Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
DCMS: The Government and the Church of England has published 'Churches and FaithBuildings: Realising the Potential', to help churches and other faith groups find resources to make their buildings more sustainable by enhancing the facilities & services they offer to local communities. The paper announces no new funding. Rather, it outlines some existing or planned sources of funding that faith groups could access.
The paper proposes a range of actions to help faith groups engage effectively in local and regional agendas, it outlines some resources that might help to make church & faith buildings more user-friendly as part of wider community activities and it proposes ways in which providers of funding & policy makers might better understand what faith groups bring to community.
Press release ~ 'Churches and Faith Buildings: Realising the Potential' ~ Faith Communities Consultative Council ~ Heritage Link
WAG: A new guide, called - ‘Support when you need it’ - has been launched to help people & families deal with the impacts of the recession. The bilingual leaflet is available online on the Welsh Assembly Government website as part of the ‘Leading Wales Out of Recession’ campaign.
The guide provides details of organisations offering support and other initiatives on money, work, health & well being, and lifestyle. Among other things it covers information about credit unions, benefits, the ReAct programme, mental health, free swimming and volunteering.
Press release ~ Support when you need it ~ Redundancy Action Scheme (ReAct) ~ ‘Leading Wales Out of Recession’
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued final guidance recommending the use of sunitinib as a first-line treatment option for people with advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma, who are suitable for immunotherapy and who are well enough to tolerate the treatment.
The guidance has been developed on the understanding that the currently available treatment for advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma is immunotherapy (namely interferon-alfa and interleukin).
Press release ~ Sunitinib for the first-line treatment of advanced and/or metastatic renal cell carcinoma
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance on managing long-term sickness absence and incapacity for work. It is estimated that in Britain the annual costs of sickness absence and worklessness associated with ill health is over £100bn.
The recommendations in the guidance are aimed at all those who have a role in managing long-term sickness absence & incapacity. This includes all employers, employees, managers, workplace representatives, trade unions & professionals, as well as the health service,
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued updated guidance on the best way to treat & manage adults with schizophrenia in primary and secondary care. New recommendations include treatment with arts therapy and tailoring treatment for disadvantaged groups.
The guideline also updates NICE guidance on the use of newer (atypical) antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia. NICE technology appraisal guidance 43 (2002).
Press release ~ Core interventions in the treatment and management of schizophrenia in primary and secondary care (update) ~ NICE technology appraisal guidance 43 (2002)
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance that sets out to improve the quality of care patients receive during their recovery & rehabilitation after critical illness. Approximately 110,000 people spend time in critical care units in England & Wales each year, the majority survive to be discharged home.
For many patients recovery after critical illness is relatively straightforward but, for others, discharge from critical care is the start of an uncertain journey to recovery characterised by problems such as, weakness, loss of energy & physical difficulties, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress (PTS) phenomena and, for some, a loss of mental faculty.
Family members become informal caregivers, and this itself can exert an additional toll of ill-health and a strain on family relationships & financial security.
This guideline outlines the assessments & care patients should receive in hospital following a critical illness and the rehabilitation goals that will help patients recover to take part in usual daily activities as much and as rapidly as possible following discharge.
Ofsted: Ofsted has published 2 good practice reports for college courses, which take a look at good practice in colleges in hospitality & catering and hairdressing & beauty therapy. The surveys focus on effective teaching and the celebration of learners’ success. The role of college commercial premises in honing students’ technical & client care skills in a business environment is also highlighted.
Press release ~ Identifying good practice: a survey of college provision in hairdressing and beauty therapy report ~ Identifying good practice: a survey of college provision in hospitality and catering report
ScotGov: A working group reviewing the national guidance for child protection practitioners - with representative from CoSLA, ADSW, ADES, ACPOS, SCRA, HMIE, SWIA, NHS and Child Protection Committees - first met last month. It will report regularly to Ministers over 2009.
