Adapting sexual and reproductive health services in response to COVID-19: examples of practice

by Public Health England (2020)

During the COVID-19 response sexual and reproductive health services have adapted swiftly to ensure continued provision of essential services. This has included, for example, the scale up of online triaging and delivery, and prioritising face-to-face consultations for less well served groups, clinically complex cases and to address safeguarding concerns.
Public Health England is collating practice examples to capture how sexual and reproductive health services have adapted during the COVID-19 response with a particular focus on changes put in place to meet the needs of less well served populations. The practice examples below have been collected and published with no assumption or evidence of effectiveness at this stage. They are intended to briefly capture what has been done locally for the purpose of rapid knowledge translation. The practice examples were collected by PHE from local sexual and reproductive health providers and commissioners. PHE is collecting examples on an ongoing basis.

Click here to view the examples

 

What good looks like

By The Association of Directors of Public Health (2019)

The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) and Public Health England (PHE) have co-produced a series of ‘What Good Looks Like’ (WGLL) publications that set out the guiding principles of ‘what good quality looks like’ for population health programmes in local systems.

The WGLL publications are based on the evidence of ‘what works and how it works’ including effectiveness, efficiency, equity, examples of best practices, opinions and viewpoints and, where available a return on investment.

Click here to view these publications

NHS long term plan case studies

The NHS Long Term Plan will make sure the NHS is fit for the future.
Find out through our case studies and films about how the NHS is already making significant changes and developing to better meet the needs of patients and their families through every stage of life.

View case studies by topic:
Cancer
Cardiovascular
Diabetes
Digital
Integrated care
Learning disabilities
Maternity
Mental health
Personalised care
Primary care
Stroke
Urgent and emergency care

View case studies by life stage:
Starting well
Better care for major health conditions
Ageing well

Prescribing cannabis based drugs: response from NICE and Health Education England

I thought I would include this response from NICE and HEE as it is an important message. Click the link below to access the letter or read it below.

https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4940

Further to Hamilton’s recommendation that general practitioners consult Google Scholar and ask their colleagues if they are unsure about prescribing cannabis,1 we write to remind readers in England that they have 24/7 access to reliable sources of evidence to inform clinical decisions.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s evidence search (https://www.evidence.nhs.uk) provides access to authoritative evidence on health, social care, and public health. It focuses on synthesised secondary evidence, including content from over 800 sources, including the British National Formulary, Clinical Knowledge Summaries, SIGN, the Cochrane Library, the royal colleges, Public Health England, and GOV.UK. Information and knowledge specialists at NICE add further good quality systematic reviews. This service is openly available to everyone in the UK; here you will find reviews on the use of cannabis in treatment of epilepsy, neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, HIV/AIDS, and asthma.

Healthcare staff in England can access a vital, core collection of healthcare databases and full text journals for no charge at https://hdas.nice.org.uk. Purchased by Health Education England on behalf of the NHS in England, these are provided online in partnership with NICE. You simply need an NHS OpenAthens account. Register at https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/evidence-services/journals-and-databases/OpenAthens.

NHS funded librarians and knowledge specialists are skilled in helping colleagues find information and search for evidence. They can offer summarised evidence searches and help teams keep up-to-date.

Health is a knowledge industry. We encourage practices to contact their local healthcare library. Check http://hlisd.org for details. Health Education England is committed to work with NHS organisations to ensure that all staff can access knowledge for healthcare23 and benefit from the expertise of healthcare librarians. We know that only a third of Clinical Commissioning Groups currently have such arrangements in place for their staff and member practices. For advice on improving your organisation’s access to knowledge services please contact your regional Health Education England library lead.3

 

Practical Guidance to SPOT for Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health

By Public Health England (2017)

The Spend and Outcome Tool (SPOT) was first published in 2014 and gives an overview of spend and outcomes across key areas of business for Local Authorities (LAs). It uses previously published data on both spend and outcomes. It contains three years of data on spend and outcomes for a wide range of measures. SPOT can be used to compare with other geographical areas and a range of benchmarks.
SPOT can be a useful tool for LAs who are interested in comparing spend data on sexual and reproductive health with sexual and reproductive health outcomes. There are some issues which make drawing these comparisons complicated and potentially misleading.

Click here to view these guidelines

Big cuts planned to public health budgets

by The King’s Fund (2017)

Central government cuts have forced councils to reduce planned spending on vital public health services such as sexual health clinics and reducing harm from smoking, alcohol and drugs by £85 million, according to new analysis by The King’s Fund.

Click here to view this news

Click here to view the King’s Fund analysis

Sexual health commissioning in local government: building strong relationships, meeting local needs

By Local Government Association (2015)

These nine case studies showcase local government experience of commissioning sexual health services since taking over this responsibility in April 2013

Click here to view these case studies

Health and social care priorities for the Government: 2015-2020

By The Nuffield Trust (2015)

This briefing outlines ten possible key health and social care priorities for the new government, covering funding and finance, quality of care, new models of care and workforce.

Click here to view this briefing

Sexual and reproductive health in England: a guide to local and national data

By Public Health England (2014)

This guidance is designed to help health professionals including local government, service providers and commissioners understand the sexual health data that is available across England and how the data can be accessed. It provides an overview of the information available on sexually transmitted infection (STIs), HIV, contraception, conception and abortion.

Click here to view this guidance

NEW EBOOKS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH LANCASHIRE STAFF

20 ebooks relating to Public Health have been purchased and are all freely accessible to all Public Heath Lancashire staff with an Athens username and password. 

To view these books and apply for an Athens username click on the ‘New eBooks’ tab on the blogs homepage