Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
NICE claims that providing stop smoking support in the workplace will not only help employees who smoke to quit, but will also help employers & employees stay the right side of the new laws. As a healthier, smokefree workforce means increased productivity, providing stop smoking support makes good business sense for employers.
Press release ~ NICE Workplace Smoking Guidance ~ Stop smoking start living ~ Smokefre e Public Places ~ Your business, your rubbish and the law ~ Quit smoking start living - How do I go Smokefree? ~ DH - Smoking
NICE: New guidelines launched by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are set to tackle the continuing problem of potentially life-threatening venous thromboembolism (deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism) in patients who have undergone surgery.
The guideline, produced for NICE by the National Collaborating Centre for Acute Care (NCC-AC) highlights thatdeep vein thrombosis (DVT) occurs in over 20% of surgical patients and over 40% of patients undergoing major orthopaedic surgery.
Press release ~ NICE guidance: Venous thromboembolism ~ National Collaborating Centre for Acute Care (NCC-AC) ~ DH Venous Thromboembolism – Other Key Documents
NICE: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued an amendment to the guidelines on the management of depression and anxiety in primary & secondary care. The guidance, originally published in December 2004, has been updated following safety advice issued by the MHRA on the prescription of venlafaxine, but does not cover other areas where new evidence may be available. The Institute expects to make a decision on a full update of both guidelines later in 2007.
The main changes to the anxiety guideline are on the use of pharmacological therapy and the considerations that need to be made before prescribing venlafaxine if appropriate.
The main changes to the depression guideline are on the use of antidepressants especially in patients with cardiovascular disease and the special considerations that need to be taken into account when switching treatment to venlafaxine.
Press release ~ Anxiety guidance ~ Depression Guidance ~ Me dicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) ~ Mind press article ~ NICE: Computerised cognitive behaviour therapy for depression and anxiety - Review of Technology Appraisal 51 ~ DH – Mental Health ~ Rethink ~ Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health ~ Useful Links
Sport England: Last week, Sport England launched Active Design, a new approach to getting local communities out of their armchairs and involved in sport. Active Design gives practical, easy-to-use guidance and information to town planners, urban designers and architects on how to put sport and opportunities to get active at the heart of new developments.
Drawing on best practice in master planning and urban design, Sport England’s Active Design provides advice on how opportunities for sport and active travel (walking & cycling) can be maximised through the design and layout of new building developments, open spaces and sports facilities.
Press release ~ Active Design (4.6Mb) ~ Sport England ~ Everyday Sport ~ Active Places ~ Sporting Champions ~ CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment)
DH: Health Minister Andy Burnham has published new guidance to help health bodies and practitioners deliver high quality convenient care closer to people's homes. The government claims that, by shifting services in this way, patients will wait less time and have shorter journeys for treatment, as well as having a greater choice & convenience about when and where they are treated.
The guidance, Implementing care closer to home - convenient quality care for patients, provides practical support to NHS commissioners for the provision of more specialised services delivered by PwSIs, including:
- an introduction to shifting services into the community;
- a step by step guide on the issues for consideration when redesigning patient care using PwSIs, and
- a new nationally recognised accreditation process for GPs and Pharmacists with special interests
Press release ~ NHS - Practitioners with Special Interests (PwSIs) ~ BMA - GP - Providing healthcare closer to home ~ Manchester event ~ Birmingham event ~ DH - PwSI ~ Pharmacists with special interests page ~ Royal College of General Practitioners ~ Implementing care closer to home - providing convenient quality care for patients: A national framework for Pharmacists with Special Interests
NAO: The National Audit Office has launched a web-based toolkit of good practice on communicating with the public for government organisations to use when assessing their work – See ‘General Reports and other publications’ for more details
