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Alcohol CYP Healthcare Healthy Child including NCMP & CDO Infant Mortality Smoking Smoking Cessation Tobacco & Drugs

Associations between a smoke-free homes intervention and childhood admissions to hospital in Scotland: an interrupted time-series analysis of whole-population data

The Lancet Public Health Volume 5, ISSUE 9, e493-e500, September 01, 2020

Click here to view this article

Background
Many children are exposed to second-hand smoke in the home and are at increased risk of asthma and other respiratory conditions. In Scotland, a public health mass-media campaign was launched on March 24, 2014, called Take it Right Outside (TiRO), with a focus on reducing the exposure of children to domestic second-hand smoke. In this study, our aim was to establish whether the TiRO campaign was followed by a decrease in hospital admissions for childhood asthma and other respiratory conditions related to second-hand smoke exposure across Scotland.
Methods
For an interrupted time-series analysis, data were obtained on all hospital admissions in Scotland between 2000 and 2018 for children aged younger than 16 years. We studied changes in the monthly incidence of admissions for conditions potentially related to second-hand smoke exposure (asthma, lower respiratory tract infection, bronchiolitis, croup, and acute otitis media) per 1000 children following the 2014 TiRO campaign, while considering national legislation banning smoking in public spaces from 2006. We considered asthma to be the primary condition related to second-hand smoke exposure, with monthly asthma admissions as the primary outcome. Gastroenteritis was included as a control condition. The analysis of asthma admissions considered subgroups stratified by age and area quintile of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivations (SIMD).
Findings
740 055 hospital admissions were recorded for children. 138 931 (18·8%) admissions were for respiratory conditions potentially related to second-hand smoke exposure, of which 32 342 (23·3%) were for asthma. After TiRO in 2014, we identified a decrease relative to the underlying trend in the slope of admissions for asthma (−0·48% [–0·85 to −0·12], p=0·0096) in younger children (age <5 years), but not in older children (age 5–15 years). Asthma admissions did not change after TiRO among children 0–15 years of age when data were analysed according to area deprivation quintile. Following the 2006 legislation, independent of TiRO, asthma admissions decreased in both younger children (−0·36% [–0·67 to −0·05], p=0·021) and older children (−0·68% [–1·00 to −0·36], p<0·0001), and in children from the most deprived (SIMD 1; −0·49% [–0·87 to −0·11], p=0·011) and intermediate deprived (SIMD 3; −0·70% [–1·17 to −0·23], p=0·0043) area quintiles, but not in those from the least deprived (SIMD 5) area quintile.
Interpretation
Our findings suggest that smoke-free home interventions could be an important tool to reduce asthma admissions in young children, and that smoke-free public space legislation might improve child health for many years, especially in the most deprived communities.

Categories
Alcohol Healthy Settings menopause Nutrition Obesity performance management pregnancy Substance Misuse Tobacco & Drugs

New Evidence Briefings from Public Health England

There are 4 new Evidence Briefings available to download on the KLS Briefing webpage: click here to view all briefings 

Are healthy weight management interventions effective before, during and after pregnancy? (under Reproductive Health)

What can employers do to support women going through the menopause? (under Work and Health)

What approaches to performance management and performance appraisal in the workplace are effective for improving organisation outcomes or staff attitudes to the process? (under Performance Management).

What research has been done to understand substance misuse within the UK student population, and what interventions have been introduced as a result? (under Substance Misuse).

Categories
Alcohol CVD CYP Healthcare Health Protection (Emergency planning Healthy Settings Licensing Liver Disease including NHS Health Checks Long-Term Conditions Mortality Nutrition Obesity Oral Health Physical Activity Planning Public Health Advice to NHS Commissioners Public Mental Health Respiratory Disease seasonal mortality) Sexual Health Tobacco & Drugs

What good looks like

By The Association of Directors of Public Health (2019)

The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) and Public Health England (PHE) have co-produced a series of ‘What Good Looks Like’ (WGLL) publications that set out the guiding principles of ‘what good quality looks like’ for population health programmes in local systems.

The WGLL publications are based on the evidence of ‘what works and how it works’ including effectiveness, efficiency, equity, examples of best practices, opinions and viewpoints and, where available a return on investment.

Click here to view these publications

Categories
Alcohol CVD Healthy Settings Infection Control Liver Disease including NHS Health Checks Oral Health Physical Activity Public Mental Health Respiratory Disease Tobacco & Drugs

Free e-learning – All our health

By Public Health England (2019)

Public Health England has launched new free bite-sized e-learning sessions, developed in partnership with Health Education England, to improve the knowledge, confidence and skills of all health and care professionals in preventing illness, protecting health and promoting wellbeing.
The sessions cover some of the biggest issues in public health and they contain signposting to trusted sources of helpful evidence, guidance and support to help professionals embed prevention in their everyday practice.
You can access the All Our Health e-learning sessions here

Categories
Accident Prevention Alcohol Cancer Care of the Elderly Community Safety CVD CYP Healthcare Health Protection (Emergency planning Healthy Child including NCMP & CDO Healthy Settings Infant Feeding Infant Mortality Infection Control Library Liver Disease including NHS Health Checks Long-Term Conditions Mortality Respiratory Disease seasonal mortality) Tobacco & Drugs

NHS long term plan case studies

The NHS Long Term Plan will make sure the NHS is fit for the future.
Find out through our case studies and films about how the NHS is already making significant changes and developing to better meet the needs of patients and their families through every stage of life.

View case studies by topic:
Cancer
Cardiovascular
Diabetes
Digital
Integrated care
Learning disabilities
Maternity
Mental health
Personalised care
Primary care
Stroke
Urgent and emergency care

View case studies by life stage:
Starting well
Better care for major health conditions
Ageing well

Categories
Accident Prevention Alcohol Cancer Care of the Elderly Community Safety CVD CYP Healthcare Evidence Based Health Protection (Emergency planning Healthy Child including NCMP & CDO Healthy Settings Infant Feeding Infant Mortality Infection Control Library Liver Disease including NHS Health Checks Long-Term Conditions Respiratory Disease seasonal mortality) Tobacco & Drugs

Prescribing cannabis based drugs: response from NICE and Health Education England

I thought I would include this response from NICE and HEE as it is an important message. Click the link below to access the letter or read it below.

https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4940

Further to Hamilton’s recommendation that general practitioners consult Google Scholar and ask their colleagues if they are unsure about prescribing cannabis,1 we write to remind readers in England that they have 24/7 access to reliable sources of evidence to inform clinical decisions.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s evidence search (https://www.evidence.nhs.uk) provides access to authoritative evidence on health, social care, and public health. It focuses on synthesised secondary evidence, including content from over 800 sources, including the British National Formulary, Clinical Knowledge Summaries, SIGN, the Cochrane Library, the royal colleges, Public Health England, and GOV.UK. Information and knowledge specialists at NICE add further good quality systematic reviews. This service is openly available to everyone in the UK; here you will find reviews on the use of cannabis in treatment of epilepsy, neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, HIV/AIDS, and asthma.

Healthcare staff in England can access a vital, core collection of healthcare databases and full text journals for no charge at https://hdas.nice.org.uk. Purchased by Health Education England on behalf of the NHS in England, these are provided online in partnership with NICE. You simply need an NHS OpenAthens account. Register at https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/evidence-services/journals-and-databases/OpenAthens.

NHS funded librarians and knowledge specialists are skilled in helping colleagues find information and search for evidence. They can offer summarised evidence searches and help teams keep up-to-date.

Health is a knowledge industry. We encourage practices to contact their local healthcare library. Check http://hlisd.org for details. Health Education England is committed to work with NHS organisations to ensure that all staff can access knowledge for healthcare23 and benefit from the expertise of healthcare librarians. We know that only a third of Clinical Commissioning Groups currently have such arrangements in place for their staff and member practices. For advice on improving your organisation’s access to knowledge services please contact your regional Health Education England library lead.3

 

Categories
Alcohol exercise General Practice Healthy Settings Mortality Oral Health Physical Activity Smoking Cessation Tobacco & Drugs

Going the Distance: Exercise professionals in the wider public health workforce

By Royal Society for Public Health (2018)

This report, written with ukactive, explores how fitness professionals can play an enhanced role in supporting the public’s health. It calls for GP drop-in and smoking cessation services inside gyms and leisure centres to help ease pressure on local health facilities and improve access to health improvement services.

Click here to view this report

Categories
Alcohol Mental Health Public Mental Health Tobacco & Drugs

Alcohol and mental health: policy and practice in England

By Centre for Mental Health (2018)

This report highlights that people who have difficulties with alcohol and mental health are still not getting the help and support they need. It is based on a survey and seminar session held with professionals working in mental health and/or alcohol services across the country. It finds that co-morbidity is a barrier to treatment, and support for people with co-occurring alcohol and mental health problems is too often poor and fragmented.

Click here to view this report

Categories
Alcohol Smoking Smoking Cessation Tobacco & Drugs

Stop smoking interventions and services

by NICE (2018)

NICE and Public Health England have published updated guidelines on the best ways to help people quit smoking. This guideline covers stop smoking interventions and services delivered in primary care and community settings. It aims to ensure that everyone who smokes is advised and encouraged to stop and given the support they need. It emphasises the importance of targeting vulnerable groups who are heavy smokers or have difficulty with smoking cessation.

Click here to view this guideline

Categories
Alcohol e-cigarettes electronic cigarettes Tobacco & Drugs

Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes

By National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine et al. (2018)

Millions of Americans use e-cigarettes. Despite their popularity, little is known about their health effects. Some suggest that e-cigarettes likely confer lower risk compared to combustible tobacco cigarettes, because they do not expose users to toxicants produced through combustion. Proponents of e-cigarette use also tout the potential benefits of e-cigarettes as devices that could help combustible tobacco cigarette smokers to quit and thereby reduce tobacco-related health risks. Others are concerned about the exposure to potentially toxic substances contained in e-cigarette emissions, especially in individuals who have never used tobacco products such as youth and young adults. Given their relatively recent introduction, there has been little time for a scientific body of evidence to develop on the health effects of e-cigarettes.

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