NHS Confederation report sets out a series of actions needed to protect staff health and wellbeing in the recovery phase of the pandemic, splitting the recovery into 5 aspects:

  • Rest and recovery
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Recognition and reward
  • Improving staff experience
  • Tackling vacancies

To find out more click here.

Saving and improving lives

The future of UK clinical research delivery

Source: The King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

This policy document outlines the government’s vision to unleash the full potential of clinical research delivery to tackle health inequalities, bolster economic recovery and improve the lives of people across the UK.

The future of clinical research delivery sets out the vision for a more patient-centred, pro-innovation and digitally-enabled clinical research environment, which builds on the successes and the lessons we have learned in response to COVID-19 and harnesses the UK’s potential to capitalise on cutting-edge innovations across all treatments and technologies, all phases of research and all conditions.

Their vision puts clinical research delivery front and centre of our plans to build back better so we can tackle the healthcare challenges of the future and patients across the UK and around the world benefit from better health outcomes.

The 5 key themes underpinning the vision are:

  • clinical research embedded in the NHS
  • patient-centred research
  • streamlined, efficient and innovative research
  • research enabled by data and digital tools
  • a sustainable and supported research workforce

The goal is to create a clinical research delivery ecosystem which will shape the future of healthcare and improve people’s lives for years to come.

State of health and care

The NHS long-term plan after Covid-19

Source: The King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

After a decade of austerity, the NHS long-term plan was meant to be a turning point for health care. However, those plans have been severely disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. This analysis shows the scale of the damage done by the pandemic across several major health conditions. It recommends a package of six ambitious changes to ‘build back better’.

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Increased inequalities and barriers to healthy eating and exercise during lockdown for those with obesity.
Carried out by Frankie Marcelline from Brighton and Sussex on 8/3/2021
https://www.knowledgeshare.nhs.uk/index.php?PageID=literature_search_request_download&RequestID=27968
(This evidence search report includes studies and reports on barriers to healthy eating and exercise that people have faced during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK. People with obesity in particular may have poorer mental health and are at higher risk of additional challenges during this lockdown as they are likely to be isolating and find it harder to exercise or eat well. Also includes results focused on what support is required for people with obesity in the post-Covid recovery.)

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy – debunking the myths using a community engagement approach underpinned by NICE guidance.
NICE Shared Learning Database; 2021.

(Shared learning case study. This example describes how GPs from Black Women in Health (BWIH) reduced COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amongst the BAME population by debunking the myths about COVID-19 vaccines by organising webinars, virtual group talks, podcasts, videos in other languages and dialects. The approach to community engagement was informed by recommendations from NICE’s guidance for Community engagement: improving health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities.)

The NHS’s role in tackling poverty: awareness, action and advocacy The King’s Fund

(One of the main drivers behind the creation of the NHS was to protect the poorest in society from being bankrupted by the need to pay for care. But the NHS can do more to mitigate, prevent and reduce poverty. This report sets out what the NHS, as the largest economic institution in the country, needs to maximise its contribution to tackling poverty, within its resources and with its partners.)

COVID-19: guidance on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing – GOV.UK

(Advice for parents and carers on looking after the mental health and wellbeing of children or young people during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.)

NHS Leadership Academy

How might leadership roles evolve in integrated health and care systems?

Source: The King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

This report for the NHS Leadership Academy explores some of the implications of the long-term plan and its supporting plans on leadership within local health and care systems, the roles that may emerge over time, and what knowledge, skills and support leaders need in the future. The report provides an overview of research carried out to better understand how leadership roles are changing in the health and social care sector, especially in collaborative and integrated health and care systems.

For more information click here.

Royal College of Nursing

Independent Review

Source: The King’s Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

This report of an independent review finds that the government’s Covid-19 infection control guidelines, which are used across the UK, are in need of updating. It calls for all NHS staff to be given a higher level of personal protective equipment as a precautionary measure pending the outcome of a review. 

For more information click here.