Health Management and Policy Alert

Tackling poverty and the cost of food

NHS Confederation  - 
Greater food insecurity could affect people’s physical health and mental wellbeing, and create unmanageable pressure on already stretched NHS services. It is estimated that malnutrition costs the NHS £19.6 billion a year. The briefing calls on government to make a number of policy changes to help reduce the health impacts of the rising cost of food, particularly on those for whom rising prices have the biggest impact.

• Briefing
• More detail

 

Tackling inequality and disadvantage: key actions policy makers, commissioners and provider organisations can take when developing an approach with a digital component

National Voices -
This briefing, launched by members of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, highlights how groups of people who experience the greatest barriers to accessing health and care are often the most likely to experience digital exclusion. It also contains additional, detailed insights into how digital exclusion affects groups who experience health inequalities, including people with learning disabilities, people seeking asylum, people in contact with the criminal justice system, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and others. The guidance also highlights the key actions people who design health and care can take to tackle inequality and disadvantage when using digital tools.

• Briefing
• National Voices - publications

NHS public health functions agreement 2022 to 2023

Department of Health and Social Care -
This guidance contains information about NHS England's objectives and funding arrangements as it commissions public health services. It sets out the arrangements under which the Secretary of State delegates responsibility to NHS England for certain public health services. The services currently commissioned in this way are: national immunisation programmes; national population screening programmes; child health information services; public health services for adults and children in secure and detained settings in England; and sexual assault services.

• Guidance
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Additional drug and alcohol treatment funding allocations: 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities - 

This information provides a breakdown of the extra funding available to all local authorities in England for the financial year 2023 to 2024 and an indicative allocation for 2024 to 2025. The funding will help them improve their drug and alcohol treatment and recovery systems.

• Guidance
• More detail

10 steps hospitals can take to tackle ethnic inequalities in elective waiting lists

NHS Race & Health Observatory - 

Across England, hospital activity continues to be seriously impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic with large falls in routine care resulting in millions of patients now subject to vast backlogs. Data analysis shows people from Asian groups faced larger falls in planned hospital care – both before and during the pandemic – than people from White, Black or Mixed ethnic groups. This infographic resource, designed in collaboration with the Nuffield Trust, aims to support the healthcare system by highlighting ten key ways to tackle these disparities, and to take practical actions to address the ethnicity gap in care provision.

• Infographic
• More detail

Both, and: population health and public health professionals need to make the most of distinct contributions to better health

The King's Fund - 

New population health roles in integrated care systems need a clear partnership with public health partners to succeed. In this blog, Toby Lewis and David Buck from The King's Fund explore steps to make that happen.

• Blog

The best start for life: a progress report on delivering the vision

Department of Health and Social Care -
This report sets out the progress that the government has made in implementing The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days since its publication in March 2021, following the Early Years Healthy Development Review.

• Report
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Workforce development framework for health and wellbeing coaches

NHS England- 

This framework: sets clear and consistent standards for health and wellbeing coaches; demonstrates the benefits of health and wellbeing coaches working in the NHS; provides information about the training, support, supervision, and continuous professional development needed to enable health and wellbeing coaches to succeed; supports the development of a strong and capable workforce of health and wellbeing coaches; and supports improved quality and consistency of health coaching and reduces variation in outcomes and access standards.

• Framework
• More detail

Workforce development framework for health and wellbeing coaches

NHS England- 

This framework: sets clear and consistent standards for health and wellbeing coaches; demonstrates the benefits of health and wellbeing coaches working in the NHS; provides information about the training, support, supervision, and continuous professional development needed to enable health and wellbeing coaches to succeed; supports the development of a strong and capable workforce of health and wellbeing coaches; and supports improved quality and consistency of health coaching and reduces variation in outcomes and access standards.

• Framework
• More detail

Nobody’s listening: what families say about prison healthcare

Pact -
According to this report, involving families more proactively in prisoners’ health care would reduce deaths in custody, relieve pressure on the NHS and the criminal justice system, and cut crime. It makes a series of recommendations to improve the way that health care providers and prisons can involve families more proactively. They include: diverting more appropriately risk-assessed people with mental health problems to community treatment and secure treatment settings; training for staff to ensure that they understand how to involve family members; and a single point of contact at every prison to champion the role of families in the health care process.

• Report
• Pact - news