By The Health Foundation (August 2013)
The revised edition offers a clear explanation of some common approaches used to improve quality, including where they have come from, their underlying principles and their efficacy and applicability within the healthcare arena. It looks in particular at what are known as organisational or industrial approaches to quality improvement. These aim to bring about a measurable improvement by applying specific methods within a healthcare setting.
Haug, S. et al. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2013; 15(8)
Smoking prevalence remains high, particularly among adolescents and young adults with lower educational levels, posing a serious public health problem. There is limited evidence of effective smoking cessation interventions in this population.
Griffiths, LJ. et al. BMJ Open, 2013; 3:e002893
These findings showed that only half of 7-year-old children in the UK achieve recommended levels of physical activity, with significant gender, ethnic and geographic variations. The report states that further longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the relevance of these patterns for long-term health and wellbeing. It also recommends that in the meantime, population-wide efforts to boost physical activity among young people are needed, and will be reliant on a broad range of policy interventions.
By World Health Organisation (2013)
WHO calls on all countries to invest in and produce research to develop universal health coverage tailored to their country needs. “The world health report 2013: research for universal health coverage” is launched today.
By Primary Care Commissioning (2013)
Asthma is one of the most challenging long term conditions for patients and the NHS – with the UK having the highest prevalence of asthma in the world. To help improve asthma care, PCC has produced a good practice guide with input from the major professional bodies, patient groups and health service managers. It sets out the 15 points that good asthma services need to include, with detailed advice for commissioners and service developers together with examples of good practice.
By Local Government Association (2013)
These frequently asked questions (FAQs) have been produced by the Local Government Association (LGA) and Public Health England. They address a number of transitional issues relating to the transfer of responsibility for commissioning sexual health services to local government.
By Alcohol Concern et al (2013)
This briefing urges commissioners to tackle the poorly integrated support received by those with overlapping needs. It identifies new commissioning arrangements in public health and the NHS as an opportunity to put recovery at the heart of commissioning to build better lives for people with multiple needs. It argues that by focusing on what matters most to people’s lives – a home, a job, family and friends – services can enable people with multiple needs to build better lives on their own terms.
By Cancer Research UK (2013)
This website provides a breakdown of cancer statistics, which provides access to the latest figures for different areas. It can be searched by postcode, constituency, local authority or healthcare area and contains information on cancer incidence, survival and mortality, early diagnosis, screening and smoking statistics for individual areas. The local figures are compared to the national average and two locations can also be compared directly with each other.
By Public Health England (2013)
This report presents observations from routine mortality surveillance work done by the Respiratory Diseases Department (RDD) within PHE. It shows that excess all-cause mortality has been high among elderly people in 2012 to 2013.
By Together for Short Lives (2013)
This document describes the population of children who need palliative care; the services and professionals who provide it; and recommendations for the commissioning of children’s palliative care within the context of the five stages of commissioning set out by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.