Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
DH: The NHS National Leadership Council has launched The Healthy NHS Board: Principles for Good Governance, highlighting the critical role boards play in ensuring that quality, centred on patient safety, effective care & patient experience, is at the heart of the NHS.
Good governance is essential for the NHS and the guidance explains clearly what this means for health organisations and their boards. Boards have 3 key roles – to formulate strategy, ensure accountability and shape a positive culture for their organisation.
Press release ~ The Healthy NHS Board: Principles for Good Governance ~ NHS National Leadership Council
BIS: Continued learning can have an overwhelmingly positive impact on older people’s health, confidence and dramatically improve their quality of life. This was the main finding of Enhancing Informal Adult Learning for Older People in Care Settings - a BIS Learning Revolution project involving older learners across.
Press release ~ Enhancing Informal Adult Learning for Older People in Care Settings ~ The Learning Revolution ~ Government Office for Science report: Mental Capital and Wellbeing ~ National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE)
HL: Homeless Link has designed guidance to help local areas to tackle the issue of older people living inappropriately in temporary accommodation or precariously housed and to share examples of where local authorities & providers have been addressing the needs of this group.
The guidance is aimed at commissioners of housing and support services for homeless people & commissioners of longer term housing care & support for older people. It is also aimed at providers of services in the homeless sector looking to move on older people from hostels and providers of retirement housing addressing the needs of a client group that may be unfamiliar and different to their traditional client group.
Press release ~ Guidance
NICE: Public health guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published last week focuses specifically on school-based methods to prevent children & young people from starting to smoke.
Research shows that children who start smoking before the age of 16 find it harder to quit and are twice as likely to continue to smoke as those who begin later in life – and are more likely to be heavier smokers. Recommendations include encouraging pupils to lead smoking prevention activities and integrating discussions on the effects of tobacco use across a range of curriculum topics.
Press release ~ Guidance ~ NHS Stop Smoking Services
NICE: Final guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published last week means that another drug - certolizumab pegol (Cimzia) - can be considered for some people in England & Wales
NICE’s decision to recommend the drug follows its request to the manufacturer, UCB Pharma, for more information on the drug’s clinical and cost-effectiveness. The manufacturer (UCB Pharma) will also provide the first 12 weeks of certolizumab pegol free for all patients starting treatment through a patient access scheme agreed with the Department of Health. The NHS will now have 3 months to being implementing this new guidance.
Press release ~ Guidance
NICE: New guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) week aims to reinforce the safety of donor breast milk by making recommendations to maintain high standards of practice in specialist milk banks in the UK.
New mothers can choose to donate their breast milk to one of 17 main dedicated milk banks. It can then be used by hospitals that request it. This new guideline serves as a practical guide to the effective running of these services. It makes a series of recommendations designed to promote consistent standards of practice across the country and ensure the safety of donor breast milk.
Press release ~ Guidance ~ Milk Banks
NICE: New guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) will give a specific group of cancer patients access to a new drug on the NHS which could help extend their lives. The guidance recommends trabectedin (Yondelis) for the treatment of certain patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma.
This recommendation was made possible after the drug manufacturer, PharmaMar, agreed to meet the costs of the drug for any treatment needed beyond the fifth cycle of treatment. The NHS will now have 3 months to being implementing this new guidance.
Press release ~ Trabectedin for the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma
