By Ofsted (October 2012)
This report documents the views of children living in care and asks why they ran away. As well as this, children in care were asked what they thought the dangers of running away were and what could be done to prevent them running.
By Department of Health (2012)
This document provides high-level guidance on the collection of data to inform prenatal pertussis public health actions, how a PCT might collect and collate data on the prenatal pertussis vaccination programme, and instruction on how to submit vaccine coverage data via the ImmForm website.
By Ofsted (October 2012)
This good practice report describes how Lewisham Council and its partners build upon existing, strong placement and procurement practice to make ‘intelligent’ use of available knowledge and information on individual young people and the placements available to them. Young people are offered placements in a safe and appropriate environment, where their needs are suitably met and their connections to the gang culture can be challenged and severed.
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Peretz, PJ. et al. American Journal of Public Health, 2012; 102(8): 1443-1446
In 2005, local leaders in New York City developed the Washington Heights/Inwood Network for Asthma Program to address the burden of asthma in their community. Bilingual community health workers based in community organizations and the local hospital provided culturally appropriate education and support to families who needed help managing asthma. Families participating in the yearlong care coordination program
received comprehensive asthma education, home environmental assessments, trigger reduction strategies, and clinical and social referrals. Since 2006, 472 families have enrolled in the yearlong program. After 12 months, hospitalizations and emergency department visits decreased by more than 50%, and caregiver confidence in controlling the child’s asthma increased to nearly 100%. Key to the program’s success was the commitment and involvement of community partners from program inception to date.
Kirk, SF. et al. International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health, 2012; 9(4): 1308-1318
Healthy public policy plays a central role in creating environments that are supportive of health. Breastfeeding, widely supported as the optimal mode for infant feeding, is a critical factor in promoting infant health. In 2005, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia introduced a provincial breastfeeding policy. This paper describes the process and outcomes of an evaluation into the implementation of the policy. This evaluation comprised focus groups held with members of provincial and district level breastfeeding committees who were tasked with promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding in their districts. Five key themes were identified, which were an unsupportive culture of breastfeeding; the need for strong leadership; the challenges in engaging physicians in dialogue around breastfeeding; lack of understanding around the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes; and breastfeeding as a way to address childhood obesity. Recommendations for other jurisdictions include the need for a policy, the value of leadership, the need to integrate policy with other initiatives across sectors and the importance of coordination and support at multiple levels. Finally, promotion of breastfeeding offers a population-based strategy for addressing the childhood obesity epidemic and should form a core component of any broader strategies or policies for childhood obesity prevention.
By UNICEF (2012)
This report looks at how raising breastfeeding rates could save money through improving health outcomes. It finds that for five illnesses, moderate increases in breastfeeding would translate into cost savings for the NHS of £40 million and tens of thousands of fewer hospital admissions and GP consultations. It analyses three conditions: cognitive ability, childhood obesity and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and finds that modest improvements in breastfeeding rates could save millions of pounds.
NHS National End of Life Care Programme (2012)
This guide identifies the main elements involved in commissioning end of life care services, explains the commissioning cycle in practical terms and offers a four-stage approach across all sectors. It provides a wide range of links to tools and sources of support for both commissioners and providers of services. It also showcases good practice and seeks to indicate what a well-commissioned end of life care service looks like.
Dickins, TE. et al. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 2012; 6(3): 344-359
This article states that attempts to reduce high rates of teenage pregnancy and motherhood are unlikely to succeed if young women continued to face environmental risk and uncertainty. Environmental risk, including factors such as crime and vandalism, are a clear predictor of early pregnancy. Rather than investing in educational programmes, money would be better spent on the maintenance of at-risk neighbourhoods.
Smith, PH. et al. International Breastfeeding Journal, 2012; 7: 13
Teen mothers face many challenges to successful breastfeeding and are less likely to breastfeed than any other population group in the U.S. Few studies have investigated this population; all prior studies are cross-sectional and collect breastfeeding data retrospectively. The purpose of this qualitative prospective study was to understand the factors that contribute to the breastfeeding decisions and practices of teen mothers.
Wong, ST. et al. BMC Pediatrics, 2012; 12: 158
This study provides the first examination of a model of delivering PHC, using a Social Paediatrics approach.