Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
ScotGov: Scotland's Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer have urged people to follow a few simple tips and take some basic precautions to prevent bugs spreading (including Norovirus) to protect more vulnerable friends & family. This includes the very young, the elderly, the sick along with people in hospitals and care homes.
HPA: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) together with the group A streptococcal (GAS) Working Group has launched new guidelines for the investigation, control & prevention of GAS infection in acute healthcare settings, including maternity units, in the UK.
NICE: From 11 January 2012, doctors will have new advice on the drugs they should prescribe their patients who have epilepsy. This comes as the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the healthcare guidance body, updates the pharmacological recommendations from its clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of the condition.
The guideline has been revised to fully incorporate newer anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) which have emerged in UK clinical practice since the original guidance was published in 2004.
FSA: The Food Standards Agency has produced a factsheet to help people who have an intolerance to gluten understand a new food labelling law, which came into force on 1 January 2012. Gluten (a protein found in cereals) intolerance is a serious illness that can result in damage to the digestive system so foods are not absorbed properly, which can lead to poor growth, anaemia and bone disease.
The Agency has also provided a factsheet for caterers on how to provide information to customers on the new rules. This will assist caterers and those in the hospitality industry to understand the new descriptions.
