Health Management and Policy Alert

Quarterly report on progress to address Covid-19 health inequalities

Race Disparity Unit -
This report summarises the work undertaken by the Minister for Equalities and government departments on Covid-19 disparities. The current evidence shows that a range of socioeconomic and geographical factors such as occupational exposure, population density, household composition and pre-existing health conditions contribute to the higher infection and mortality rates for ethnic minority groups, but a part of the excess risk remains unexplained for some groups.

• Report
• Letter
• Race Disparty Unit - publications

Endometriosis in the UK: time for change

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Endometriosis -
This report highlights the impact endometriosis can have on all aspects of a person’s life, and urges Ministers to take bold action to ensure those with endometriosis have access to the right care at the right time. It finds that average diagnosis times for endometriosis have not improved in over a decade.

• Report
• All-Party Parliamentary Group on Endometriosis - publications

Health service use in the last two years of life

The Strategy Unit -
This series of reports describe the health services that patients use in the last two years of their lives. Reports are available for the Midlands region as a whole and for each of the 11 Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships or Integrated Care Systems in the region. The reports contain important insights into: how the patterns of service use change as patients approach death; differences in experience by ethnicity, deprivation and cause of death; the costs of hospital treatment at the end of life and how this varies by STP; levels of non-beneficial treatments; and the additional hospital capacity that may be required to accommodate the projected increase in deaths over the next decade.

• Reports

Research at risk: mitigating the impact of Covid-19 on health R&D investment

Institute for Public Policy Research -
This report reveals the impact of Covid-19 on health charities. It reveals that medical research charities are expected to lose almost 38 per cent of their fundraising income last academic year, and over 25 per cent this academic next year. It recommends that the government should introduce a new, three year life sciences charity partnership fund to support medical research charities.

• Report
• Institute for Public Policy Research - publications

Emergency contraception, coronavirus, and confidentiality: a mystery shop of pharmacy access during the pandemic

British Pregnancy Advisory Service -
This briefing finds that one third of pharmacies are unable to provide emergency contraception in a confidential and Covid-secure way due to current licensing restrictions. It calls for emergency contraception to be reclassified by the Secretary of State for Health as a general sales list medication which would enable women to purchase this safe and effective medication directly from the shelf, without placing their health or confidentiality at risk during the pandemic.

• Briefing
• British Pregnancy Advisory Service - press release

Workforce flexibility in the NHS: utilising Covid-19 innovations

NHS Providers -
This briefing argues that speed at which workforce innovations and flexibilities have been implemented in the NHS since the outbreak of Covid-19 has been both impressive and encouraging. It explores and makes recommendations on six key areas of change: staff wellbeing; flexibility in staff deployment and roles; cross-organisational working and regulation; technology; making use of new roles; and funding.

• Briefing
• NHS Providers - publications

Social care: funding and workforce

Health and Social Care Committee -
This report calls for a £7bn annual increase in social care funding as a starting point for reform. It backs the introduction of a lifetime cap to protect against potentially high care costs as originally proposed by the Dilnot Commission and endorses further consideration of free personal care.

• Report
• Health and Social Care Committee - news

Out of sight – who cares?: a review of restraint, seclusion and segregation for autistic people, and people with a learning disability and/or mental health condition

Care Quality Commission -
This report tells the story of restrictive practices from the perspective of people who have experienced it first-hand and looks at how long-term segregation was used. The review finds that the environment of mental health hospitals was often not therapeutic. It also finds that some people were admitted without proper assessment and did not have an assessment of their needs while in hospital, resulting in the lack of a clear care and treatment plan.

• Report
• Care Quality Commission - publications

Children and young people’s mental health review: findings from a questionnaire to health and wellbeing boards on local actions

Care Quality Commission -
This report contains an update on work carried out in 2018 looking at the quality of mental health services for children and young people, as well as the access to these services. It sets out the findings of a 2019 independent follow-up self-assessment questionnaire, to find out the extent to which health and wellbeing board areas in England had progressed with implementing the local recommendations made.

• Report
• Care Quality Commission - news

The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England

Skills for Care -
This report shows there had been a slight reduction in job vacancies, but employers still needs to fill around 112,000 job vacancies on any given day. The report also reveals the percentage of days lost to sickness in adult social care across England during the pandemic increased to 7.5 per cent between March and August 2020 compared to 2.7 per cent pre-Covid-19.

• Report
• Skills for Care - news

Minds that matter: understanding mental health in later life

Independent Age -
This report looks at the life events and circumstances that can affect people's mental health in later life, including bereavement, loneliness, ill health and caring responsibilities. Focusing mainly on anxiety and depression, the report also describes people’s mixed experiences of seeking support from GPs, therapists and other services. It highlights the common barriers and makes recommendations for what needs to change to improve support for older people and ensure they can live a mentally healthy later life.

• Report
• Independent Age - publications

Medical CCT class of 2018: 2019 survey results

Royal College of Physicians - 
This report analyses data from eight years’ worth of annual surveys reporting on the experiences of, and outcomes for, clinicians within a year of passing their medical certificate completion of training (CCT). The findings find consistent evidence of trainees from BAME background being less successful at consultant interview.

• Report
• Royal College of Physicians - press release

The impact of Covid-19 to date on older people’s mental and physical health

Age UK - 

This research finds that some older people are coping with the pandemic, but a sizeable minority are finding life incredibly tough. Those who are not very well and have long term health conditions were particularly likely to report that this is an extremely challenging time for them.The research was made up of a survey of older people, their friends, families, and loved ones (promoted across the Age UK social media channels for two weeks in August 2020 and completed by 569 people) and representative online polling of 1,364 people over the age of 60, conducted by Kantar Polling in September 2020.

• Report
• More detail

Out of sight, out of mind: the continuing impact of Covid-19 on people living with kidney disease

Kidney Care UK - 

This report (compiled using 860 responses from an online survey open from 28 August to 21 September 2020) finds that the majority of kidney patients have been expected to return to work once shielding ended and the furlough scheme ends. Nearly two thirds of respondents (63 per cent) said they were concerned for their safety but had to return regardless. Almost one in five (19 per cent) said that their employer has been ‘very unhelpful’ or ‘unhelpful’ in their return. The report states that the government needs to take immediate and long-term action to protect the wellbeing of around 70,000 vulnerable kidney patients.

• Report
• More detail

The impacts of volunteering on the subjective wellbeing of volunteers: a rapid evidence assessment

What Works Centre for Wellbeing - 

There is a growing body of research on the links between volunteering and wellbeing. This review (co-published with Spirit of 2012, and in partnership with the Institute of Volunteer Research) brings together the most relevant studies. It focuses on the experience of adult formal volunteers, and looks at the key factors involved in improving wellbeing through volunteering.

• Review
• Briefing
• More details