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In this week's edition...
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Alcohol statistics
NHS Digital has published this year’s official Statistics on Alcohol in England report. The report reveals a continuing reduction in the amount we drink as a society, led by a big reduction in young people’s drinking. 58% people aged 16 years or older reported drinking alcohol in the previous week in 2017 – down from 65% in 2007. The proportion drinking more than eight units (men) or six units (women) on their heaviest drinking day in the last week has fallen in the last 10 years for those aged 16-24 and 25-44 but stayed the same for older people. Find out more here
Mental health gap
An initiative to tackle one of the biggest health inequalities for people with mental health issues has been launched by the Centre for Mental Health, Kaleidoscope Health and Care and Rethink Mental Illness in collaboration with more than 20 professional organisations, charities and health service bodies across the country. Equally Well UK is a collaborative to bring together organisations with a part to play in reducing the 15-20 year life expectancy gap facing people with a severe mental illness in Britain today. Based on a similar scheme running in New Zealand, Equally Well UK brings together organisations involved in mental health and physical health in a common effort to reduce the health gap. Find out more here
Homeless patients in Oxford
Working with homeless patients, Healthwatch Oxfordshire has produced a video which explains how one patient participation group helps homeless people in Oxford. Rosalind Pearce, Executive Director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, said: “This film tells a powerful story of a partnership between patients who are homeless and their GP surgery working together to improve the services offered to homeless people in Oxford". This video was made with a grant from NHS England under its Celebrating Excellence in Community Participation grant scheme. Watch the video here
Volunteering in the NHS
NHS England wants to hear from organisations with a volunteering programme who might be interested in promoting their opportunities to NHS staff. It has an established employee volunteering policy which lets colleagues take up to five days paid leave each year to volunteer. It is keen to help more employees use their volunteer leave. If you have a volunteering programme in place and can offer roles nationally and would like to be find out more about being featured on the NHS intranet, please contact felicity.smith2@nhs.net
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Substance abuse and stigma
Adfam is holding its #StigmaMakesMeFeel campaign launch [11th July, London, free]. It wants people to think about how families experience stigma surrounding substance abuse issues, and how that makes them feel. Stigma can cause families to feel isolated and prevent them from accessing support through fear of being judged. Find out more here
Achieving equality and diversity in service user involvement
Clinks’ next Service User Involvement Managers’ Network event [12th July, Bristol, Clinks members only, £25], in partnership with IF Group, will explore how participation can help to address equality and diversity. Involving people with lived experience of the criminal justice system in designing, developing and delivering services is a vital way in which the voluntary sector supports people to change their lives. Yet ensuring everyone has the opportunity to be involved and that we hear from a diverse range of people can be hugely challenging. Speakers include Becki Meakin from Shaping Our Lives; 1625 Independent People; and Aisha Lewis and Jason Burrowes from IF Group. Book your place here
Public health
Public Health England is holding its Annual Conference 2018 [11th – 12th September, Warwick University, from £90]. The conference programme is linked to three themes: promoting world leading science and evidence, making the economic case for prevention, and working towards a healthier, fairer society. Workshops include community and third sector roles in public health; health equity and poverty; taking a whole systems approach to young people’s mental health; and the challenge of communicable disease control in prisons and other places of detention. Find out more and book here
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Prison healthcare
Clinks submitted evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into prison healthcare. We drew on evidence gathered through our work supporting our members working with people in prison, and as part of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance. Our response focusses on the challenges prisons and prison healthcare services face in providing care that is equivalent to that offered in the community; and the role the voluntary sector can play in identifying and meeting the health and care needs of people in prison and improving continuity of care. Find out more here
Mental health on the streets
Research released from St Mungo’s reveals a dramatic increase in the proportion of people sleeping rough who have died with mental health support needs from 2010 to 2017. The report Dying on the streets: the case for moving quickly to end rough sleeping finds that eight in 10 of those who died were recorded as having a mental health problem, a rise from three in 10 in 2010. Nine in 10 needed support for mental health, drug or alcohol problems. St Mungo's has written to the government to ask for urgent action. Find out more here
Personal Health Budgets
The Voluntary Voices partnership (National Voices, Volunteering Matters and NAVCA), has published a report on learning and next steps from a programme exploring the role of the voluntary sector in delivering personalised care. The partnership worked in nine areas of England over a period of two years to raise awareness of the importance of local voluntary and community organisations in the personalisation of health and care services, particularly their role in enabling people to access and make effective use of Personal Health Budgets. The report summarises the experiences of those organisations in collaborating to deliver Personal Health Budgets and proposes next steps to enhance collaboration. Read the report here
NHS public sector duties
NHS England has published a report explaining the actions it is taking to meet its public sector equality duty and the key equality focussed developments and initiatives it is undertaking. The NHS England response to the specific equality duties of the Equality Act 2010 lays out six equality objectives covering the period 2016-2020. Each objective has a number of targets associated with it which have been revised for 2018-19 and 2019-20. Download the report here
Communicable diseases in prisons
The Lancet has published an article on public health guidance on the prevention and control of communicable diseases in prisons. The guidance came from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. The report concluded that people in prison have a higher burden of HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, and tuberculosis than the general population. Diagnosis and treatment of this vulnerable population are essential to improve people’s health and to break transmission cycles within and outside prison walls. Read the article here
Adverse childhood experiences
Adverse childhood experiences or adverse childhood socioeconomic conditions? is an article in The Lancet. It looks at a study reviewing whether if a child lives with an adult who has a mental health disorder or an alcohol-related illness, does that affect the risk of emergency hospital admission for that child? In The Lancet Public Health, Shantini Paranjothy and colleagues use the record linkage system established in Wales to address this question, showing that these exposures independently increase the risk of childhood admission due to all causes, external causes and injury, and victimisation. Read the article here
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Health and social care
The Health Foundation has up to £1.7 million available for up to 23 clinical teams through the latest round of its Innovating for Improvement programme. The funding can be used to test and develop innovative ideas and approaches to improve health and social care delivery in the UK. It is particularly interested in applications that focus on supporting the workforce to improve the quality of care. They might do this by focusing on the physical and mental wellbeing of staff, improving team working and relationships, or using technology and automation to address workforce challenges. The deadline for applications is 9th July. Find out more here
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Secure mental health services
NHS England has launched a ‘secure carers toolkit’ which provides information about how carers of service users (who use adult secure services) should be involved, supported and empowered. Carers can make a vital contribution to the commissioning process as experts by experience. Their involvement helps to ensure positive healthcare experiences and can support the recovery of the service user. The toolkit has been developed in response to feedback from carers and has been co-produced with a range of stakeholders including carers, the University of Central Lancashire and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. It is accompanied by two short films which highlight what it feels like to be a carer of someone in secure mental health services. Find out more here
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Health and wellbeing of women in prison
This Clinks guest blog from Naomi Delap of Birth Companions looks at Public Health England’s recently published standards to improve the health and wellbeing of women in prison. It shares Birth Companion’s ideas on how some of the significant change which is needed across the criminal justice system might be achieved. She writes "Women are still reporting being hungry, not having access to basic provisions such as breast pads, and waiting months for a decision on whether they will have a place on a Mother and Baby Unit." Read the blog here
Rough sleeping and mental health
In this blog for Homeless Link, the Centre for Mental Health’s Sarah Hughes shares her views on the importance of an innovative range of housing and support solutions for vulnerable people. She writes "Research suggests that up to 80% of people living on the streets have a mental illness - half of which have a diagnosed condition. This is often complicated because of other issues including substance misuse and long-term physical conditions...What we do about housing now is relevant to what society’s mental health will look like in 20 years’ time. Better housing and access to the right support could seriously challenge some of the biggest societal and health inequalities faced by generations to come." Read more here
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About Clinks Health and Justice Bulletin
This regular bulletin provides Clinks members with the latest news for voluntary sector organisations involved in the health and care of offenders. It currently has 3,169 subscribers.
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