In this month's edition...
Plans to improve primary care
'Transforming Primary Care: Safe, proactive, personalised care for those who need it most' is a Department of Health document that sets out their plans to improve primary care. The key planned changes include: from September 2014, over 800,000 people with the most complex needs will experience a step-change in care; by the end of June 2014, all people aged 75 and over will have a named GP with overall responsibility for their care; people caring for family or friends will also be given greater support and information. Matt Tee, Chief Operating Officer at NHS Confederation, says "One mark of a decent society is how it looks after its most vulnerable members, and Transforming Primary Care is a clear commitment to ensuring vulnerable older people get the care they need and deserve." Download the document here
Care Bill receives Royal Assent
The Care Bill, having received Royal Assent, is now the Care Act 2014. Under the new law, the changes to the health system will include: delivering a minimum eligibility threshold – a set of criteria that makes it clear when local authorities will have to provide support to people; local authorities will have a duty to consider the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of the individual needing care; local authorities will have a new duty to provide preventative services to maintain people’s health; and there will be a £72,000 cap on care costs in England (not including accommodation costs). Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb gives more detail on the social care reforms in this article
A letter to health partners on Transforming Rehabilitation
Norman Lamb, Minister of State for Care and Support, and Jeremy Wright, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Prisons and Rehabilitation, have written a joint letter to local authorities and health partners about the Government's Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reform programme. It summarises the changes to the Criminal Justice System and implications for health and care. "Community Rehabilitation Companies will have a clear remit to reduce reoffending and will be incentivised to work collaboratively across public services, with an array of local partners who commission and provide services which offenders may need to access to support their rehabilitation including health and housing services". Download the letter here, and keep up to date with the latest developments in TR here
Inquiry into unsafe discharge
Healthwatch England have launched 'Then what?', their first ever special inquiry, to investigate what can go wrong when people are discharged from health and social care institutions. As tens of thousands of people are potentially being sent home without proper support, the inquiry will focus on unsafe discharge and the concerns of homeless people, people with mental health conditions and older people being discharged from hospitals, care homes, and secure mental health units. Find out how organisations with an interest in this area can get involved, here
Opportunity to embed patient and public voice within health in the justice system
NHS England are looking to recruit a chair and eight members for the London Health in the Justice System Patient and Public Voice Sub Group. The group takes responsibility for ensuring that patient and public voice is embedded within health in the justice system and will help NHS England London Regional Team put the patient and carer perspective at the heart of commissioning, including working together on plans, advising, and offering constructive challenge. Applicants must have previous experience of giving a public, patient or carer perspective on health services. You will be remunerated £150 per meeting, plus travel and subsistence expenses, and the time commitment is 10-12 meetings per year for members, and no more than 24 equivalent full days for the chair. The closing date is 6th June. You can download the application packs here
Healthwatch Peterborough are providing an overview of their 'pilot prisoner engagement' project [15th July, Peterborough, free] which aims to promote meaningful engagement with prisoners to act as wellbeing representatives; provide prisoners with the skills and knowledge to support other prisoners; empower them to share preventative health and wellbeing campaigns; and capture the health and social care issues that face prisoners' families. All interested parties will then have the opportunity to sign up for the complete training pack including the 'train the trainer' programme which will be on held on Tuesday 23rd September at the same venue. For more information contact angela@healthwatchpeterborough.co.uk Influencing health commissioners'VCS Evidence + Health Commissioning - Learning from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)' is a webinar [12th June, 9.45 - 12.00] held by the Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England that will provide an opportunity for the voluntary sector to think about the evidence they need to influence health commissioners in their area, learning from the example of the CAB. By the end of the webinar, participants will have developed ideas for how they can use their own data to influence commissioning; be aware of the CAB's Health and Poverty Tool and know how other voluntary and community sector organisations can use it; have considered what evidence may be available elsewhere or that you may want to collect in order to influence health strategies. For more information, and for bookings, visit the Regional Voices website here Planning ahead for the voluntary sector
'Fit for the future?' is an Involve Yorkshire and Humber conference [2nd July, Leeds, from £71] that will introduce you to some of the significant changes in demography, public services, technology and public attitudes, and consider what they mean for the voluntary sector. The conference will include seminars focussing on the changes that will affect health and social care, the local economy, skills, how we care for each other and anti-poverty strategies. For more information and bookings, click here Funding
Funding social actions to reduce pressure on hospitals
The Social Investment Business have opened a £2m investment fund which aims to reduce pressure on hospitals in England by funding social actions which will result in reductions in older people's A&E attendance, emergency admissions to hospital, delayed discharges from hospital, emergency readmission to hospital and improved patient experience. The objective of the programme is to scale up and robustly test a small number of social action services over winter 2014/15, with a view to mainstreaming successful interventions. The deadline for applications is 13th June. Find out more here
Innovation and best practice across the NHS
A Regional Innovation Fund of £2.5m is available to support and promote innovation and best practice across the NHS. Bids must be led by an NHS organisation but may be in partnership, including voluntary sector organisations. Partnership bids may be for a maximum of £200,000. The deadline for receipt of applications is 30th May 2014. Awards made through the fund will be allocated in July 2014 and must be spent before 31st March 2015. Find out more here
Implications for mental health in NHS Mandate
This Centre for Mental Health briefing entitled 'The NHS Mandate and its implications for mental health' outlines five key actions for NHS England and five key actions for clinical commissioning groups, including: expanding IAPT services; addressing access and waiting times for mental health care; and commissioning integrated support for people with co-existing physical and mental health conditions. Download the briefing here
Sex work and social exclusion
The Department of Health's National Inclusion Board (NIB) has published 'Social exclusion of people in the sex industry: review of evidence' that shows that people engaged in sex work are subject to high levels of social exclusion. It is structured around three themes: the factors that cause vulnerability, social exclusion and involvement in sex work; how social exclusion affects the lives of sex workers and the different levels of social exclusion experienced by certain groups of sex workers; and the barriers that prevent greater social inclusion of sex workers’ lives. It states that criminalisation stigmatises sex workers, seriously reducing access to alternative forms of employment and other public services. Download the report here
Social workers' role in mental health services
The College of Social Work's report 'The Role of the Social Worker in Adult Mental Health Services' outlines the unique contribution that adult mental health social workers bring to improving services and outcomes for service users. It highlights five key areas where expert mental health social work can help deliver on key social care priorities: access to statutory care; working in situations of high complexity and risk; promoting recovery and community capacity; and utilising the professional leadership provided by the Approved Mental Health Professionals. To download the report, click here
Joint working between housing and health
The 'Connecting Housing and Health' briefing series from The National Housing Federation focus on the housing association's offer to the health sector, and explores ways of working effectively with the NHS and public health to address unmet health needs among tenants and the communities in which they operate. The four briefings, 'Managing long term conditions', 'Improving mental health outcomes', 'Hospital discharge and community reablement', and 'Tackling health inequality' are available to download here
Women's mental health and wellbeing
'I am more than one thing', published by Women's Health and Equality Consortium, is a guiding paper by Imkaan, Positively UK and Rape Crisis England and Wales that explores issues around women's mental health and builds on existing evidence to highlight women’s experiences of poor mental health and wellbeing and their interactions with the mental health system. It focuses on women’s mental wellbeing within the context of the effects of sexual violence, as well as different levels of social exclusion or marginalisation that may be experienced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) women, and women affected by HIV. Download the paper here
Assisting healthcare professionals supporting the children of offenders
The Barnardo's project i-Hop has produced a poster and briefing to assist healthcare professionals supporting the children of offenders. It provides more information about the i-Hop service, information for healthcare professionals, and examples of existing practice, and can be downloaded here
Preventing and tackling violence
'Violence and health and wellbeing boards' is a practical guide from the NHS Confederation that aims to provide practical information and guidance on the significant role health and wellbeing boards can play in preventing and tackling violence, in collaboration with community safety partnerships and other local partners. Key points include: People affected by violence are far more likely to experience poor physical and mental health; early intervention is the most effective way to tackle the negative health and wellbeing impacts of violence; and coordination across local services is necessary to address the complex needs of those at risk of causing violence, at risk of experiencing violence, and victims of violence. Download the guide here
Tackling employment for mental health patients
Dr Geraldine Strathdee, National Clinical Director for Mental Health at NHS England, has written a piece on how NHS England and its partners are tackling employment issues for patients. She says "Today, fewer than one person in ten using mental health services is in work. Many more would like to try out work yet far too often are discouraged from seeking employment. Some are told by health professionals ‘you’ll never work again’ or warned to postpone their job search because they are ‘not ready’. Yet we know that for many people, work is a big help to recovering from mental illness." Read the full piece here
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