Friday 14 June 2019

Things in the library 14 June...

Things about journal club...
The next journal club will be on Thursday 20 June  2019 8am to 9am, in the Education and Skills Centre, F Floor, Stephenson Wing.
Paper: Prescribing emergency oral steroids in asthma clinics (please email us for a copy of the paper)
Journal Club is open to all health professionals and is a fun, informal way of learning to criticise papers and gather evidence to change practice. At each meeting a speaker presents a critical appraisal of a research paper, using a recognised appraisal tool such as CASP. Group members then have an informal discussion to determine whether or not current practice should be altered in light of the presenter's finding. Muffins available.

Things about the book sale...
There are still some excellent older editions to be bought from our book sale. This is a link to the current up-dated list of what is available. If you have a library membership then we can send you items and charge to your account if you wish.




Things about making connections...
I spotted this item about the benefit of talking to strangers . On a similar theme
we are getting excellent feedback from our last Randomised Coffee Trial. It was 100% positive experience for those that responded to survey and managed to meet their partners.  Some quotes below

"It was a lovely experience especially as I am new to the trust. I want one every month!"

"Really enjoyed meeting my 3rd person on randomised coffee trial.  A great way to get to know things about folk you may pass in corridors, but not necessarily have opportunity to talk to.  Continues for me to be a positive experience!!"

"I found the experience very rewarding"

"I would not have been likely to have the same sort of supportive chat with this colleague in the absence of the RCT, but it was a very positive experience and boosted us both, I think."

"Really lovely experience 🙂"

"can I meet someone I don't know next time? "  [Sadly I don't know who you know - if you contact me I will see what I can do!]

"great way of networking"

"It was a great opportunity to meet a colleague and learn about their work.  I look forward to doing it again!  Thank you for organising."

Things about public health...
Many interventions that are delivered within public health services have little evidence of effect. Evaluating interventions that are being delivered as a part of usual practice offers opportunities to improve the evidence base of public health. However, such evaluation is challenging and requires the integration of research into system-wide practice. The Born in Bradford’s Better Start experimental birth cohort offers an opportunity to efficiently evaluate multiple complex community interventions to improve the health, wellbeing and development of children aged 0–3 years. Based on the learning from this programme, this paper offers a pragmatic and practical guide to researchers, public health commissioners and service providers to enable them to integrate research into their everyday practice, thus enabling relevant and robust evaluations within a complex and changing system.

Things about children's cancer services...
NHS England has launched a 60-day consultation to seek views on proposed changes to children's cancer services. These are used by children aged between 0 and 16. In some cases, and with the agreement of Teenage and Young Adult's Cancer Services, they may also treat teenagers up to the age of 18.
The aim of the service specifications is to improve the outcomes and experience of children and young people with cancer.
This consultation guide sets out:

  • How care is currently provided.
  • The proposed changes and reasons for these.
  • How the proposed changes will be implemented.


The consultation will run from Wednesday 5 June until Sunday 4 August

Things about migration...

The fourth Migration Matters Festival starts today, running until Saturday 22 June to coincide with Refugee Week 2019. The festival will be headlined by the multi-talented Benjamin Zephaniah and The Revolutionary Minds, alongside the likes of Lowkey, Seyed Ali Jaberi Hamdel Ensemble, Wiyaala and Angelina Abel.

Things about Sure Start...
Sure Start has had a turbulent history. The programme was first introduced in 1999 as Sure Start Local Programmes, targeted at highly disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Five years later, the 10-Year Strategy for Childcare called for ‘a children’s centre in every community’, transforming the initiative into a universal service. At its peak in 2009–10, Sure Start accounted for £1.8 billion of public spending (in 2018–19 prices), about a third of overall spending on programmes for the under-5s. But in the decade since, the context has been one of funding cuts, consolidation and centre closures, with funding falling by two-thirds to £600 million in 2017–18.  In this report, The Institute of Fiscal Studies consider the overall impacts on health of the Sure Start programme as a whole between its inception in 1999 and its peak in the late 2000s. Their focus on health outcomes is motivated by the fact that, while Sure Start’s services were multifaceted and varied between centres and over time, one of its objectives was to improve children’s health.

Things to make...
With Father's day on Sunday I thought you might like to see some baked gifts that children can make (for anyone of course not just dads!) there is a nice selection here






















Friday 7 June 2019

Things in the library 7th June...

Cover artThings about the NHS App...
The NHS App went into the Apple App and Google Play stores on Monday 31 December, with a web based version due to launch in the coming months.
During testing between September and December, NHS England and NHS Digital teams listened to feedback from patients and practice staff and used this to make improvements to the app and plan the national rollout. Changes included improving the online registration process, how GP appointment information is presented, and changes to the information patients see before accessing their GP medical record.

The app is now being rolled out across England, with individual GP practices needing to review some of their system settings before they can go live and all the functions of the NHS App will be available. These actions and the gradual rollout will ensure patients have the best possible user experience of the app.
When the GP practice is connected patients will be able to use the NHS App to:

  • book and manage appointments at their GP practice
  • order their repeat prescriptions
  • securely view their GP medical record
  • check their symptoms using NHS 111 online and the health A-Z on the NHS website
  • register as an organ donor
  • choose whether the NHS uses their data for research and planning

Until the GP practice is online patients will be able to use the NHS App to check their symptoms using NHS 111 online and the health A-Z on the NHS website.
Most practices will go live between April and June 2019, [I just checked and no Sheffield GPs on yet] the NHS App was expected to be fully rolled out to practices and patients by 1 July 2019 so I don't know if that is still the target. It's not getting great reviews on the App stores at the moment but its something you might need to know about.

Things about opening hours...
We always try to stay open for our core hours of 8:45 - 17:00 Mon - Fri but over the summer there will be occasions when we cannot open in the 17:00 to 19:00 (Mon - Thurs) time slot due to staff holidays. if you are planning to come to the library in the evening do give us a ring to check to avoid a wasted journey. In the next couple of weeks we will be closing at 17:00 on the following days:
Thurs 13 June, Mon 17 June, Wed 19 June,  Mon 24 June, Wed 26 June.

Things to read...
If you are going on your summer holidays don't forget we have a good selection of leisure reading books available for you to loan - fiction and non-fiction. We have just finished reading Stephen Fry's 'Mythos' at our reading group and out next book is Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult discussed at our meeting on July 3rd at 17:15 (drinks and nibbles provided).
 "The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage. Jodie Picoult is one of the most fearless writers of our time—and tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate and conversation." [Goodreads website]

Things about social media...
ScHARR are running a short 1 day course on 27th June "An Introduction to Using Social Media to Communicate Research" the aim of the workshop is to offer an introduction to the many tools you can use to help you communicate research and work smarter. The purpose of the day is to help attendees come away with a variety of tools and artefacts they can use to help communicate and share their work. They will teach you basics of social media in an academic setting and demystify some of the barriers that may have put you off from using these tools in your work.

Things about self-harm...
In the news this week an increasing number of people, especially girls and young women, are turning to self-harm to cope with painful feelings. The full study can be read in The Lancet Psychiatry The following points are made on the NHS behind the headlines site :
 "...the study has some limitations. The overall number reporting self-harm, especially in the 2000 survey, is fairly low (65 men and 105 women in 2000), which means the results may not be an accurate picture of the overall population level of self-harm. Also, although the same questions were asked in each survey, people's understanding of self-harm is likely to have changed since 2000. 
People may be more likely to report self-harm, or see certain acts as self-harm, than they were when the survey began. Also, we do not know whether the people who declined to take part in the survey were more or less likely to have self-harmed than those who did participate. We also crucially do not know how often people were engaging in self-harm. Because they were asked if they'd ever self-harmed, we do not know whether they were reporting a single event or an ongoing pattern of behaviour. Previous studies of self-harm have focused on people who were in contact with medical services as a result of self-harm. As the study discovered, more than half of people who self-harm do not seek help, so this study improves our knowledge of the scale of the problem. Despite its limitations, the study seems to have found a worrying increase in self-harm, especially among young women."

Things to eat...
Classic ratatouilleI rather feel I should be posting salad and cooling drink recipes but with the rain lashing down outside and a colleague off on a UK holiday (always a sign of impending rain) I feel more like hunkering down with something warm and comforting! How about a slow classic ratatouille from Jamie Oliver served with some crusty bread, couscous or rice?