Things in the library 28 April...

Things about emergency care...
Quality Watch published a report this week 'Emergency hospital care for  children and young people'. This QualityWatch Focus On looks at children and young people’s use of hospitals, with particular reference to emergency admissions during the 10-year period from 2006/07 to 2015/16. They conclude:
" This report has shown that the previously growing pressures on emergency hospital care from
increasing use by children and young people continue but not at the same rate of increase as before. While the small selection of indicators we looked at suggest that emergency hospital care quality has been maintained, of potential concern is the increase in A&E attendances and emergency admissions in the last few years, coupled with worrying trends for specific conditions and age groups.
Hospital emergency care may be appropriate for many children and young people but there are also those who may, with appropriate support, be safely cared for outside an emergency care setting. This report has identified potential areaswhere improvements in care outside the hospital emergency care setting may lead to reductions in A&E attendances and emergency admissions. However, if there are insufficient resources and alternatives to the emergency hospital care setting or other weak links in the system, it may become difficult to reduce hospital emergency care activity and improve quality of care for children and young people."

Things about young people's health...
The Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH) works closely with policymakers, young people, practitioners and researchers to promote awareness about young people’s health needs. In this update 'Young People’s Health - where are we up to?' they set out the latest policy and practice debates, recent data on trends, and recommendations for ‘where next’. Their key messages are:

• Many trends in health behaviours and health outcomes for young people are going in a positive direction, but there are also some more worrying indicators. 
• We are particularly concerned about the implications of new substance use behaviours; relatively high rates of sexually transmitted infections; the lack of a reduction in obesity; helping young people manage long term conditions and warning signs that mental health problems may be increasing.
• Although it is important to raise the profile of particular health conditions, we argue that we need more effort now on cross-cutting themes in young people’s health
• These themes include the overlap between physical and mental health; promoting young people’s health in existing outcomes frameworks; understanding the role of adverse childhood experiences; promoting youth friendly health services; ensuring the most vulnerable young people have equal access to health services; and maximising the importance of the education setting for health promotion.

Things for us oldies...

You may have seen the media reporting that physical exercise is a promising intervention to prevent or delay cognitive decline in individuals aged 50 years and older...but if you want to read the actual review article you can find it here 'Exercise interventions for cognitive function in adults older than 50: a systematic review with meta-analysis'

Things about sexual abuse...

'Making Noise' film on YouTube puts the focus on children and young people’s voices for positive change after sexual abuse. It is a project produced by The International Centre, University of Bedfordshire, in collaboration with the NSPCC. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner commissioned the original report. Read the full report at https://www.beds.ac.uk/making-noise

Things about sugar...
The NHS is stepping up its campaign against obesity, diabetes and tooth decay by announcing that sugary drinks will be banned in hospital shops beginning from next year unless suppliers voluntarily take action to cut their sales over the next twelve months. WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Greggs, the SUBWAY(r) brand, Medirest, ISS and the Royal Voluntary Service are the leading suppliers who have pledged to cut sales. Remaining retailers are now being urged to join them. By April 2018 hospitals must make further efforts, including:

• 60 per cent of confectionery and sweets stocked do not exceed 250 kcal, rising to 80 per cent of confectionery and sweets in 2018/19.
• 60 per cent of pre-packed sandwiches and other savoury pre-packed meals to contain 400 kcal or less per serving and do not exceed five grams of saturated fat per 100g, moving to 75 per cent in 2018/19.

Things about precision medicine...

Children with Cancer UK,  is providing £1.5m funding to advance Precision Medicine in the UK, and make this field of treatment a reality for children and young adults diagnosed with cancer. 

Not generally available on the NHS, the ambition is to get Precision Medicine off the ground in the UK so it can be adopted nationally, available for every young cancer patient who would otherwise face less effective, more toxic treatment. This includes:

• Improved treatments for high-risk cancers with extremely poor survival rates
• The reduction of the long-term adverse impact of aggressive treatments
• Better understanding of the causes of cancer in children and young people
• The integration of advanced genetic technologies directly into clinical practice

Precision Medicine is an emerging approach to disease treatment and prevention and takes into account individual variations in genes, environment and lifestyle. Precision therapies target specific changes in individual patients’ tumour DNA, allowing for more effective treatments while reducing toxic side effects. It has huge potential to improve cure rates and reduce the burden of toxicity on young cancer patients through better targeted chemotherapy, introducing advances in immunotherapy and using other evolving technologies.

Things about workplace well-being...
There is strong and growing evidence that work and health and wellbeing are closely and strongly linked and need to be addressed together. In June 2014, Public Health England (PHE) published a set of national standards for workplace health for the first time — the Workplace Wellbeing Charter which was developed with the charity Health@Work and Liverpool County Council and was based on their scheme and others from around the country.
This study 'Workplace Wellbeing CharterAnalysis of take-up and impact' investigates the take-up and impact of the WWC, maps available data on the number of organisations accredited with the Charter across England and provides insights into a diverse range of organisations that have invested in the well-being of staff in their workplaces.

Things about reading & refreshments...
The first meeting of our Reading Group will take place on Wednesday 3 May at 17:15 in the library for any SCH staff or parents of long-term patients - at this first meeting we will be choosing the books that we will be reading as we meet the first Wednesday of every month. Come along or contact us for further details.

Things to make...
Kate's choice this week 'Rhubarb & custard cake' which sounds easy and delicious.

Things in the library 21 April...

Things about fussy eating...
Fussy/picky eating – i.e. consistently avoiding certain foods – is common in childhood and can be worrisome for parents. Repeated exposure to various flavors as occurs in breastmilk and early exposure to complementary feeding may increase food acceptance and thereby decrease fussy eating. This study examines the associations between infant feeding and child fussy eating in 4779 participants of Generation R, a Dutch population-based cohort.  Results suggest that breastfeeding does not predict fussy eating. However, introducing vegetables into a child's diet before 5 months might be protective against fussy eating, although future research should account for parents' own fussy eating.

Things about growth & development...
This article "Postnatal growth in term infants born small for gestational age is associated with later neurocognitive and metabolic outcomes" systematically reviewed papers published in English between 1994 and October 2015 on how postnatal weight gain and growth affects neurodevelopment and metabolic outcomes in term-born small for gestational age (SGA) infants. Two randomised trials reported that enriched infant formulas that promoted early growth also increased fat mass, lean mass and blood pressure, but had no effect on early neurocognitive outcomes. Meanwhile, 31 observational studies reported consistent positive associations between postnatal weight gain and growth with neurocognitive outcomes, adiposity, insulin resistance and blood pressure. They concluded that few intervention studies exist, despite consistent positive associations between early growth and neurocognition in term-born SGA infants.

Things about social media...
A discussion paper entitled "Social Media Use and Children's Wellbeing" from University of Sheffield authors was shared on SSRN (SSRN is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of research and is composed of a number of specialised research networks.) This research explores the effect of children's digital social networking on their subjective wellbeing. Using a large representative sample of 10-15 year olds over the period 2010 to 2014 from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, and estimating the effect of time spent chatting on social websites on a number of outcomes which reflect how these children feel about different aspects of their life, specifically: school work; appearance; family; friends; school attended; and life as a whole. Their results suggest that spending more time on social networks reduces the satisfaction that children feel with all aspects of their lives, except for their friendships; and that girls suffer more adverse effects than boys. As well as addressing policy makers' concerns about the effects of digital technology on children, this work also contributes to wider debates about the socioeconomic consequences of the internet and digital technologies more generally, a debate which to date has largely been based on evidence from outside of the UK.

Things about Case Reviews...
The National Guardian's Office (NGO) will launch a twelve month trial of its new case review process on 22 May. The case review will commend areas of good practice, where NHS staff have been supported to raise concerns. It will also provide where evidence of where inappropriate practice is found and recommendations to help foster a positive change in speaking up culture. After the twelve month trial period, the case review process will be reviewed and any necessary changes and improvements will be made. Information on how to submit a case for review will shortly be available on the National Guardian’s Office web pages. You can download a draft summary  of how the case review process will work or view the feedback received so far.

Bristol Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) has published the report of the serious case review (SCR) into the death of a new mother and her four-day-old daughter. Key issues include: professionals lost focus on the unborn child, and appeared more focused on the needs of the mother who had mental health problems; professionals felt intimidated by an unpredictable and hostile service user, and became less confident in using their skills and expertise; the range of individual services working with pregnant women with mental ill-health made it difficult to coordinate multi-organisational working.

Things about adolescent health...
This study 'Educational Attainment at Age 10–11 Years Predicts Health Risk Behaviors and Injury Risk During Adolescence'  is based on life course theory, whereby low-educated individuals are exposed to cumulative disadvantage through socioeconomic adversity, chronic stress, and poor health lifestyles and environments, among other mechanisms. All those factors manifest over the long term and culminate in poorer health in late life. It was designed to contribute to this literature by examining the effect of educational attainment on adolescent health, using injury rates as a proxy for risk-taking behaviors. It concludes that "Interventions aimed at children with declining attainment in primary school could help to improve adolescent health."

Things about sleep...
The Sleep Copuncil's website has many interesting resources to help you get a better night's sleep. Including some 'nodcasts' for you to download they asked more than 2,000 people what sounds helped them to de-stress/get to sleep. Among the top answers were the sounds of birdsong, rain, thunder and lightning, waves and wind. So they have reproduced those sounds  for you to listen to whenever you need a soothing sound to help you off to sleep.

Something zingy...
Perhaps not the meal to eat just before bedtime but this Hot-smoked salmon salad with a chilli lemon dressing is lovely and fresh for spring after all the Easter chocolate, simnel cakes and hot-cross buns.

Things in the library 7 April..

Things to read...
Our SCH Reading Group will be launching on Wed 3rd  May and the plan is to meet at 17:15 (5.15pm) on the first Wednesday of each month in the Illingworth Library. It will be an informal discussion of the books that we have read and if you are interested in coming along please email the library.

Things about medical training...
A new review from the GMC  'Adapting for the future' identifies five problems that create barriers to more flexible postgraduate UK medical training arrangements. These barriers result in training that is rigid, slow to adapt, and fixated with time and tick boxes.
They say"We will respond by taking specific actions, together with others, to realise our ambition for more transparency across specialties about outcomes. We want trainees to have clarity and confidence in what it will mean for them if they switch specialties. Equivalent training between related specialties will be recognised. This will improve efficiency by allowing doctors to transfer their skills more easily and to avoid repeating training. Patients and health services will benefit from having doctors who can care for patients with conditions that cross specialty and subspecialty boundaries." 


Things about child mental health...
Delivering mental health transformation for all children : Findings from engagement with the children and young people’s voluntary sector in Autumn 2016. this report has been published by the national Children's Bureau and  focuses on progress and challenges in improving children and young people’s mental health services in England, particularly for minority or vulnerable groups. It is based on the views of 49 professionals working with children and young people, primarily from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE).

Things for us to buy...

We will be sending off an order for new books soon so if you know of any resources that you think it would be useful for us to buy (books or e-books) then please contact us with your suggestions. If you are not sure what we already have access to then please check out our library catalogue on the internet. Don't forget there are also thousands of e-books that you can browse without charge for a few minutes and then request purchase if you think they would be a useful resource.

Things about preterm infants...

(c)https://www.massagemag.com/research-exclusive-massage-
improves-growth-quality-among-male-preterm-infants-12532/

A recent review article has looked at the evidence for the beneficial effects of massage on pre-term infants. The article reviews published randomized controlled trials on the effects of massage in preterm infants. Most studies evaluating the effect of massage in weight gain in premature infants suggest a positive effect on weight gain. Increase in vagal tone has been reported in infants who receive massage and has been suggested as a possible mechanism for improved weight gain. More studies are needed on the underlying mechanisms of the effects of massage therapy on weight gain in preterm infants. While some trials suggest improvements in developmental scores, decreased stress behavior, positive effects on immune system, improved pain tolerance and earlier discharge from the hospital, the number of such studies is small and further evidence is needed.

Things about Easter...
No blog next week as the library will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday and we will be closing at 5 pm the rest of that week.
If you don't like fruit cakes and so won't be making a  traditional Simnel cake then what about this Mary Berry alternative Cardamom and white chocolate sponge