Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
DCSF: The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, has issued guidance (see press release) regarding swine flu and children & young people with health conditions.
Press release ~ Health Protection Agency (HPA): Swine Flu ~ HPA: Guidance for children with special needs
FSA: The Food Standards Agency has joined forces with the Good Food Channel to produce a new cooking show, Family Supercooks, which began airing last week. In each programme two families will compete to produce the best family meal, with the ultimate aim of winning the title of 'Britain's Best Cooking Family'.
As the competition progresses, the winning families will face different cooking challenges based on real-life situations. For example, in the semis families will have to design & cook food that reflects the seasons, while in the final 3 families will have to produce a family feast.
The Agency, which part-funded the series, has provided the show with nutrition advice on the contestants' recipes. During the programmes, presenters Amanda Lamb & Paul Merrett will give tips on making meals healthier.
DH: A new single technical guidance website for providers of healthcare facilities has been announced by the Department of Health and the 3 other UK health organisations – Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for Northern Ireland, Health Facilities Scotland and Welsh Health Estates.
The new website ‘Space for Health’, linked to the DH’s website, will bring together a whole suite of guidance (including Health Technical Memoranda, Health Building Notes and other information) into one online resource for all those involved in the procurement, management, design & planning of healthcare facilities, including NHS & non NHS providers.
Users will be able to seamlessly shift between different pieces of guidance, and will be able to access nation-specific information, depending on whether their project is in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. ‘Space for Health’ will replace the current system, the Knowledge and Information Portal..
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published final guidance recommending the use of prasugrel in combination with aspirin as an option for preventing blood clots in the arteries of people with acute coronary syndromes.
Acute coronary syndromes refers to a group of heart problems which occur due to narrowed coronary arteries. These heart problems cause chest pain, and specific types of heart attack. Prasugrel is a drug that can reduce or prevent the formation of blood clots in arteries by reducing the clumping together of platelets in the blood.
Press release ~ Prasugrel for the treatment of acute coronary syndromes with percutaneous coronary intervention
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published final guidance recommending the use of topotecan in combination with cisplatin as a treatment option for women with recurrent or stage IVB cervical cancer who have not previously received cisplatin.
Topotecan prevents DNA replication in cancer cells by inhibiting the enzyme topoisomerase I which helps to separate & repair the DNA in cells when they divide.
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on the treatment & management of depression in adults. This new guideline updates previous NICE guidance on depression (CG23) issued in 2004.
Depression is a common condition. It affects nearly 1 in 6 people in the UK at some point in their lives. Depression may have no obvious cause, or it can be set off for a variety of reasons (such as physical illness, or difficult things that happened in the past or may be happening now, like bereavement, family problems or unemployment).
This guideline, produced for NICE by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, makes recommendations on the identification, treatment & management of depression in adults in both primary and secondary care.
Press release ~ Depression: the treatment and management of depression in adults (update) ~ National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
Directgov: As the UCAS deadline looms on 15 January 2010, the Government offers advice to thousands of students applying for a place at university. To help students make these important decisions, Directgov has set up dedicated support pages to help students with their choices and to take the pain out of the process.
DCSF: Dawn Primarolo, minister for Children, Young People and Families, has announced 3 new pilot projects to help up to 5m mums, dads, carers & grandparents get important parenting information support & guidance:
* beGrand.net - A new web-service to give grandparents a voice
* Parenting On Demand - Development & syndication of online videos designed to support parents/carers of children aged 5-19
*Relate for Parents – A new relationship support service from Relate
These latest additions to the services of the Parent Know How Innovation Fund will launch in January 2010 (& running until March 2011) and will join a range of other telephone helpline & innovative services available to mums, dads, carers & grandparents to ensure that wherever they look for information, they receive coherent advice from respected sources.
Press release ~ Parent Know How Innovation Fund ~ Parent Know How Telephone Helplines and Innovation Strands Evaluation
CLG: A new Information Toolkit to help employers boost their businesses by releasing staff to be on-call firefighters, has been announced by Fire Minister Shahid Malik, in response to comments from local employers around the country that they would welcome more information about the role of on-call firefighters - also known as retained firefighters.
Benefits to employers include staff trained in & with experience of:
* First aid & trauma care
* Risk assessment and health & safety training
* Leadership skills & team work
* Self-discipline, commitment & motivation
* Specialist skills such as heavy goods vehicle driving
DH: New advice on storing breast milk and the best medicines to take during pregnancy are some of the updates the Department of Health has made to its Pregnancy and Birth to Five books, re-launched last week.
The books have been a vital source of information for mums-to-be and new parents for over 10 years, offering the latest information on issues that matter to them. The books will be given free to all expectant women and new parents by their midwives and health visitors.
Press release ~ The Pregnancy Book 2009 ~ Birth to Five (2009 edition) ~ DH – Children and Maternity
DfT: Thousands of workers at UK ports are set to benefit from higher safety standards with the launch of an updated Port Marine Safety Code. The revised Code - and the accompanying Guide to Good Practice - are designed to promote safety amongst the 54,000 people who work in ports around the country through greater transparency of roles, responsibilities and legal obligations for the industry.
The Code applies to all UK ports that have statutory powers & duties. Its purpose is to improve the safety of marine operations and to establish clear national standards of compliance for all harbour authorities. Ministers have agreed that the DfT and MCA should retain ownership of the Code, but that the ports industry (led by the UK Major Ports Group and the British Ports Association) would become directly responsible for owning & maintaining the Guide.
FSA: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has begun regulating banks’ & building societies’ day-to-day contact with their customers (as from 1 November 2009), covering everything from direct debits, payments, instant access & savings accounts, through to unauthorised transactions and notification of interest rate changes. New guides for consumers on bank accounts & credit cards are available on Moneymadeclear.
Areas of retail banking which fall outside the FSA’s remit (such as overdrafts & credit card lending) will continue to be regulated by the Office of Fair Trading under the Consumer Credit Act.
Press release ~ The Banking Conduct of Business Policy Statement ~ Payment Services Regulations ~ Bank accounts ~ Credit cards
LLUK: If you work in the further education sector, it's important that you understand how harnessing the potential of technology will help your learners develop the skills they need to work in the 21st century. Lifelong Learning UK has produced a series of guides to help those working in the sector to apply the use of technology in their professional practice.
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