WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Helping guard against a return to pre-antibiotic medical care
In support of European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) and the newly announced World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW), Public Health England are encouraging people to join over 17,000 Antibiotic Guardians, taking a personal action to fight antibiotic resistance.  The campaign urges members of the public & healthcare professionals to take action in helping to slow antibiotic resistance and ensure our antibiotics work now & in the future.
Researched Links:

DH/PHE:  Make your pledge today & join over 17,000 Antibiotic Guardians

ScotGov:  Tackling antibiotic resistance

NHS England:  Antimicrobial resistance: a real threat to the future of healthcare

The threat posed by antibiotic resistant bacteria is all too real

There is some hope then!

Still time to ‘save the world’

ESPAUR report reveals continued rise in antibiotic resistant infections

Patients Association’s response to report on antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

More research needed on procalcitonin tests for diagnosing bacterial infection says NICE in guidance

Social scientists needed to solve the problem of antibiotic overuse

Not enough evidence to recommend routine use of new tests to help identify cause of sepsis says NICE in draft guidance

Patients Association:  Changing behaviour to reduce antimicrobial resistance

NICE publish draft guidelines aimed at changing behaviour to reduce antimicrobial resistance

Patient safety alert – addressing antimicrobial resistance through implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship programme

Royal College of GPs response to new NICE guidelines on antibiotics prescribing

Fighting infection: NICE tackles overuse of antibiotics

Safeguarding our defences against disease: NICE sets out approaches to stop infections developing resistance to antimicrobial medicines

 

Take part in our Public Sector Digital Performance Management Survey for your chance to win a £100 Amazon voucher!

The public sector is beginning to realise that mobile and web apps have the power to transform public sector service delivery, yet the Application Performance Management (APM) strategy of many Public Sector organisations has not kept pace. 

With this in mind, this quick survey has been designed to measure the current state of public sector organisations’ understanding of APM and to determine where improvements (if any) can be made.

The survey should take less than 2 minutes to complete and closes on the 16th December 2015 when all completed surveys will be entered into a free prize draw for £100 Amazon voucher.

Click here to start the survey now.

 
They do a 4-year Masters Degree (MPharm) + 1 year preregistration training
More than 7m patients will soon have access to expert advice from a clinical pharmacist when they visit their GP, thanks to the expansion of a new scheme to fund, recruit & employ pharmacists in local practices.  Recruitment of pharmacists for the 3-year initiative will begin immediately, giving patients the additional support of an expert pharmacist in their GP surgery from Spring 2016.  Examples of the benefits patients can expect include extra help to manage long-term conditions, specific advice for those with multiple medications and more access to clinical advice on treatments.
Researched Links:

NHS England:  More than 400 pharmacists to be recruited to GP surgeries by next year

WAG investment to make care home prescribing safer

But what about the ‘Digitally un-empowered’?

New £15m scheme to give patients pharmacist support in GP surgeries

‘Choose Pharmacy’ pilot ‘shows potential’ in improving access to local health services, report finds

NHS Confed:  New campaign urges people to seek treatment earlier

Community Pharmacy Discharge Medicine Service to continue

Choose pharmacy for common ailments

 
An alternative destination for doctors ‘seeking a better life’?
Wales’s Health Minister is encouraging junior doctors to “come & train, live & work in Wales”.  Junior doctors are currently deciding where to apply for speciality training places, including Core Medical training & GP trainees. Potential applicants include those in their F2 year, people returning to training and some overseas recruits who will be due to select core training places over the next 3 weeks.  As part of a targeted campaign, ‘Make your future part of our future’, the Minister has released a video message explaining why Wales is a great place to be a junior doctor.
WAG:  Wales’ Health Minister says to junior doctors: “make your future part of our future here in Wales”
 
Cover-ups in ‘bad practice’ lead to repeated mistakes in NHS treatments

People working in the NHS who raise concerns about poor quality care will receive more support under plans revealed by the national NHS bodies.  The national whistleblowing policy, drawn up by Monitor, the NHS TDA and NHS England, aims to improve services for patients and the working environment for staff across the health sector by improving how the service learns from whistleblowing.

The proposals, (to be adopted by NHS organisations after the consultation), detail who can raise concerns, how they should go about doing so, and how organisations should respond. The policy also sets out a commitment to listen to staff, learn lessons from mistakes and to properly investigate concerns when they are reported.

Researched Links:

Monitor:  Patients, staff and NHS organisations to have their say on first national whistleblowing policy

Should the attempted ‘silencing’ (especially in public sector organisations) of Whistle-blowers become a legal offence?

ScotGov:  Support for NHS whistleblowers

 
Supplier Locator: November update…

Many of WiredGov’s stakeholder departments within Central Government have been working hard to deliver on the Government’s pledge that 25% of all direct and indirect central government spend should be with SMEs by 2015 but there is still a great deal more work to be done.

Against this backdrop, our Supplier Locator service has been developed specifically to embrace the SME Agenda and provide the ideal platform for SME’s to promote their services, solutions, accreditation and success stories directly to our ever increasing audience across all government and public sector verticals and Tier 1 suppliers.The most recent arrivals to the Supplier Locator include:

DAC Group

Function Fixers

DIEGESIS

SPSC (UK) Ltd

Click here to find out how to register your company with the Supplier Locator.

 
Less haste, more care, fewer fines
Details of 2,000+ residents published online, a £70,000 penalty and an ‘extremely sorry’ local council.  That was the result of Islington Council being a little more transparent than it had intended, providing a freedom of information requestor with spreadsheets they didn’t realise included sensitive personal data.  That’s prompted the guidance the ICO has recently published: How to disclose information safelyremoving personal data from information requests & datasets.

ICO:  ‘Now you don’t see it, now you do’ – the dangers of hidden data

ICO:  How to disclose information safely – removing personal data from information requests and datasets

 
Everyone is a photo-journalist now
Research shows that social media is changing the way we relate to terror – both the attacks themselves and their aftermath.  Attacks are having more widespread and longer-lasting impacts.  The ubiquity of smartphones means that terror attacks can almost be followed in real-time.  One of the people trapped in the Bataclan concert venue during the Paris attacks described what was happening and pleaded for rescue.  Impacts of terrorist attacks on people & communities are becoming more widespread & longer-lasting – creating a need for management strategies encompassing different agencies that address the longer-term community impacts.
Researched Links:

ESRC:  Terror and the impact of social media

Reuters Institute Digital News Report

BBC Academy:  Journalism - Smartphone journalism: Audio

5 ways journalists can use smartphones for reporting

 
Online scammers trying to ‘land’ unsuspecting ‘catch’
Some customers have recently received fake or ‘phishing’ emails claiming to be requisitions or replies to requisitions from Land Registry.  Bogus emails often have an attachment containing a computer virus.  All genuine requisition emails come from a Land Registry office email ending in .gov.uk (e.g. Durham.Office@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk).  Phishing emails are sent from other addresses;  (e.g. Durham.OfficeMail [mailto:nick@officemaile.com)
Researched Links:

Land Registry:  Fake emails claiming to be from Land Registry

Land Registry:  MapSearch wins Digital Award at Civil Service Award

Land Registry:  Changes to warning of cancellation letters

 
All we have to do is ‘flick a switch’

About 90% of refugees living in camps have no access to electricity and many lack any form of lighting at night, says a Chatham House report for the Moving Energy Initiative.   Energy poverty in refugee settlements is not on the radar of international initiatives and humanitarian agencies are ill-equipped to deal with the scale of need.

Heat Light and Power for Refugees: Saving Lives, Reducing Costs zooms in on the energy needs of refugees & displaced people worldwide: “The problem goes beyond electricity. 80% of those in camps rely on firewood for cooking and, as a result, we estimate that some 20,000 people die prematurely each year due to the pollution from indoor fires.  Exposure to extremes of cold & heat are also killers for people living in flimsy, temporary shelter,” says Glada Lahn, senior research fellow at Chatham House.

Chatham House:  First ever global analysis of refugees’ energy use - High costs & poor supply undermine humanitarian assistance

Moving Energy Initiative

 
No longer a ‘Death Sentence’
Public Health England has launched a nationally available HIVkit for testing those at higher-risk, alongside new funding for innovative HIV prevention projects.  People at higher-risk of HIV are being encouraged to take the simple finger prick blood sample for National HIV Testing Week.  Improved treatment for HIV means those diagnosed early can have a life expectancy almost matching that of people who are HIV free.  PHE figures show an estimated 103,700 people in the UK were living with HIV in 2014, with around 17% (18,100) unaware & at risk of unknowingly passing on the virus to others.

DH:  Free HIV home sampling launched to increase HIV testing

HIV Testing Week

 

 More contributions to the UK constitutional debate

More news, opinions, documents, claims & counter-claims;

Researched Links:

PC&PE:  Report sets out new programme of engagement

DECC sets out & consults on strategy for UK Continental Shelf

DECC:  New direction for UK energy policy

 
Please choose from the links below to view individual sections of interest:

There's a brief flurry of interest when the government publishes its ranking of local areas in England by level of deprivation. Will the league leader be a down-at-heel seaside town or an inner-city stalwart? But, Mary O'Hara argues in her column last week, there are a few more things worth mentioning – not least that the ranking is based on data from 2012 and 2013, before the cuts started to be truly felt.
That local authorities celebrated #OurDay yesterday was a reminder of our councils' resilience, but this week's spending review may yet impose a level of austerity few will be able to cope with.

More from #OurDay
What do councils achieve each day? Share your pictures

What do councils achieve each day? Share your pictures
As council staff take to Twitter to celebrate their work, we'd like to see your images of local public services

How to use Twitter to tell the best stories about your council

How to use Twitter to tell the best stories about your council
From investigating a noisy cockerel to putting on a Zumba class, councils have a lot to shout about

Also on the network
Real treasure in the Treasury? Tell us what you'd do as Whitehall's captain

Real treasure in the Treasury? Tell us what you'd do as Whitehall's captain
We’re asking students what they'd do as civil service head – like the first female top boss and a pay rise

What are credit unions and how can they beat payday lenders?

What are credit unions and how can they beat payday lenders?
They may not have the advertising capacity of lenders like Wonga, but credit unions are a growing movement

Cities must scale up their ambitions for devolution to work

Cities must scale up their ambitions for devolution to work
First devolution deals are a good start, but have been too tentative. It’s time for cities to step on the gas

News in brief
• Liverpool and West Midlands sign devolution deals with central government
• Andy Burnham said police cuts above 5% would 'put public safety at risk'
• More security spending unveiled by George Osborne in wake of Paris attacks
• Spending Review: DWP among seven departments to settle with the Treasury
• Welsh government in drive to recruit junior doctors from England
From our partner, Cities Changing Diabetes
Expert perspectives from the Cities Changing Diabetes summit

Expert perspectives from the Cities Changing Diabetes summit
At the Cities Changing Diabetes summit, we asked experts about the challenge of urban diabetes