Category: Self Harm

NHE: Report Highlights Deepening Mental Health Crisis

A recent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reveals a significant decline in mental health across England and Wales since the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, over half of the 900,000 increase in disability benefit claims among working-age adults is due to mental health issues. Additionally, ‘deaths of despair’—including those from alcohol, drugs, and suicide—have risen by 24%, resulting in approximately 3,700 additional deaths in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels. The report also highlights a 36% increase in individuals accessing NHS mental health services since 2019, with antidepressant prescriptions up by 12%.

Read the full article: National Health Executive

Suicide Prevention Bulletin October 2024

The latest suicide prevention bulletin produced by the Evidently Better team at Mersey Care NHS Trust is now available. If you are unable to access any of the included articles please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.

SP_1oct24Download

Mental Health

Current Awareness Bulletins

With thanks to our colleagues at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trusts, new current awareness bulletins are avaialble to view and download. Some articles are freely accessible, others require an Open Athens account. Please get in touch for additional support: academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk

Suicide Prevention and Self Harm

Suicide-prevention-April-2024Download

Dementia

Dementia-April-24Download

Depression and Anxiety

April-24Download

Learning Disabilities and Autism

April-2024-5Download

Suicide Prevention and Self Harm

April Bulletin

With thanks to our colleagues from Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust please find the latest bulletin attached. Some articles are freely accessible, others require an Open Athens account. For support accessing any of the articles, please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk

April-2024-4Download

Public Health

Current awareness updates

A Women’s Health Agenda: Redressing the Balance.
Public Policy Projects; 2022.
[This report highlights the importance of embracing a culture of change in the design and delivery of women’s health to achieve national systems and local services fit to meet the expectations and needs of the 21st century woman. It sets out recommendations, founded on common sense and rooted in the belief that women should be in control of their own bodies.]

Making self-harm everyone’s business: a consideration of the new national guideline.
Clough I. British Journal of Healthcare Management 2022;28(3):58-60.
[This article discusses the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s consultation and draft guideline on self-harm management, placing the recommendations in the context of ongoing pressures on NHS services and the UK’s growing mental health crisis.]

Guidelines for using online therapeutic interventions.
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR); 2022.
[A team of researchers at the University of Sussex have launched a set of guidelines to help practitioners provide better support to parents and children accessing mental health services online. The guidelines include: Advice on planning, ground rules and strategies for practitioners; Points on support, information governance & policy guidance; What clients need to consider when accessing online services; Guidance on working online with groups of people.]

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.]





Emotional Support

Online resources – Master the Mind Master Anything podcast

Source: Mindset by Dave podcast

Today’s resource is the Master the Mind Master Anything podcast presented by Dave Cottrell (Mindset by Dave). This episode features Sam Tyrer (Change Talks), talking about his experiences and taking mental health awareness into schools.

Listen to the podcast here.

Public Health

Current awareness updates

How has cognitive behaviour therapy been adapted for adolescents with comorbid depression and chronic illness? A scoping review.[Abstract]
Morey A. Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2021;26(3):252-264.
[BACKGROUND: Depression becomes increasingly common in adolescence. Around 10%-20% of adolescents have a chronic illness, and they are more likely to experience depression. There is emerging evidence for cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) interventions to treat depression in adolescents with chronic illnesses, yet no review has been undertaken of how these CBT interventions are delivered in practice.]

The best terminology to describe self-harm: “There is more that unites us than divides us”.
The Mental Elf; 2021.
[Angharad de Cates reviews a recent study which examined international definitions of English-language terms for suicidal and self-harm behaviours.]

Education, schooling and health summary.
Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England; 2021.
[Summary of the existing evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of school-age education. This paper aims to summarise the existing evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of school-age education, including the wider impacts on mental and physical health and wellbeing of being in school and the observed impacts of the loss of education in the last 18 months.]

Does the IAPT self-referral process work for people living in poverty?
The Mental Elf; 2021.
[In her debut blog, Alice Potter reviews a qualitative study exploring different perspectives on the accessibility of current IAPT self-referral processes for people with mental health problems living in poverty.]

STI rates remain a concern despite fall in 2020.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[New data from Public Health England (PHE) reveal that diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) decreased in 2020 by 32% compared to 2019.]

Promotional material: Flu immunisation for social care staff.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
[Leaflets for social care workers and personal care assistants to support the annual flu programme.]

Dismissed for too long: recommendations to improve migraine care in the UK.
The Migraine Trust; 2021.
[This report found a wide range of issues with migraine health care, including slow or no diagnosis and lack of access to specialist care. It sets out the action needed from the government, health care systems and other organisations to give everyone living with migraine in the UK the support they need.]




Public Health

Current awareness updates

Alcohol and self-harm: A qualitative study.
Alcohol Change UK; 2021.
[This study explores how and why alcohol and self-harm are related, and how alcohol, self-harm, and related services, are experienced and understood. Eleven people who had experience with self-harm and alcohol use were recruited through mental health support organisations across England and Wales. Interviews invited participants to ‘tell their stories’ about self-harm, alcohol use, the relationship between the two practices and their experiences with services in relation to these.]

Chronic kidney disease: assessment and management.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); 2021.
[This guideline covers care and treatment for people with, or at risk of, chronic kidney disease (CKD). It aims to prevent or delay the progression, and reduce the risk of complications and cardiovascular disease. It also covers managing anaemia and hyperphosphataemia associated with chronic kidney disease.]

Bonded By Blood: A Mothers Story.
ACLT; 2021.
[A new nationwide blood donation campaign, created by a group of Black health charities and community organisations with support from NHS Blood and Transplant, the campaign will focus on amplifying the need for more blood donors of Black heritage to donate. It is launched in memory of sickle cell patient Richard Okorogheye. The campaign will share the stories of mothers with children who receive regular blood transfusions.]

Good Childhood Report 2021.
The Children’s Society; 2021.
[Our Good Childhood Report 2021 shows that modern life continues to erode the happiness of young people. Dissatisfied with school, friendships and how they look, children deserve drastic change. Our tenth annual report finds that 7% of 10 to 15 year-olds (an estimated 306,000 children) in the UK are not happy with their lives.]

The health impacts of Sure Start.
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS); 2021.
[This briefing note from the Institute for Fiscal Studies extends the evidence from its previous 2019 report to show how Sure Start has influenced children’s health. Specifically it assesses the programme’s impact on hospitalisations of very young children, who are still eligible to use its services (ages 1-4), and of adolescents (ages 12-15), who may still enjoy medium-term benefits from Sure Start exposure.]

Building Connections Fund evaluation final reports.
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; 2021.
[The £11.5 million Building Connections Fund (BCF) was the first ever government fund dedicated to tackling loneliness in England. There are two separate reports for this evaluation: part one, the evaluation report, which covers findings before the Covid-19 pandemic; and part two, focusing on the evaluation activity following the Covid-19 pandemic.]