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In the News

DH:  Hard enough task even in good times - The Government is joining forces with Comic Relief to help tackle mental health stigma, with funding of up to £20m for Time to Change (TtC), the leading stigma & anti-discrimination campaign, run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. 

The funding will help TtC continue its work until March 2015 and help change attitudes & behaviours on a mass scale, empowering individuals to tackle discrimination across all sectors & communities.  It will also help test new approaches to tackling mental health stigma & discrimination amongst children & young people, starting with some specific work with the African Caribbean community.
 

TtC runs events & campaigns as varied as getting young men & women into the boxing gym where they can meet people, pick up new skills and improve their mental health & confidence; and campaigning to change public behaviour towards people with mental health problems.  The new funding will allow TtC to ‘reach 29m members of the public and increase the confidence of 100,000 people with mental health problems to challenge stigma and discrimination’.

Press release ~ Related TUC press release ~ Time to Change ~ Mind ~ Rethink Mental Illness ~ Comic Relief ~ DH: mental health and well-being ~ Mental Health Strategy for Scotland: 2011-15 A Consultation ~ See Me ~ Mental Health issues:  Removing the stigma ~ Time to change ~ DH:  Consultation on draft suicide prevention strategy ~ NICE guideline aims to help GPs provide quick, cost-effective treatment to improve the lives of millions of people experiencing common mental health disorders ~ Workplace interventions for people with common mental health problems:  Evidence review & recommendations ~ Getting a life ~ National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health ~ Mental Health, The Last Workplace Taboo ~ Depression Alliance ~ NICE:  Promoting mental wellbeing at work ~ Working together for better mental health ~ Helping Youth with Mental Health Needs Avoid Transition Cliffs: Lessons from Pioneering Transition Programs ~ Transitioning Youth with Mental Health Needs to Meaningful Employment and Independent Living ~ CQC:  Small groups but often with bigger problems  (Third item) 

MoD:  Unless one has faced the dangers of bullets & IEDs, it is difficult to ‘understand’ - To mark the Army's mental health campaign 'Don't Bottle It Up' and World Mental Health Day, a senior non-commissioned officer reveals her battle with depression and the support that helped her recovery.  Fearless & chatty, Staff Sergeant Vicky Charnock brims with confidence, but it wasn't always that way.

In 2009, she was diagnosed with depression:  "I didn't really notice the signs and symptoms for what they were," she admits.  "I had been physically ill and had been having problems - I hadn't been sleeping well and was in the grip of low mood, low appetite and tearfulness - but I didn't recognise it for what it was."
Press release & links ~ Related press release ~ DH VMH press release ~ Rethink Mental Illness ~ Combat Stress ~ Management of Mental Health in Veterans: The role of the Third Sector Charity Combat Stress ~ Reserves' Mental Health Programme ~ BIG: Forces in Mind Trust ~ Factsheet: Medical Assessment Programme ~ Post-traumatic stress disorder ~ Shedding light on mental health in the forces ~ Across the Wire: Veterans, Mental Health, and Vulnerability ~ DH:  For some the real problems start after the ‘safe’ return home (First item)

HL: Not having a ‘home’ is depressing enough - As homelessness rises in the UK, 70% of people who are homeless report having one or more mental health need.  However, a third of them say they lack the support they need to address their mental health. 

Homeless Link marked this year’s World Mental Health Day and World Homeless Day (Monday 10 Oct) with the launch of their Homelessness, Mental Health & Wellbeing Guide.

Press release ~ Homelessness, mental health & wellbeing guide ~ Homeless Link:  Mental health policy context ~ Mental health and well-being project in London ~ Mental Health – SNAP survey ~ ‘Worrying times ahead’ for homeless in England ~ 4 facts, 4 questions about the future of Supporting People ~ The Escape Plan ~ "The homeless who slide down rubbish chute to their beds..." ~ www.150voices.com ~ Providence Row ~ Homeless Pages ~ CRASH ~ Crisis ~ HL:  2010 manifesto to end homelessness ~ Move on ~ Barnardo's Moving On Project ~ Homeless UK – Moving On

CQC:  This is getting as repetitive as the inquiries into deaths of battered children – The Care Quality Commission has published a report into the standards of care that older people receive in hospital – and calls for a system-wide response to combat the failings identified.

This report summarises the findings of 100 unannounced inspections of NHS acute hospitals which took place between March & June 2011, looking at whether the essential standards of dignity & nutrition were being met on wards caring for older people.  More than 50% of the hospitals needed to do more to ensure that they were meeting people’s needs – with 20% failing to meet essential standards required by law.

Press release ~ DANI National report ~ Individual inspection reports ~ CQC warns James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that it is still failing to meet the nutritional needs of people in its care ~ NHS – Confed:  The ‘shocking’ thing is that we even need to have a commission to look into the issue (Scroll down to 5th item) ~ WAG:  Will the watchdog just ‘bark’ or will it also ‘bite’ hospitals that fail to care? (Scroll down to 5th item) ~ Eating Well in Hospital - what you should expect ~ Hospital Catering and Patient Nutrition ~ King’s Fund:  Patient-centred care ~ Dignity in Care Network

nef:  We should be supporting the method which gives the best net gains - Allocating fish quota & funds across the fleet without any social & environmental criteria is costing the economy, environment & society, according to a new report from independent think-tank nef (the new economics foundation).

Current allocation of fish quota & funds across the fleet fails to deliver ‘best value to society’ with some cases delivering negative value. The report, Value slipping through the net, reveals the inefficiency of a system which rewards those who underperform in social, economic & environmental terms and punishes those that generate more societal benefits.  

The report compares two types of fishinggillnets & trawlers – in terms of value created for society in terms of net revenues, employment, subsidies, discards, and GHG emissions. It found:

* For every tonne of cod landed, trawlers delivered negative value ranging from -£116 for the smallest trawlers to almost -£2,000 for the largest, while Gillnets, on the other hand, generated a net +£865 of value

* The largest trawlers received direct subsidies of £219/tonne of cod landed while gillnets received £38

Press release & links ~ Value slipping through the net'Sea fisheries: steps to sustainability' - report ~ Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) ~ Profitable Futures for Fishing ~ MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing ~ Fish on line

EU News:  Agricultural still (cap)tures virtually half of EU funds - The European Commission has presented a draft reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period after 2013.  This draft ‘aims to strengthen the competitiveness, sustainability and permanence of agriculture throughout the EU in order to secure for European citizens a healthy and high-quality source of food, preserve the environment and develop rural areas’.

Press release & links ~ ScotGov comment

AUK:  Clicking for gold! - As the country gears up for a year of celebrating its Olympic champions, Age UK is looking for a different kind of Champion for 2012.  They are calling on all computer connoisseurs aged over 55 to enter their search to become 1 of 2 Internet Champions of the Year.  They will act as an inspiration to the 5.7m people over 65 who have never used the internet before to get online.  

Press release & links

RoSPA:  Safer to forget Greenwich Mean Time? - With the dark nights drawing in, RoSPA has been recently urging the public to put a stop to daylight robbery; with the launch of an online poll.  For decades, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has been at the forefront of a crusade to give the an extra hour of evening daylight - citing research that shows lighter nights would save 80 lives and prevent more than 200 serious injuries on our roads each year.  The survey result will be revealed on 26 October 2011.

Press release & links
 

Free Seminar: Asset and Waste Management in the Public Sector - 17th November 2011, Broadway House, Westminster, London - The Disposal Services Authority is running a free seminar in Westminster for those responsible for waste management and disposals in the public sector. The event will address the financial and environmental costs of disposal; identify what is waste and what is an asset; and share ideas on realising income from seemingly valueless items.

Speakers at this event include:
Dr. Dominic Hogg, Technical advisor at two House of Commons Inquiries into waste, he has been serving as an ex-officio advisor to Defra’s New Technologies Programme since before its commencement.

The seminar programme will include:
 

• Identifying assets from waste
• Compliance and Security
• Audit
• Sustainability through procurement
   

Free enrolment to Public Sector delegates only – very limited capacity.

Click here to find out more and to register.

 

Case Studies: NHS Trusts Deliver Cost-Efficiencies, Improved Productivity and Sustainable Healthcare - Recent research has shown that IT departments spend up to a third of their time responding to printer-related problems. This is a huge, but largely undocumented, cost associated with unreliable devices, and one which is compounded by the loss in productivity.
 

The following NHS organisations have recently achieved measurable, high impact cost savings, productivity gains, and waste reduction:

*   Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust
*   Avon and Wiltshire mental health partnership NHS Trust
*   Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
 

Click here to receive all 3 of the above case studies

 

Please note that previously published newsletters can be accessed from the Newsletter Archive

Date Posted
17/10/2011
Business IT Support by: Trusted IT