Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides

NICEEnsuring mothers are aware of the health benefits of breastfeeding, reducing the risk sudden of death syndrome, and assessing women for postnatal depression are among measures services can take to improve the quality of postnatal care, according to NICE.
 
However, complications do occur and certain women, such as those with poor support networks or those who have developed a postnatal health problem, may be vulnerable to harmful outcomes. Around 1 in 8 report being highly critical of the care they received and cite insensitivity, inconsistent care and lack of emotional support due to too few home visits as reasons. 

To standardise & improve the quality of care provided, NICE has produced a postnatal care quality standard, which contains 11 statements to support the measurable improvement of services.
Press release & links
 
RoSPARoSPA research shows that at least 26 children have been killed on, or near, the driveway of their homes since 2001.  17 of these accidents have occurred since 2007 and, tragically, in most cases, an adult member of the child’s family, a neighbour or a visitor was driving the vehicle.  These cases are devastating for all those involved.  
 
RoSPA has produced advice on reversing, parking & other car safety issues as part of its Child on the Drive! campaign, which launched late last year.  Anyone wanting FREE Child on the Drive! advice leaflets & posters can download or order them from RoSPA’s driveway safety web section.
Press release & links
 
Defra: The cyclists at the Olympic Velodrome may have broken records, but great gains were also taking place off the track.  A resource-efficient approach to construction of the Velodrome led to £1.5m savings from the cable-net roof design alone, requiring about 1,000 tonnes less steel and embodied carbon savings of over 27%.
 
To ensure the lessons learnt from the Games can be applied to new projects, Defra has developed a Sustainable Procurement for Construction Projects guide, which pulls together the key lessons on procuring sustainable buildings & infrastructure, and contains key case studies about the Velodrome and low carbon concrete.  It also includes links to other material about sustainable procurement at London 2012.
Press release & links
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