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In this month's edition...
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Clinks case studies on organisations working with disabled offenders
Do you work with offenders with a physical, mental or learning disability? We are looking for case studies from organisations working with offenders with a range of disabilities, to help us highlight specific issues that disabled offenders face and promote good practice in supporting them. Case studies may be from a specialist disability organisation, or from organisations working with offenders including some with a disability, who can talk about their experiences, any challenges they overcame and adaptations they may have made to their service to better support disabled clients. If you would like to be involved, please submit a short summary of your case study to ben.watson@clinks.org
Consistency of care for prison leavers
Register on the NHS Citizen Gather forum, before close of business Wednesday 23rd September, and help raise the profile of the health and care needs of offenders by voting for this issue to be discussed by citizens and senior NHS leaders at the NHS National Assembly in November. Clinks' Offender Health Coordinator Hazel Alcraft has submitted a discussion topic on the NHS Citizen Gather forum on ensuring continuity of care for people leaving prison; the forum allows members of the public to raise ideas and suggestions for improving the health service in England. This week, those registered on the forum will be able to vote for the most important issues, and the top 5 chosen will go forward to the NHS Citizen Assembly meeting. Register and cast your vote here
Use of police cells for those in mental health crisis
The Department of Health has reported that the Crisis Care Concordat has led to an improved response for people experiencing a mental health crisis since its introduction in February 2014. Improvements include a 55% reduction in England in the use of police cells as a place of safety for people detained under the Mental Health Act since 2011/12, and 9,350 people receiving emergency attention from ‘street triage schemes’ where mental health nurses work alongside police officers. Find out more here
Case studies of work to support the mental health of children
NCB are gathering good and promising practice examples of work to support the mental health of children in care, care leavers and adopted children. They will promote these via their website and bulletins to NCB’s members and partners and those of its specialist membership groups; to the Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England; local authorities and CCGs; and other Strategic Partners. They are looking for examples from current services, projects and programmes. Download the case study template to submit examples here
Consultation on the deprivation of liberty safeguards
The Law Commission has opened a consultation on the law of mental capacity and deprivation of liberty. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) aim to protect people who lack mental capacity, but who need to be deprived of liberty so they can be given care and treatment in a hospital or care home. If a person’s right to liberty needs to be infringed in other settings, an authorisation must be obtained from the Court of Protection. The consultation paper considers how the law should regulate deprivations of liberty involving people who lack capacity to consent to their care and treatment arrangements. The consultation is open until 2nd November. Find out more and respond here
North East mental health crisis helpline
A helpline for people in the North East with mental health issues who might previously have attended A&E, set up by Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, has been praised by Dr Geraldine Strathdee, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Mental Health, at this year's NHS Expo conference. Calls to the helpline are triaged allowing people who need urgent care to get the right treatment quickly, those who need community care to avoid admission where ever possible and those who need an appointment or referral to be seen quickly. The helpline was based on patient experiences and was set up in consultation with service user groups at every stage. More than 10,000 people are calling the line for support every month. Find out more here
The best clinical team in secure environments
Centrevents' 3rd Health and Justice Summit on 6th and 7th November will see the launch of an award for the best clinical team in secure environments. This award seeks to recognise the multi-disciplinary team that has had the greatest impact on improving health outcomes for people in secure environments. They are inviting applications from any member of the team. The deadline for applications is 30th September. Find out more here
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Learn about NHS Citizen
FaithAction will be holding two training workshops [7th October, Manchester | 21st October, Birmingham | free] to learn about NHS Citizen and the best ways to have your voice heard, plus a chance to meet and hear from officials involved in NHS Citizen and share your views with them directly. They aim to equip individuals from faith communities to have a voice and an advocacy role in health and care provision, and help ensure that services reach the most marginalised groups in society. NHS Citizen is a way of giving the public a say in the NHS in England and creating a culture of collaboration. Find out more and book here
NHS England's AGM
NHS England are holding their Annual General Meeting [21st October, London] which falls on the first anniversary of the launch of the Five Year Forward View plan. This year they want to provide stakeholders and the public with the opportunity to scrutinise their work towards delivering this and discuss their future direction. In particular they will focus on how they are transforming the NHS, and show how they are working in partnership to improve the NHS. Registration closes on the 19th October. Find out more and book here
Long-term conditions in secure settings
University of Lincoln are hosting their Health in Justice Conference 2016 'Equality in practice: managing long term conditions in secure environments' [24th and 25th February 2016, Lincoln, from £145 (early bird rate for charities)]. The conference aims to showcase research into ethical areas of study that will compliment health professionals working within such environments as prisons, immigration removal centres, police custody suites, forensic psychiatric units, young offender institutions, secure training centres, the courts and other secure environments where healthcare is assessed and provided. It will also provide a forum for practitioners and researchers to present recent findings, innovative methods and educational programmes that highlight the specific vulnerabilities of patient health within these areas. Find out more and book here
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Funding for charities working in a health-related field
The 2016 GSK IMPACT awards are now open to registered charities that are at least three years old, working in a health-related field in the UK. The awards are designed to recognise and reward charities that are doing excellent work to improve people’s health. Winners will receive benefits including funding, free training, publicity and national recognition. Organisations’ total annual income must be between £25,000 and £2 million to be eligible to apply. The deadline for application is 25th September. Find out more and apply here
Knowledge hub with a focus on mental health
The LankellyChase Foundation is inviting expressions of interest to tender for the design and delivery of a new ‘knowledge hub’ on ethnic inequality and severe and multiple disadvantage, with an initial focus on mental health. The aim of the project is to put available knowledge to use as a tool for change, rather than restate well-known problems. The contractor – likely to be a partnership of different people and organisations – will collate, synthesise, interpret and communicate data on ethnic inequality in mental health and other interrelated areas (including criminal justice) over time. The resources available to design and build the ‘knowledge hub’ will be up to £1.25m over 5 years. The deadline for initial expressions of interest is 12th October 2015. Full information is available here
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First report on mental health services
NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce has published its first report on mental health services. To help inform decisions about priorities for the new strategy, the taskforce has sought the views and expertise of people with personal experience of mental health problems, families, carers and professionals as well as reviewing clinical and economic evidence; Clinks also submitted a response. A total of 20,473 responses to the survey were received. For some respondents, access to services came highest in the priorities listed for change, followed by choice of treatments and prevention. Integration, self-management, perinatal mental health and transitions were less prominent. Download the report here
Service user involvement in drug and alcohol services
Public Health England has published ‘Service user involvement: A guide for drug and alcohol commissioners, providers and service users’, looking at the evidence base for service user involvement (SUI), the different levels of involvement, and the impact of involvement on service users and treatment effectiveness. The document is intended to be a useful guide to exploring and developing further SUI in your area. SUI can provide individuals with opportunities to gain experience, confidence, qualifications and skills, some of which can then be transferred to others. The guide looks at the training and support needs of service users and other staff, and at the role played by service user led community developments in meeting the needs of particular groups. Download the guide here
Guidance on overdose treatment for people who use opiates
Public Health England has published its advice for commissioners and providers on the provision of take-home naloxone for reversing overdose in people who use heroin and other opiates, now and following legislative change which will come into effect in October 2015 to make naloxone more readily available. There were 765 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2013 in which heroin or morphine were mentioned on the death certificate: an average of more than two every day, and a significant increase of 32% compared to those registered in 2012. Given the upward trend, this guidance is of particular relevance. Download the guidance here
Analysis of health in England
'Changes in health in England, with analysis by English regions and areas of deprivation, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013' is an article recently published in the Lancet that finds although health in England is improving, substantial opportunities exist for further reductions in the burden of preventable disease. The gap in mortality rates between men and women has reduced, but marked health inequalities between the least deprived and most deprived areas remain. The article says systematic action locally and nationally is needed to reduce risk exposures, support healthy behaviours, alleviate the severity of chronic disabling disorders, and mitigate the effects of socioeconomic deprivation. Download the article here
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Posters on young people’s rights
The NHS Youth Forum have launched a series of posters for young people focussing on young people’s right to consent, their right to complain and their right to comment and give feedback on the health services that they receive. The posters come with an overarching leaflet that gives more information about each topic. The leaflet is also available in audio and easy read versions. Download the posters here
Auditing health needs in your local area
Homeless Link have published a toolkit with a step-by-step guide to running a 'Health Needs Audit' in your area. The Homeless Health Needs Audit offers a practical way to improve the health of people who are homeless in your local area, providing a framework for gathering and using health information to assess local need and improve healthcare services, using the direct experiences of people who are homeless. The audit and the accompanying guidance can be used by anyone with an interest in homeless health. Given the scope of the issues concerned, they recommend that the audit and its wider resources be used in partnership by representatives from the local authority, voluntary sector and health services. Find out more here
The health and wellbeing of looked-after children
NCB have made available the presentations, briefings, and key messages from their seminars held earlier this year entitled ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked after children: implications of new joint statutory guidance’. The events provided an opportunity to disseminate and examine the joint statutory guidance from the Department for Education and the Department of Health on promoting the health and welfare of looked-after children. The guidance is for local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and NHS England. During the events, there were opportunities to consider the specific issues, challenges and opportunities for addressing some key areas such as emotional and mental health, measuring wellbeing, special educational needs, disability, and adoption support. Find out more here
Variations in health and care in England
Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Right Care have launched the 2015 NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare to help commissioners, service providers and health professionals deliver the best healthcare. The Atlas identifies where opportunities to address ‘unwarranted’ variation exist – by revealing the possible over-use and under-use of different aspects of healthcare; and contains 102 maps detailing widespread variation in the quality, cost, activity and health outcome of healthcare in the English NHS. It is available as a PDF download and as an online interactive version. Find out more here
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How can the voluntary sector work better with CCGS?
Lee Beresford, Third Sector Strategic Lead for the NHS Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group has written a blog sharing his thoughts on how the voluntary sector and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) can work better together, and invites voluntary sector organisations to share their knowledge, comments and ideas. He says, "Having worked for the NHS for more than 30 years (and the last 14 in Wakefield) in a variety of clinical and commissioning posts, I was last year seconded to a local social enterprise ... Spectrum Community Health CIC ... My time in this first-class third sector organisation taught me many things". 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 2,578 subscribers.
To submit content, please email ben.watson@clinks.org
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Designed, composed and circulated by Ben Watson, Clinks.