Things in the Library - September

RSV Research

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are, along with the pharmaceutical company Sanofi, conducting a study called the Harmonie study looking at how well a one-off injection protects babies from RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). Children up to 12 months of age and entering their first RSV season, will be given Nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody. RSV is a leading cause of hospital admittance for infants, and this will be the biggest study looking to look at this preventative drug.

Polio

Polio has been found in sewage in London, as well as in New York and Israel. Read this BBC explainer to find out what polio is, how it is spread, and how it has been discovered again.

Health Inequalities in England

The Health Foundation have published a study showing that people living in the most deprived parts of England are diagnosed with serious illness earlier and die sooner than their peers in more affluent areas. They used linked hospital and primary care data to examine socioeconomic, regional and ethnic variations in the prevalence of diagnosed long-term illnesses including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, and mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. This was especially true of people with Pakistani, Bangladeshi and black Caribbean backgrounds.

Whole-Genome Sequencing for Newborn Babies

The Lancet reports on the UK Newborn Genomes Programme, which was created by Genomics England to oversee plans to undertake whole-genome sequencing of up to 200 000 newborn babies. Working with the NHS, they will start recruiting in 2023, examining whether screening healthy babies for arange of rare genetic conditions could improve outcomes. The requirement for screening is that it should only be done if there is strong evidence that the selected variant causes a condition that takes hold in childhood, would adversely affect the child's health or wellbeing if left untreated, and for which there are effective and accessible interventions or treatments available.

Harmful Sexual Behaviour

NSPCC Learning has released the latest blog from the why language matters series. This blog looks at harmful sexual behaviour (HSB), the importance of focusing on a child’s actions rather than labelling them as an abuser, and the impact language can have on professionals’ perceptions and a child’s self-identity.  

Children's Social Care

The Children's Society have written a blog which explains what children's social care is in a simple, engaging way. They want to highlight how cuts local authorities and under-investment in children's services over the last decade have led to children and young people being more likely to suffer abuse, neglect or exploitation inside and outside the home. 

Things to do in Sheffield in September

Sheffield Ghost Walk

Get spooky early this year with Strange Sheffield Ghost Walk, which is happening on the 2nd and 16th September. There will be spooky stories, ghostly encounters and plenty of strange tales with a good dose of local history too. Adult tickets cost £7.50 (over 14s), under 14s tickets are £5 - children can attend at their parents' discretion. If you're in South Sheffield you can also check out the Graves Park Ghost Walk - Bunting Nook by the side of the Park is said to be Sheffield's most haunted place.

Sheffield Showcase

There is heaps going on in the first weekend in September to highlight the masses of cultural activity that takes place in Sheffield. It'll feature film screenings, music performances, art exhibits, family-friendly workshops, and more. Try circus tricks, community gardening or go and see some jazz. There is something for everyone - check out the programme here. 

Recipe of the month

'Tis the season for bramble picking. If you don't scoff them all as soon as you've picked them, you can put your blackberries in a pie, which is what I hope to be doing soon - I might skip the latticing though!

Things in the library 16 July...

Things to search...

Training sessions can be booked on how to conduct a search for evidence using HDAS (Healthcare Databases Advanced Search) accessed via the NICE website.  These sessions and other training we offer can be booked on a 1:1 basis using our Book a Librarian Form (currently conducted via Microsoft Teams).

Another place to search - particularly for guidelines - is TRIP Medical Database. Their new website has launched and if you access via an NHS network you should automatically get access to the Pro version. To help you with the new site there is a brief overview video and a key to the results page.

Things about Looked After Children...

The Nuffield Foundation has published findings from a study carried out by researchers at University College London and Kings College London looking at the health and social outcomes of people who have been in care in England and Wales. The study of data from census reports on 353,601 people, including 5,681 who spent time in care as children, found that there were large social, economic and health inequalities in adulthood for people who spent time in care as children.

Ofsted has launched a survey aimed at young people who are currently preparing to leave care, and care leavers aged 16 and over. The survey asks questions about the planning, preparation and support young people are given when leaving care, to help Ofsted improve its inspections. If you are aware of anyone who might like to participate in this, the deadline for submissions is 23 July 2021.

Things about RSV... 

This RCPCH free webinar, presented on 29 June 2021, was convened to support paediatricians and other child health professionals with managing bronchiolitis and other respiratory viruses this year. It looked at how to manage patient flow, ‘keeping patients safe and pathways open’, covered recognition, management and discharge, and signposted to resources for parents.

Things about Randomised Coffee Trials...

Thank you for those who have sent in feedback - some of the comments are listed below - and to the one person who's chat didn't go so well we are truly sorry you had this experience. We hope that you will have better luck next time as we do expect that people joining in with these chats will do so with kindness, friendliness and in the spirit of mutual discovery and support.

it was lovely finding out about another role in the hospital and how support can be offered in so many different forms.

a positive experience and lovely person

I enjoy meeting new people in this context. It is always interesting.

Thank you for providing this opportunity.  Although it's nice to meet in person, having them virtually has enabled me to participate more and arrange meetings more easily as I don't work at Weston Bank.

It was great to take the time to meet a colleague and learn about their experiences of working in the Trust, and life more widely too. 

I really enjoyed the chat, was nice to learn about other areas of workings within the hospital.  My match was lovely!

Love this project and always excited to meet my partner each time. 

Adorable chat with x  

The next RCT will be in the Autumn but you can sign up in advance if you wish (if you have signed up before and asked to be kept on the list there is no need to fill in the form again). We don't know if/when face-to-face meetings will become the norm, however we will keep the virtual option for those who prefer that (particularly those based at home or working away from the Acute site).

Things to eat... 

Amazingly our first grandchild will be one year old next week....what a year it has been. We are hosting her birthday party (mainly for adults) and are sure to feature one of our favourite buffet salads from Delia - Pesto Rice Salad - always popular and very easy to prepare in advance.

Things not happening...

Due to the aforementioned birthday I will be taking Annual Leave next Friday, so I am sorry that there will be no blog next week.... I will be untangling the bunting and making the house child-proof!

Have a lovely weekend everyone

Things in the library 25th June...

 Things back in the library... 

(C) Gill Kaye 2021

Me!  After a wonderful break in Cornwall and calling in on friends and relations along the way - with frequent lateral flow tests! It was wonderful to be welcomed to Cornwall by a fly past from the Red Arrows 30 mins after we had arrived...right over head...as this view from our chalet shows! 

Things about young people with cancer...

Teenage Cancer Trust has revealed recently that more than a third of young cancer patients who felt they needed it, have had no, or reduced access to a psychologist in the six months prior to being surveyed, due to inadequate access in parts of the UK. The ‘#NotOK: Filling the gaps in mental health support for young people with cancer’ report, published today to mark the launch of the charity’s #NotOK campaign, also highlights the frustrations of psychologists who feel like they are ‘firefighting’ due to the high demand on ‘limited resource’. 87% of psychologists surveyed think current national provisions for specialist psychological support for teenagers and young adults with cancer is insufficient to meet their specific needs. Teenage Cancer Trust warns that young cancer patients could face depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions well into their adult lives unless UK Governments provide protected funding for high quality support that is available from the point of diagnosis.

Things about fathers... 

The Fatherhood Institute published a report 'Lockdown Fathers: the untold story'.

Their recommendations include:

During lockdowns fathers in the UK almost doubled the time they had been spending on childcare, grew in confidence, learned new skills and built stronger relationships with their babies and children.

All children should benefit, in learning and love, from the support that time with a confident, well-supported dad can bring. As we build back from this pandemic, we owe it to them to make this happen.

Fathers want to keep contributing, but shift patterns dictated to them at the last minute, long commutes, and long and inflexible working hours can get in the way. 

Following on from this is their campaign ‘Time with Dad’ to preserve the ‘lockdown positives’ of fathers spending more time with their children and supporting their learning, development and education. They want the UK to build back from the pandemic in ways that take account of fathers’ importance – and the limits on their time. They are looking for employers, schools, dads, mums, anyone who shares their vision, and might be interested in helping them turn it into a reality.

Things about air quality... 

Ambient air pollution is produced by sources including traffic, coal-fired power plants, hydraulic fracturing, agricultural production, and forest fires. It consists of primary pollutants generated by combustion and secondary pollutants formed in the atmosphere from precursor gases. Air pollution causes and exacerbates climate change, and climate change worsens health effects of air pollution. Infants and children are uniquely sensitive to air pollution, because their organs are developing and they have higher air per body weight intake. Health effects linked to air pollution include not only exacerbations of respiratory diseases but also reduced lung function development and increased asthma incidence. Additional outcomes of concern include preterm birth, low birth weight, neurodevelopmental disorders, IQ loss, pediatric cancers, and increased risks for adult chronic diseases.  This policy (from the American Academy of Pediatrics and available to you with an NHS Athens login) reviews both short- and long-term health consequences of ambient air pollution, especially in relation to developmental exposures. 

Things about fever... 

In the press today is news that Emergency departments across the UK are seeing very high numbers of young children for this time of the year because of a rise in infections usually seen in the winter.  RCPCH, RECM and RCGP are issuing advice for parents and carers concerned about fever in their child. One emergency paediatrician described the situation as “winter in June”. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has heard from paediatric emergency medicine doctors around the country describing pressures on their emergency department (ED) from an increase in children being brought in with mild fever by anxious parents. Many parents have not seen fever in their child – particularly if they were born during lockdown – and are taking them to A&E rather than seeking help at pharmacies, their GP, NHS 111 or online.

Things about mental health... 

Children and young people will benefit from a cash injection to mental health services which includes addressing the increasing demand for the treatment of eating disorders. An extra £40 million has been allocated to address the COVID impact on children and young people’s mental health and enhance services across the country. One way the additional money will be spent is to support ensuring the right type of beds are in the right places, or that alternatives to admission are in place, supporting parts of the country that have more challenges in their range of bed capacity. Across the country £10 million capital funding is being used to provide extra beds at units which provide care for young people with the most complex needs, including eating disorders, as well as £1.5 million to ensure there are additional facilities for children under 13. This funding is on top of £79 million made available by the government to support children and young people’s mental health in the community, including via increased access to crisis and eating disorder services, and new mental health support teams being rolled out – by April 2023, there will be around 400 teams covering 35% of the country.

Things to visit... 

It is great to be able to visit galleries again so I am looking forward to seeing Sheffield-born John Hoyland, one of Britain’s leading abstract artists, in this new exhibition opening at the Millennium Gallery. John Hoyland is renowned for his bold use of colour and inventive forms. In a career spanning over 50 years, his tireless innovation pushed the boundaries of abstract painting and cemented his reputation as one of the most inventive British artists of the 20th century. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of his passing, John Hoyland: The Last Paintings brings together large-scale canvases, some of which have never been publicly displayed before, made during the last eight years of the artist’s life. Sat 3 Jul - Sun 10 Oct 2021 Millennium Gallery. 

Things fishy...

On our one venture into St Ives (predictably they had a COVID outbreak following the G7 summit) we ate in a wonderful little restaurant recommended on one of Rick Stein's programmes. All the fish we ate in Cornwall was wonderful, of course, so today my recipe is  Hake in a Chorizo, Tomato & Olive Sauce.

Things in the library 6th Sept...

Things about blindness...
A revolutionary new gene therapy which restores sight will be provided by the NHS, chief executive Simon Stevens has announced this week. Babies born with inherited retinal dystrophies disorder have poor sight which swiftly deteriorates, with most losing their vision completely in childhood. Until now no treatment has been available.
The life-changing treatment for children and adults – voretigene neparvovec – is the first in a new generation of gene therapies that can be directly administered to patients, in this case through an injection.

Things about respiratory health...

Public Health England have issued a report on respiratory diseases in the Yorkshire and the Humber population, highlighting examples of good practice and opportunities for improvement in both primary prevention and disease management. Respiratory diseases can have a substantial impact on quality of life and are responsible for 13.6% of all deaths in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Mental health in paediatric primary care...
The pediatric primary care setting is ideal for addressing children's and adolescents' mental health needs. As a result of extensive training in health promotion, consultation, assessment, and treatment of psychological disorders, psychologists are uniquely positioned to support primary care pediatricians in this endeavor. This paper 'I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends' provides a review of models of psychology interventions in pediatric primary care including: care delivery, scope of practice, implementation and recent research. It concludes with a case example and recommendations.

Things about work life balance...
Published in Acta Pediatrica is this progress report 'The Evolving Educational Challenge: Balancing Patient Numbers, Conference Attendance, Sleep and Resident Wellness.' which although written from an American perspective may well be of interest.

Things to attend...

The Brit Rock Film Tour 2019 World Premier takes place at 19.30 at the Pennine Lecture Theatre, Sheffield Hallam University, S1 2LW on 24th October 2019. With introductions by the filmmakers and climbers, free stuff, a chance to meet the rock stars and a film maker Q&A. It has all the best new climbing films from the UK’s top adventure filmmakers, featuring some of the country’s most popular climbers. Climbing Blind is a  60 mins documentary directed and produced by Alastair Lee, in association with Montane. Jesse Dufton was born with 20% central vision. At four years of age Jesse was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa: a rare genetic disease that breaks down the retinas’ cells. At aged 20 Jesse could no longer read, by the time he was 30 his vision was reduced to just light perception with around 1 or 2 % field of view. A life long climber, Jesse can more than hold his own, both lead-climbing classic routes that would challenge fully sighted climbers with his sight guide and fiancee Molly, to competing in world cup events (4th in 2019).  As his sight degenerates his climbing continues to make remarkable progress. Despite his condition, Jesse only takes on bigger challenges by attempting to be the first blind person to make a ‘non-sight’ lead of the iconic Old Man of Hoy sea stack in Scotland.

Things about health inequalities...

Inequities have a profound impact on the health and development of children globally. While inequities are greatest in the world's poorest countries, even in rich nations poorer children have poorer health and developmental outcomes. From birth through childhood to adolescence, morbidity, mortality, growth and development are socially determined, resulting in the most disadvantaged having the highest risk of poor health outcomes. Inequities in childhood impact across the life course. This article in BMJ Paediatrics Open discusses these issues.

Things about street food...
Sheffield Students Union Street Food Market will be taking place just down the road from the Acute SCH site on 26 September from 17:30 till 22:30








Things about automation...
This graphic from the Health Foundation is about which health care jobs are the most likely to be affected by automation? The automation of work will impact the future labour market.

• Office for National Statistics (ONS) analysis suggests that 7.4% of jobs in England are at high risk of automation (defined as 70% chance of being automated). 
• The ONS analysis estimates that medical practitioners have an 18% probability of automation, compared to over 50% probability for care workers and home carers.
• However there is optimism about opportunities technology could bring too, such as creating new roles. There are also limits to the tasks that technology can perform—human skills, intelligence and perception are likely to be of enduring value.

An item I won't be telling my mother-in-law... about given her lifelong phobia about robots.

Coffee opportunities...
Don't forget to sign up for the two Randomised Coffee trials available for SCH staff. One for all staff in October and one for those attending the SCH Clinical Summit.
More things about coffee...
I am not really a cake maker but for the evening reception of my son's wedding recently I was asked to make a coffee cake. It was well received (thanks Mary Berry) so I pass on the recipe...sunflowers optional...they were to match the bride's bouquet! I used more butter icing than stated in order to cover the sides as well. On the hottest August bank holiday fortunately the venue was air-conditioned otherwise both I and the cake might have melted!

Things in the Library 13 July

Things to report..

Our usual blogger is in Croatia but judging by her photos is not intending to watch the World Cup final in a bar with the locals! This stunning picture, taken by Gill is of Solta, an island near Split.


Things that could save lives..

Improving communication between paramedics, prehospital critical care teams and emergency staff could “enhance” the care and wellbeing of critically ill or injured patients, according to UK studies. Researchers from the University of Stirling found that improving the accuracy and quality of patient information during handovers yielded positive results. The researchers studies are published in the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine and BMC Emergency Medicine.
Things to spend..
The King’s Fund has published a ‘long-read’ The NHS 10-year plan: how should the extra funding be spent?  Following the announcement of additional NHS funding, this article discusses the opportunities to tackle the issues that matter most to patients and communities and to improve health and care.  It covers learning from the past, improving productivity, priorities for a 10 year plan, improving population health, a new deal with the public, funding and reform of social care, and securing the future workforce.

Vulnerable things...

Over two million children in England are growing up in families where there are serious risks, major study from Children’s Commissioner reveals. The report, “The Children’s Commissioner’s 2018 Report into Childhood Vulnerability”, estimates that 2.1 million of England’s 11.8 million children – one in six – are living in families with risks so serious that they need some level of help. The study also warns that for 1.6 million of those vulnerable children, the support is effectively ‘invisible’ – we don’t know if they are actually getting any coordinated help, despite the difficulties they are growing up with. Some of the risks these children face include parents with mental health problems or parents who are alcoholics or have substance abuse problems.

Respiratory things..
Pediatric Pulmonology, Asthma, and Sleep Medicine A Quick Reference Guide.
Starting with the signs, symptoms, and conditions most commonly encountered in primary pulmonary care, the book provides advice for appropriate testing, treatment plans, and common complications for which to watch.  Available for library members to borrow from the Illingworth Library 






Croatian things to eat..
Soparnik is a usually savoury pie with a filling of Swiss chard though kale can be used. It is the most famous speciality of the dalmatian region Poljica between Split and Omiš. It is a very simple dish made from common ingredients from the region: Chard with onions and parsley between two layers of simplest dough. Among the numerous local variations there are also sweet ones, for example with nuts, dried fruits or caramel.

I do not know if Gill will have tried this but you can make it by following this recipe . The page also links to a recipe for flatbread stuffed with caramelised vegetables and goat's cheese.