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In this month's edition...
Supporting young people with autism in prison
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists’ Sternberg Clinical Innovation Award has been awarded to Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institute (HMYOI) Feltham. Supported by Clinks members The National Autistic Society, the project involved developing and implementing standards across the prison to improve the identification and support of autistic people at Feltham. The on-going project made changes across the prison to help autistic young offenders, who currently represent 4.5% of the population at Feltham. These changes included familiarising staff with autism, allowing autistic prisoners to use communal areas at quieter times and making reasonable adjustments to the building, such as creating areas with less clutter. Find out more here
Healthy living programme for older prisoners
RECOOP has developed a 6-week weight-management and exercise programme for older prisoners entitled HELP (Healthy Eating & Living in Prison). The HELP Programme aims to introduce prisoners to safe and structured exercise whilst encouraging and supporting them to achieve their goals. So far the programme has been successfully run in two prisons with positive results, with 100% of participants losing 5% of their bodyweight. Find out more here
Mental health care for pregnant women
NHS England has set out plans to provide more support for pregnant women and new mums suffering mental illness, as well as to improve care for the many people with mental health problems attending A&E in crisis. £40m is to be allocated to 20 areas of the country to fund new specialist community mental health services for mums in the immediate run up to and after birth, and help reach 30,000 more women a year by 2021. A further £20m will be allocated next year. Find out more here
Families with young children using housing services
National Children's Bureau (NCB) is seeking information on how housing services are supporting the health of young children of families who are in contact with them. They want to hear from organisations and people working in housing, public health and children’s services. They would like to hear about the advice, signposting and support offered in your area as well the extent of joint working or overarching policies on this issue. Find out more here
Consultation to improve standards
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is holding a consultation on improving how patients and the public can help develop NICE guidance and standards. They are reviewing the way they involve people who are not health or social care professionals in developing their guidance and standards. They want to hear your views on their proposed new principles and ways of working. Find out more here
Funding for HIV prevention
NHS England will fund a major extension to the national HIV prevention programme led by Public Health England with the aim of supporting those most at risk and reducing the incidence of HIV infection. This will include funding for ten new specialised treatments. The new HIV initiative is joint between NHS England and Public Health England. Find out more here
The challenges facing the health and care sector
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is offering bursaries to attend their 2017 annual conference. NICE 2017 [18th - 19th May, Liverpool] will discuss the big challenges facing the health and care sector. This year's bursary package consists of a full two-day delegate pass to the conference worth £149 plus VAT. The bursary scheme is open to national patient, carer, service user and voluntary organisations, local and regional Healthwatches. The deadline for applications is the 5th January. Find out more here
Substance misuse in prison
What should substance misuse services in prisons be like? Clinks is holding a consultation event [13th January, Leeds, free] in partnership with NHS England to help them review the service specification for substance misuse services in prisons. Open to current and former service users, families, and voluntary sector representatives, this event will provide an opportunity to feed back on the current specification, what is working well, and what more needs to be done. This event will look particularly at what services are needed to support different groups of people, such as women, families, those with multiple needs, and people on remand. Find out more and register here
Psychological support for homeless people
Homeless Link is holding a one-day national summit [31st January, London, from £175] that will bring together stakeholders from mental health, homelessness and supported housing providers, commissioners and researchers to advance understanding of psychologically informed support and address the psychological and emotional issues faced by those experiencing homelessness or living in supported accommodation. Psychological and mental health problems affect large numbers of people experiencing homelessness or those in supported housing. Find out more here
The impact of addiction on employment
Dame Carol Black’s review into the impact of drug and alcohol and obesity on employment outcomes has been published. The report recommends further exploration into ways people addicted to drugs and alcohol can be helped to find work, and improved joined-up working between work and health services. It also looks at the role of employers in helping secure good employment opportunities for people who have struggled with addiction. Find out more here
Physical health of people in prison
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has released guidance on the physical health of people in prison. This guideline covers assessing, diagnosing and managing physical health problems of people in prison. It aims to improve health and wellbeing in the prison population by promoting more coordinated care and more effective approaches to prescribing, dispensing and supervising medicines. Find out more here
Health Survey for England 2015 report published
NHS Digital has published The Health Survey for England 2015. This series of reports is designed to monitor trends in the nation’s health; estimating the proportion of people in England who have specified health conditions, and the prevalence of risk factors and behaviours associated with these conditions. Key findings from this report include that in 2015, nearly 20% of the population were current smokers, 18% of adults had provided unpaid social care and that 27% of adults were obese. The report also finds that families on a lower income were more likely to have children who were overweight or obese. Find out more here
A health and wellbeing alliance
The Department of Health is inviting applications for the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, a new national partnership with the voluntary sector. Through the Alliance, the Department of Health (DH), NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) will work with voluntary sector organisations to promote equality and address health inequalities and help people, families and communities to achieve and maintain wellbeing. Applicants must demonstrate how their organisation, as an Alliance member working across the health and care system, can provide reach to local, small scale and specialist voluntary sector organisations; and contribute to the priorities of DH, NHS England and PHE to help address the needs of those who are most disadvantaged and excluded. Find out more here
Social value toolkit
The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) has created a Social Value Toolkit to promote increased cooperation between social care commissioners and providers. It has been created in response to the fact that while there are resources to support commissioners to implement the Social Value Act, less guidance exists for social care providers. The toolkit aims to support organisations to develop their social value, make it measurable and improve their ability to respond to tenders which include social value as a factor. Find out more 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 3,261 subscribers.
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Designed, composed and circulated by Rhiannedd Mclean, Clinks.