Tag: public health current awareness

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Everybody active, every day: framework for physical activity.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
(An evidence-based approach for national and local action to address the physical inactivity epidemic. 8 January 2021: Added report ‘Muscle and bone strengthening activities for children and young people (5 to 18 years)’.)

SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing for public health goals: Interim guidance, 8 January 2021.
World Health Organization (WHO); 2021.
(This document provides policy-makers and stakeholders with guidance on how to maximize the public health benefit of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing activities in the short and long term as the pandemic continues to unfold. This guidance focuses on SARS-CoV-2 but is applicable to other pathogens of public health concern.)

Inclusion health: applying All Our Health.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
(Guidance to help health professionals prevent ill health and promote wellbeing of individuals in inclusion health groups. This resource includes guidance on: why and how to take action on inclusion health in your professional practice; understanding local needs; measuring impact. It provides recommendations for frontline workers, team leaders, managers and senior or strategic leaders.)

Wound aware: a resource for drug services.
Public Health England (PHE); 2021.
(Information for drug services to help them prevent, identify, treat and manage wounds in people who inject drugs. The resource includes practice notes aimed at service users and examples of good practice.)

Adult excess weight: patterns and trends Public Health England (PHE); 2021

(Trends in adult overweight, obesity and raised waist circumference are shown. Patterns are examined by age, sex, ethnic group, and area deprivation.)

Past COVID-19 infection provides some immunity but people may still carry and transmit virus Public Health England (PHE); 2021

(Study finds past coronavirus (COVID-19) infection provides some immunity for at least 5 months, but people may still carry and transmit the virus.)

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Impacts of outlets selling alcohol on drinking levels or alcohol related harm.
Carried out by Frankie Marcelline from Brighton and Sussex on 2/12/2020
https://www.knowledgeshare.nhs.uk/index.php?PageID=literature_search_request_download&RequestID=26501
(This evidence report is a very brief evidence search on the effect of reducing or increasing density of outlets selling alcohol on impacts of drinking levels or alcohol related harm. Most of the results are set in the UK.)

Mass asymptomatic testing: schools and colleges.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2020.
(Find out how to administer testing which will begin in January 2021.)

Vitamin D for vulnerable groups.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2020.
(This guidance accompanies the Department of Health and Social Care’s initiative to offer a free 4-month supply of vitamin D supplements to support general health, and in particular bone and muscle health. The guidance is for anyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable and has been offered a free supply of vitamin D supplements in England from January 2021.)

The safety of COVID-19 vaccines when given in pregnancy.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-of-covid-19-vaccines-when-given-in-pregnancy/the-safety-of-covid-19-vaccines-when-given-in-pregnancy

National lockdown: Stay at Home.
Cabinet Office; 2021.
(Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly across the country. Find out what you can and cannot do.)

A qualitative exploration of 14 to 17-year old adolescents’ views of early and preventative mental health support in schools.
Journal of Public Health; 2020.
(Preventative interventions may be effective in reducing and preventing symptoms of mental ill health in children and young people. However, there is a paucity of research in this area that explores the views of young people. This paper reports on a qualitative study to inform the future development of attractive and appropriate early and preventative school-based mental health interventions.)

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Hepatitis C in England and the UK.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

[Latest PHE hepatitis C virus (HCV) reports and supporting documents, for England and the UK. 14 December 2020: Added Hepatitis C in the UK: 2020 report and accompanying slide set and infographic.]

Drug misuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2020.
Office for National Statistics (ONS); 2020.

[This publication reports on trends in drug use across England and Wales for the year ending March 2020. This publication is largely unaffected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as it mainly relates to the period prior to the lockdown. Overall drug use continued to remain stable, with around 1 in 11 adults aged 16 to 59 years having taken a drug in the past year.]

Whole systems approach to obesity.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

[A guide and set of resources to support local authorities with implementing a whole systems approach to address obesity and promote a healthy weight.
14 December 2020: Added ‘Opportunities to strengthen place-based systems approaches’ report and annexes.]


Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 11 December 2020.
Office for National Statistics (ONS); 2020.

[One in five adults in Great Britain experienced some form of depression in November. This is similar to levels reported earlier in the year, but double that reported before the pandemic. Since late October, more adults say they believe life will return to normal within six months. However, a lower proportion of adults experiencing some form of anxiety and/or depression felt this was the case.]

The government’s approach to test and trace in England – interim report.
National Audit Office (NAO); 2020.

[This interim report provides an overview of test and trace services for addressing COVID-19 in England, including how the government’s approach has developed, and how it managed performance and capacity in the period from May to October 2020.]

A ‘new normal’? How people spent their time after the March 2020 coronavirus lockdown.
Office for National Statistics (ONS); 2020.

[During the first national coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, many people in Great Britain were forced to make changes to their lifestyles. But it appears that some of those changes may not have lasted long. On the whole, people returned to pre-lockdown behaviour in September to October 2020.]


Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, England (Contraception) 2019/20.
NHS Digital; 2020.

[This publication primarily covers contraceptive activity taking place at dedicated Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services in England, as recorded in the Sexual and Reproductive Health Activity Dataset (SRHAD), a mandated collection for all providers of NHS SRH services. People attend SRH services for a variety of reasons, but the main focus of this report is contraception.]

National Diabetes Audit – Report 1 Care Processes and Treatment Targets 2018-19, Full Report.
NHS Digital; 2020.

[This report details the findings and recommendations relating to diabetes care process completion, treatment target achievement and structured education for the 2018-19 audit.]


Statistics on Smoking, England 2020.
NHS Digital; 2020.

[This report presents newly published information on smoking including:
Smoking-related hospital admissions from NHS Digital’s Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).Smoking-related deaths from Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality statistics. Prescription items used to help people stop smoking from prescribing data held by NHS Prescription Services. Affordability of tobacco and expenditure on tobacco using ONS economic data.]

Public Health

Current Awareness Updates

Befriending programmes for people with psychosis can be challenging but beneficial to both parties.
NIHR Evidence; 2020.

(People with psychosis are at a high risk of social isolation, and can take part in befriending programmes. It is understood that these schemes can be mutually beneficial, but there is little research into how befrienders and patients, particularly those with mental health problems, experience such schemes. This is the first study to explore specific challenges, experiences and benefits of befriending in both volunteers and people with psychosis within the same programme.)

Flu vaccine uptake among people aged 65+ on track to be highest on record.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Three-quarters (75%) of those aged 65 and over in England received the free vaccine so far this year – up from 72.4% at the end of the last flu season.)

The Covid-19 long-term care situation in England.
International Long Term Care Policy Network; 2020.

(This report provides an overview of the impact of Covid-19 so far on people who use and provide long-term care in England, and of the policy and practice measures adopted to mitigate its impact. It finds that the initial policy responses did not adequately consider the social care sector and that the pandemic has laid bare longstanding problems in the long-term care system in England.)

Long term care centres: making space for ageing.
Autonomy; 2020.

(By 2030, there will be a 60 per cent increase in the number of individuals with caring responsibilities in the UK. This shift in the kind of work that we will be doing will require not just new funding arrangements but also robust infrastructure and working conditions. This paper proposes a network of long-term care centres that can form a key part of the new ‘caring economy’ that delivers for those who need care and those providing it.)

Learning from Lockdown: 12 Steps to Eliminate Digital Exclusion.
Carnegie UK Trust; 2020.

(The scale of digital exclusion has been highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Impacts on work, income, education and social life have been felt by many people across the UK. This report lays out a series of 12 recommendations calling for ambitious action from policy makers, practitioners, academics and industry to tackle this issue.)

Priority groups for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination: advice from the JCVI, 2 December 2020 Department of Health and Social Care, December 2020

(This advice is provided to facilitate the development of policy on COVID-19 vaccination in the UK.)

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Public Health

Current Awareness

Staying mentally well: winter plan 2020 to 2021 Gov.uk. 23rd November 2020

(This plan sets out the support that will be in place in the immediate term to help support individuals to stay well during the second wave of Covid-19 and the winter months ahead.)

Learning from local authorities with downward trends in childhood obesity Public Health England

(This report, a set of practice examples researched by University College London and an executive summary by Public Health England, identifies common approaches being implemented by local authorities that had a small but significant 10-year downward trend in childhood obesity. The findings show the value of engagement with and integration of the National Child Measurement Programme and the importance of addressing health inequalities, with 76 per cent of local authorities having a focus on deprivation.) To view the summary click here.

How are the lives of families with young children changing? The changing face of early childhood in the UK Nuffield Foundation

(This evidence review reveals the extent of changes to family life in the UK over the past 20 years and highlights how these changes are experienced unequally across the population. The report argues that, without understanding family life today, the policies and initiatives that seek to address other key areas of society – education, the economy, physical health and mental health – will falter.)

National Child Measurement Programme: childhood obesity.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Research by University College London shares learning from local authorities that have a downward trend in childhood obesity, including practice examples.)

COVID-19: suggested principles of safer singing.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Outlining the available evidence on virus transmission associated with singing and suggested actions to reduce the risk of transmission while singing.)

The state of ageing in 2020.
Centre for Ageing Better; 2020.

(This online, interactive report captures a snapshot of how people in the UK are ageing today, while looking at past trends and our prospects if action isn’t taken. It warns that the Covid-19 pandemic risks setting people in mid-life on a path to poverty and ill health in old age.)

Public Health

Current Awareness

Total restriction of online advertising for products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) .
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport; 2020.
[Open consultation. They want your views on their proposal for a total online advertising restriction for HFSS products to reduce the amount of HFSS advertising children are exposed to online. This consultation closes at
11:59pm on 22 December 2020.]

Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England April 2019 to March 2020.
NHS Digital; 2020.
[Data show of 221,678 people setting a quit date, 114,153 were successful. Quitting success increased with age; 41% under 18 and up to 56% aged 60 and over. Also 45% of 13,779 pregnant women who set a quit date successfully quit.]

Online bullying in England and Wales: year ending March 2020.
Office for National Statistics (ONS); 2020.
[Estimates of the prevalence and nature of online bullying among children using data from the 10- to 15-year-olds’ Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).]

COVID-19: deaths of people with learning disabilities.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.
[Review of available data on the deaths of people identified as having learning disabilities in England during the COVID-19 pandemic.]

COVID-19: mental health and wellbeing surveillance report.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.
[This is a routinely updated report about population mental health and wellbeing in England during the COVID-19 pandemic. 12 November 2020: All relevant chapters updated. Academic studies included up to 4 September 2020; weekly data may be more recent.]

People with learning disabilities had higher death rate from COVID-19.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.
[England death rate up to 6 times higher from coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic than the general population, Public Health England study finds.]

Public Health

Current Awareness

Health matters: cold weather and COVID-19 Public Health England

(As we approach the first winter with coronavirus (COVID-19) circulating, it’s essential that action is taken across the health and social care sector to enable people to stay safe and well and to ensure that the NHS is not overwhelmed. This edition of Health Matters will cover the impact of cold weather on health, how COVID-19 amplifies cold-related risks, and actions that can be taken to prevent harm, particularly to those most vulnerable.)

KINSHIP IN THE CITY REPORT: Urban Loneliness and the built environment Future Spaces Foundation

(This report explores the impact of urban loneliness and ideas for reshaping our built environment to improve social cohesion. Produced as part of the Future Spaces Foundation’s Vital Cities programme, it builds on our existing body of research into the building blocks of dynamic, socially sustainable cities where individuals and communities can thrive.)

Play and social skills may protect children who have difficulties with spoken language.
NIHR Evidence; 2020.

(NIHR Alert. Researchers looked at the social and play skills of young children with developmental language disorder (DLD). They found that those with good early social and play skills developed fewer behaviour or mental health problems as they grew up. The research suggests that therapies and education techniques based on play and understanding other children could help children with DLD avoid later problems.)

COVID-19: guidance on shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC); 2020.

[Updated guidance in line with national restrictions commencing 5 November 2020.]

Behaviour change: guides for national and local government and partners.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.

(Based on the Behaviour Change Wheel framework, these guides are for national and local government and partners, such as the NHS, emergency services and third sector, to support people to have healthier behaviours.
6 November 2020: Added document: ‘Achieving behaviour change: a guide for national government’ and policies to change behaviour.)

Community pharmacies: promoting health and wellbeing NICE

(This quality standard covers how community pharmacies can support the health and wellbeing of the local population. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.)

Performance Tracker 2020: How public services have coped with coronavirus.
Institute for Government; 2020.

(This report analyses the disruptions in hospitals, general practice, adult social care, schools and criminal courts, and the changes made in response. It finds that coronavirus has resulted in backlogs across public services and calls for reviews of the impact of remote general practice and hospital appointments.)

Public Health

Current Awareness

Behaviour change: digital and mobile health interventions.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); 2020.
[This guideline covers interventions that use a digital or mobile platform to help people eat more healthily, become more active, stop smoking, reduce their alcohol intake or practise safer sex. The interventions include those delivered by text message, apps, wearable devices or the internet. The guideline only includes those that are delivered by the technology itself and not by healthcare professionals using technology to deliver interventions.]

The association between parental supply of alcohol and supply from other sources to young people: a prospective cohort.
Addiction; 2020.
[Despite legal age limits set for alcohol consumption, parents are one of the main suppliers of alcohol to underage minors. This study investigated the associations between parental supply of sips and whole serves of alcohol on subsequent other supply, conditional on current supply from non-parental sources.]

Reducing parental conflict: Outcomes framework.
Early Intervention Foundation (EIF); 2020.
[This outcomes framework highlights what risk factors can influence interparental conflict and, ultimately, affect child outcomes. The risk factors fall into three categories – relating to individual parents, the parental relationship, and the family or economic circumstances – which in turn are associated with the central risk, of children being exposed to harmful conflict between parents. The outcomes fall into four categories: social & emotional, physical, cognitive, and behavioural.]

Alcohol Awareness Week is taking place on 16th-22nd November
The week will focus on raising awareness of the link between alcohol and mental health, as drinking too much or too often can mask or enhance underlying mental health problems. You can get involved and download free digital resources from their website.

Best start in speech, language and communication.
Public Health England (PHE); 2020.
[Guidance to improve speech, language and communication (SLC) in the early years. The main guidance document supports local areas to develop a whole-systems approach to reducing inequalities in SLC. This document is accompanied by supporting evidence and case studies of good practice from local areas.]