Health Information News November 2015 This newsletter is intended for staff who provide health information to the public to keep informed of latest news and resources available in the Health Information field. If you would like to submit a news item – email [email protected]
News
The cold weather plan for England: protecting health and reducing harm from cold weather – The cold weather plan gives advice to help prevent the major avoidable effects on health during periods of cold weather in England. The documents for the 2015 to 2016 winter season include cold weather plan, making the case: why long-term strategic planning for cold weather is essential to health and wellbeing, and a letter for local authorities chief executives, directors of public health, directors of adult and child services, chairs of health and wellbeing boards, NHS England regional and clinical leads of CCGs. Click here for Guidance
New LIS-PUBLICHEALTH email discussion group - This is an open list for library, information and knowledge professionals providing services to public health, across the wider health care system. It enables members to share expertise and experience in the identification, retrieval, management, dissemination and translation of public health knowledge and evidence in support of action to protect and improve the nation’s health, and to reduce inequalities. Purpose: This list is part of a cross-organisational programme to develop better knowledge management in public health and will facilitate communication across system partners, enabling members to share knowledge and experience, support quality improvement and seek collaborative solutions to common knowledge problems faced by knowledge and library service users in public health. Relevant to: Library, information and knowledge professionals and people interested in finding out more about information, knowledge and evidence service delivery in a public health environment. LIS-PUBLICHEALTH
Libraries Extend Welcome to Refugees and Migrants - Library leaders across England and Wales have confirmed the welcome offered to refugees and asylum seekers available from public libraries. It has been highlighted that libraries offer a wide range of support for newly arrived people, including: · Free access to computers and WiFi · Free access to materials to learn English, and access to physical and online resources in other languages · Free activities and reading resources for children and families · Trained workforce who can help with access to information and resources · Community space to use for learning and networking · Signposting to local education, health and wellbeing services · Signposting to other Council services · Signposting to community organisations and resources Special attention has been drawn to Suffolk Libraries’ Chat and Chill which currently caters for a group who speak over 17 different languages. Attendees come to learn English and acquire basic skills, using the medium of crafts and conversation. Swansea Library’s work as a donation centre, collecting much needed supplies for refugees, also warranted special mention. The message was clear: library staff are trained to help people and our services are required. To read more about it visit: www.ascel.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/public/Libraries%20extend%20welcome%20to %20refugees%20and%20migrants.pdf Wellbeing Our Way – Summary of Person-centred information and helplines POW WOW (shared learning workshop): 14 October 2015. The workshop brought together people with lived experience and those working within charities to explore how health information, helplines and wider digital engagement can enable people to manage their health in the ways which matter to them. To see the agenda, please click here. Peter Chidwick from The Helplines Partnership opened the day with an insightful session considering how helplines can be an important tool for reducing health inequalities by reaching some of the most vulnerable and isolated individuals. Click here for Peter’s slides. In her session ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, Lee Marriot- Dowding from James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer shared her experiences around the rewards and challenges of offering a care line within a very small organisation, including the impact on staff. You can see Lee’s slides here. NSPCC’s Shilpa Belliappa led a challenging and inspiring session around the opportunities offered by digital platforms in terms of facilitating peer support and supporting young people to develop their emotional resilience. Click here for Shilpa’s slides. The closing session was led by Claire Murray who shared evidence around the links between effective information provision and health literacy, as well as Patient Information Forum (PiF)’s Toolkit: Creating Health Information that Works. Click here for Claire’s slides. Please click here to see the Storify summary of the event.
Books on Prescription Scheme Receives £60K Extra Funds - The Wellcome Trust have granted The Reading Agency (TRA) another £60,000 to boost the Books on Prescription programme. This important funding builds upon ongoing investment from Arts Council England (ACE). TRA intend to put the additional money to good use; there is talk of creating a new scheme to support children, young people and families’ mental health, as well as planned future developments focusing on long term health conditions. To find out more visit: http://readingagency.org.uk/news/media/reading-well-books-on- prescription-boosted-by-wellcome-trust-funding.html
Obesity: youth led peer approach improved information provision and supported behaviour change The NCB (National Children’s Bureau) has recently published findings from the European Youth Tackling Obesity (EYTO) project with partners across the Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain. EYTO, a youth-led social marketing project, developed and tested the impact of innovative peer-led social marketing campaigns promoting healthy eating and physical activity to help stem the rise in obesity among disadvantaged young people across Europe. The project identified a number of key elements that made the EYTO project effective in engaging with and supporting children and young people on the topic of obesity: Youth-led and peer to peer approach gave young people greater control to provide reliable, relevant, positive, inspirational and accessible information. Young volunteers developed skills, knowledge and confidence so that they were better prepared to make decisions and take the lead. Raised awareness of obesity and increased motivation for healthy eating and undertaking physical activities. 89.9% of survey respondents rated campaigns as somewhat or very effective in encouraging them to live a healthier life. Provided experiences different from audiences daily habits. 16,823 young people across 4 countries engaged in a range of paper based, face to face and web-based activities. You can read the evaluation report here. The project has also created a Healthy Lifestyles Campaign Development Tool for professionals. The young volunteers from the project created a top tips advice document .
NHS.UK Alpha - The National Information Board, which sets technology strategy for health and care is putting an improved central online offer, NHS.UK, at the heart of its plans for better patient facing services. http://digital.nhs.uk/introducing-the-nhs-uk-alpha Special Issue: Current Perspectives in Health Literacy Research - Journal of Health Communication, Volume 20, Issue sup2, October 9, 2015 is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online.
Providing risk information improves patient understanding without increasing anxiety - A study by Cambridge University, published in BMJ Open, has explored the impact of providing cardiovascular disease risk estimated to patients and health care professionals, and whether this impacts decision making, behaviour and health. The researchers conducted a systematic review of 17 studies. Together they showed that provision of risk information to patients improved the accuracy of risk perception without decreasing quality of life or increasing anxiety, but had little effect on lifestyle, such as diet. Providing risk information to physicians increased prescribing of lipid-lowering and blood pressure medication, with greatest effects in those with CVD risk greater than 20%. The full study can be read here. PiF’s best practice on the clear communication of risk in health information for patients can be found here.
Improving health literacy and self-care are essential for a sustainable NHS - The 2015 Self Care Week runs from 6 to 11 November. Selwyn Hodge, co-chair of the Self Care Forum, has written a blog to highlight the week and its key messages. The article has been published on the NHS Confed website and explores the role of self-care and health literacy in ensuring a sustainable and viable NHS. The article discusses the shift that occurred with the introduction of the NHS and free health care, with doctors now being our first point of call for health concerns, and how our approach to self-care has fundamentally changed. It asks readers to reflect on how we can support today’s population to become fully health literate and self-care proficient. The full blog can be read here.
Self management support and patient education key to complex needs care - The Commonwealth Fund have published a report reviewing evidence about care models designed to improve outcomes and reduce costs for patients with complex needs. The report describes research about clinical care models or care management programs implemented by health care provider organisations to improve outcomes and reduce costs for high-need, high-cost patients. Based on a review of literature that assesses the evidence on the impact and features of such care models or care management programs, the report identifies common attributes of effective models and programs, as well as barriers to their uptake. It finds that successful models have several common attributes: Targeting patients likely to benefit from the intervention Comprehensively assessing patients’ risks and needs Relying on evidence-based care planning and patient monitoring Promoting patient and family engagement in self-care Coordinating care and communication among patients and providers Facilitating transitions from the hospital and referrals to community resources Providing appropriate care in accordance with patients’ preferences. Educating patients and helping them manage their medications was also identified as a component of successful initiatives. The report can be accessed on the Commonwealth Fund website here.
Free learning programme to support patients engage with their healthcare professionals - The European Patient Ambassador Programme (EPAP) is a free self-learning programme introducing patients and carers to the essential skills and knowledge needed to interact with healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers and journalists. It was developed by the European Lung Foundation (ELF) and the NIHR CLAHRC for Leeds, York and Bradford, with the help of patients, and professionals with expertise in key areas. The programme is free and accessible for people affected by any condition. The programme is run by the Patient Advisory Group, a group of dedicated patient ambassadors. Course participants are able to stop and start as they wish to fit the programme studying around their lives, and the total programme should take no more than 10 hours to complete. Over 450 people have completed the programme since EPAP started 3 years ago, and the programme was updated earlier this year. More details about the module content and what being a patient ambassador means are on the website www.EPAPonline.eu. Please contact Kerstin Morrison if you would like to know more about the programme ([email protected]).
Northumbria’s Wellbeing Library - Our teams have continued to find ways where we could be doing more to make a difference to our patients overall experience. This is where the idea for the wellbeing library began, to create a library within a large hospital to provide the tools and resources needed to really ensure we are looking after our patients, above and beyond what has become the norm. From using iPads to educate and empower our patients to use apps or to listen to their favourite music to the more low-tech idea of using reminiscence boxes to evoke our patients most cherished memories from the past. Even though activities have always been available to patients on our wards, we knew we needed to deliver this to staff and patients with a fresh approach. This began by giving our wards a “Fun box” which is full of interactive items which patients and staff can use to engage. The items can be used around their bedside or together in our patients’ day rooms. Our items that are available in the wellbeing library will come with facilitation guides as well as the option of personal assistance when delivering to patients. As this is a relatively new resource in our hospital we are constantly striving to improve the service and will be using QI framework to not only evaluate the current offering but to gain inspiration for further resources. Resources have up to now been provided by our hospital HVS charitable funds who have kindly offered their full support in future plans or developments. Our vision is to build on what we currently have. The wellbeing library is already very popular amongst our teams and we aim for the use of the resources available to become an integral part of a patients hospital stay. We believe the vision of the wellbeing library will help to bring our wards together, to create a community within our hospitals and to help us build a caring future. “Smile and the ward smiles with you” http://www.fabnhsstuff.net/2015/10/18/northumbrias-wellbeing-library/ The Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme (CYP IAPT) is a service transformation programme delivered by NHS England that aims to improve existing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) working in the community. The programme works to transform existing services provided by the NHS and partners from Local Authority and Third Sector that together form local area CAMHS Partnerships. The programme began in 2011 with a target to work with CAMHS that cover 60% of the 0-19 population by March 2015, which is has exceeded, achieving 68%. We are now working to achieve 100% coverage by 2018. Mental Health Services Passport - As part of the CYP IAPT Improving Integrated Services Task and Finish Group, young people and parent/carers told us how they wanted to be empowered to share their own information to inform future therapeutic work, and to help communication and integration between different services. Following this, NHS England, young people and parent/carers worked together to develop a Mental Health Services Passport template. Each passport is to be created by a young person or parent/carer (for younger children) with the support of their practitioner. The aim of the passport is to help young people using services, or parents with for younger children, to own and communicate their story when moving between different services. It provides a summary of the time in the service which will be owned by the young people or parent/carer to be shared with any future services if and when they wish. The passport is recommended in Future in Mind. Service User Passport: Information Video Children & Young Person’s Mental Health Service Information Passport illustrative example: Young person Children & Young Person’s Mental Health Service Information Passport illustrative example: Child Children & Young Person’s Mental Health Service Information Passport illustrative example: Forensic case
New Health Careers website has launched - Health Education England is inviting visitors to explore the new Health Careers website. Health Careers brings together the very best content from the NHS Careers, Medical Careers and PHORCaST (public health careers) websites. The new site provides detailed information on more than 350 roles in health, a number of real-life stories and videos, as well as a comprehensive course finder which lists more than 1000 courses leading to a career in health. Visit www.healthcareers.nhs.uk today and register to receive ongoing information about careers in health.
Events
Thursday 26 November 2015 Accessible Health Information: closing the gap for people with a disability - What does ‘accessible’ information mean? What are the challenges experienced by people with a disability when trying find and use health information and support? How can we address these barriers in the services and resources we provide? People with a disability often experience poorer health and poorer healthcare than the general population. Too often health information reinforces these inequalities rather than helping to break them down. We are delighted to announce that bookings are now open for the PiF ‘Accessing Health Information: Closing the gap for people with a disability’ event on Thursday 26 November 2015, to be held at The Studio, Manchester. On 24 June 2015, the new ‘accessible information standard’ was approved by the Standardisation Committee for Care Information (SCCI). The standard tells organisations how they should ensure that disabled patients, service users and, where appropriate, carers and parents, receive information in formats that they can understand, and that they receive appropriate support to help them to communicate. This one day event costs £100+VAT to attend for PIF members, and £175+VAT for non-members. The draft agenda for the day, along with how to register to attend can be found here.
Tuesday 26th January 2015 in London. We are delighted to announce we will be holding a 1 day event. ‘Communicating risk in health information’ will combine expert presentations along with case studies from organisations that have taken innovative approaches to developing information materials for their patients and service users that address risk. More details about the event, including the speakers that will be joining us and how to register can be found here. This one day event costs £125+VAT to attend for PIF members, and £200+VAT for non-members.
27th January 2016 - Making Every Contact Count Conference HEE is hosting a national conference on Making Every Contact Count, taking place in Manchester on Wednesday 27th January 2016. The conference aims to provide support to people who commission, develop or deliver training in Making Every Contact Count (MECC) or Behaviour Change. Further details, including the programme for the day will be available in due course, but in the meantime please save the date, or for more details and to register an interest you can contact [email protected]
25 May 2016 - PIF Annual Conference for People Working in Patient and Health Information 2016 Book your place at the conference now to secure our best Early Bird DISCOUNT rate of 20% off all delegate places booked before the 1st February 2016. For more information and to register visit: www.pifonline.org.uk/2016-conference
4th -10th July 2016 – Health Information Week - http://learning.wm.hee.nhs.uk/resource/health- information
There a calendar of Health Awareness Events that is regularly updated and is on - http://learning.wm.hee.nhs.uk/events
Other online newsletters: Knowledge for Healthcare updates – Keep in touch with progress from all of the themes on the blog page: http://kfh.libraryservices.nhs.uk/ which includes the blogs from the Patient and Public Information Group who also tweet on @K4H_PPI
Voluntary Action Coventry Newsletter - http://www.vacoventry.org.uk/news
Reading Agency (National) - http://www.readingagency.org.uk/
Other links to health-related news - http://www.nice.org.uk/news/nice-newsletters-and-alerts http://www.nice.org.uk/newsroom/pressreleases/press_releases.jsp http://www.who.int/en/ https://www.gov.uk/ http://www.nhs.uk/ http://www.ukhealthforum.org.uk/ http://www.hscic.gov.uk/ibulletin