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In this month's edition...
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Good practice in service user involvement
Clinks’ latest publication features six case studies of best practice in service user involvement from the voluntary sector working with offenders. It includes a project involving experts-by-experience in a prison healthcare procurement process in West Yorkshire; a scheme to train and support well-being reps in Peterborough prison; and the lived experience team for the national Liaison and Diversion programme board. The guide aims to showcase meaningful and achievable ways to involve patients and service users in all stages of commissioning, designing and delivering services for people in contact with the Criminal Justice System. Download the case studies here
Inpsections of health and care in prisons
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has published the reports on unannounced inspections of HMP & YOI Bronzefield, and HMP Wormwood Scrubs, which include sections on the Care Quality Commission's inspection (CQC) of health and care in the establishments. At HMP & YOI Bronzefield prisoners remained very negative about health services, although overall the CQC found them to be reasonably good. The inpatient unit provided residents with good support, but its therapeutic role was compromised by the large number of women who were admitted due to a lack of space in the house blocks. At HMP Wormwood Scrubs most areas of health provision were reasonably good but weaknesses in reception screening and poor access to external hospital appointments created serious risk. Download the inspection reports here
Sustainability and transformation in health and care
NHS England has published details of 44 ‘footprint’ areas that will bring local health and care leaders, organisations and communities together to develop local Sustainability and Transformation Plans for improved health, care and finances over the next five years. The health and care organisations within these areas will work together to narrow the gaps in the quality of care, their population’s health and wellbeing, and in NHS finances. Find out more here
Digital skills for hard-to-reach communities
The Tinder Foundation and NHS England's 'Widening Digital Participation' scheme has given lessons to around 200,000 people in hard-to-reach communities to give them the skills and confidence to access online health information. The scheme has helped vulnerable people to get access to online health services and contact their GP. Helen Milner, Chief Executive of Tinder Foundation, said "We’ve seen first-hand through this programme the huge impact digital [skills] can have on people’s lives – helping them to find out about how to stay healthy, how to manage and find the best treatment for existing conditions, and how to find the right services for them." Find out more here
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Working with the voluntary sector to reduce health inequalities
NHS England and the Race Equality Foundation are holding an event [29th April, London, free] to launch 'The Equality Delivery System for the NHS (EDS2): Guide to Engagement with the Local Voluntary Sector', a guide focussing on how NHS organisations can work with the voluntary sector to meet their duties to promote equalities and reduce health inequalities. The event aims to bring together people across the NHS and voluntary sector working on equality, particularly EDS2, and highlight examples of good practice in engaging the voluntary sector in implementing EDS2. Find out more and book here
Personalisation in the context of probation reforms
The Academy for Justice Commissioning is holding 'Personalisation, Innovation and Transforming Rehabilitation' [19th May, Manchester, free], a seminar to outline the early stages of a socially innovative project to develop and implement a personalised approach to offender rehabilitation in the context of Transforming Rehabilitation. Focussing on the concept of ‘desistance’, the seminar will set out how this leads to consideration of community capacity building and market development that draws on experience from the social care sector. Find out more and book here
Transform mental health care in your area
'Transforming Mental Health Care: Delivering the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health' will be a Capita one-day conference [24th June, London, from £250+VAT] to explore the wide-ranging recommendations from the NHS England Independent Mental Health Taskforce. The event aims to bring together NHS England, the Department of Health, mental health services and the wider community, such as housing, voluntary organisations and employment service providers, to help you to make sense of the recommendations, new policies and funding models. Find out more and book here
End of life care in custody
Macmillan Community of Practice is holding an event [6th July, Manchester, free] relating to the delivery of palliative and end of life care, and foreseeable deaths in custody. The aim of the event is to develop a multidisciplinary network of professionals who share the common responsibility of delivering palliative and end of life care to dying prisoners in a custodial environment. It will provide the opportunity to share good practice between establishments and identify the challenges, and how these can be managed to deliver high quality palliative and end of life care. For more information, or to express an interest in registration, contact Gill Scott, Macmillan Palliative Care Lead for North East Prisons, at g.scott3@nhs.net
Health and wellbeing training for those working with offenders
Manchester’s Health and Wellbeing Service are running 'Connect 5 Mental Health and Wellbeing' training [36 dates between April & December, Manchester, free], a mental health and wellbeing training programme for frontline workers who work with offenders and people with complex dependency issues. The training aims to build capacity amongst frontline workers working across Greater Manchester within the criminal justice workforce, including the voluntary sector, to promote and support the mental wellbeing of service users where poor mental wellbeing is an issue. It also aims to help participants better understand the terminology around mental health, wellbeing and mental illness. Find out more here
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Mental health care in the Criminal Justice System
Centre for Mental Health has published 'Mental health and criminal justice', a report sharing the findings from a consultation across England and Wales reviewing the experiences of people with personal or professional knowledge of the interfaces between the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and mental health services. The report identifies key areas for improvement in mental health care across the CJS, and finds that few of the prisons represented by the consultation were able to offer psychological therapies, and that primary mental health care remains the weakest element of mental health support in prisons. Download the report here
The NHS's goals and priorities in the coming year
NHS England has published its business plan for 2016/2017 setting out their goals and priorities for the year ahead. It outlines 10 business priorities for the coming year, reflecting the main themes of the government mandate, detailing how they will improve health and secure high quality healthcare in England. The priorities are grouped under the following themes: improving health, transforming care and controlling costs. Download the business plan here
Strategic planning for the years ahead
Public Health England (PHE) has published its 'Strategic plan for the next four years: better outcomes by 2020', a document setting out how the organisation intends to protect and improve the public’s health and reduce inequalities over the next four years, and outlining the actions they will take to achieve these aims and deliver their core functions over the year ahead. It explains the public health system and PHE's place within it, their vision for success, their achievements over the previous year, and new opportunities in the health and care system. Download the report here
The impact of health data sharing on local violence levels
The Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University has published the final report of a research project that aims to identify and support the optimum use of NHS data in local violence prevention, and to identify the impact of local NHS data sharing on levels of violence. 'Optimising the use of NHS intelligence in local violence prevention and measuring its impact on violence' finds that despite some good examples of the use of health intelligence in violence prevention, health data remained underutilised across many of the research study sites; and finds no specific relationship between Accident and Emergency data share and use, and local levels of violence. Find out more about the project, and download the report here
The voluntary sector's value in health and care
NPC has published 'Untapped Potential: Bringing the voluntary sector's strengths to health and care transformation', a research report from a project which aims to shape health and care system reform by showcasing the voluntary sector’s value. The research involved the assessment of findings from evaluations submitted by the project partners, and qualitative research to understand how to integrate the voluntary sector’s offer into the future health and care system, to give commissioners and policymakers a way to identify the aspects of charities’ work that most clearly match their needs. The research shows that charities can add value to the health and care system in a range of ways and that charities have a legitimate role in the transformation of the NHS and the wider health and care system in the coming years. Download the report here
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Update to the Standard Contract for healthcare services
The NHS 'Standard Contract' has been updated for 2016/2017. The Contract is mandated by NHS England for use by commissioners for all contracts for healthcare services other than primary care. The changes to the Contract in this updated version are highlighted in the 'NHS Standard Contract 2016/17 Technical Guidance' document which you can download here
Improving health and wellbeing through the home
Public Health England has collated a 'Housing for health' collection of resources and information about healthy homes, suitable homes, stable homes and ending homelessness, healthy communities and neighbourhoods, and commissioning for improved health through the home. This includes strategies, plans, advice and guidance that affect health though the home environment, to help local planners and decision-makers, and healthcare commissioners improve health and wellbeing through the home. Download the resources here
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Six key developments in health and justice
Clinks’ Offender Health Co-ordinator, Hazel Alcraft, has written a blog summarising some of the key developments in health and justice during 2015-16. These include changes under the Care Act, the mental health taskforce, the introduction of the first smoke-free prisons, and the impact of new psychoactive substances. Hazel writes, "Whatever happens, people in contact with the Criminal Justice System are likely to continue to experience greater health risks and needs than the general population, and addressing these needs will need to remain a high priority if we are to support them to successfully desist from crime and rebuild their lives." Read the blog here
Implementing a social value approach
Public Health England's (PHE) National Director for Health and Wellbeing Kevin Fenton has written a blog on how the Social Value Act can help commissioners improve local health and reduce inequalities. He says, "there may be challenges to implementing a social value approach, such as difficulty in defining social value, a lack of capacity, issues for providers in delivering and demonstrating social value and uncertainty as to how to monitor and measure progress. PHE’s social value practice resource can hopefully help overcome some of these issues." Read the blog here
Raising awareness of autism with the police
Karen Templeton-Mepstead, Network Autism's Community Access Services Manager, has written a blog looking at how Autism Hampshire worked with the Hampshire Constabulary to develop the Autism Alert Programme and raise awareness of autism with the police. She says, "Autism Hampshire has worked with the Constabulary to look at how best to support not only the person with autism, but the police officers themselves. In this respect the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner gave their support for all 6,000 frontline personnel to attend autism awareness sessions. To date, 3,000 officers have received input with plans to undertake sessions with the remaining officers." Read the blog here
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About Clinks Offender Health 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 2,975 subscribers.
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Designed, composed and circulated by Ben Watson, Clinks.