Draft guidance from NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) outlines what the best palliative care for children looks like.
It emphasises the need for infants, children and young people to be treated as individuals and highlights the importance of children and their families being involved in decisions about care.
Comparing children to themselves over time, we provide evidence that increases in county-level unemployment are associated with increased overweight/obesity risk. Given that overweight among children with lower economic resources remains a challenge for public health, these findings highlight the importance of policy-level approaches, which aim to mitigate the impact of decreased resources as economic conditions change. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
This strategy looks at how to improve services, support and advice for care leavers. It makes recommendations for local and national government, and wider sectors of society.
Information and analysis on early intervention policies aimed at parents and children from conception to age five, covering health, education, social development and financial benefits. This paper also looks at broader arguments around early intervention as a policy approach.
Children in England suffering from a rare form of muscular dystrophy should soon be able to access the only drug for their condition after a ground-breaking agreement was reached between NHS England and the manufacturer.
Come and visit our first pop-up library at Severn Fields, Shrewsbury 19th July 11.00am-3.00pm. Join the library, borrow and return books, get help finding information and evidence, set up an Athens account, find out what the library can do for you and your team.
CHILDREN OFTEN SERVE THEIR OWN 'hidden sentences' when a parent goes to prison. These children often experience very negative impacts on their emotional and social wellbeing and may receive no voluntary or statutory support. Highly skilled in empathy and engagement, community practitioners such as health visitors and school nurses can play a crucial role in identifying and safeguarding this potentially vulnerable group of children. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
The ‘Healthy Little Eaters’ programme is a targeted intervention funded by Brent Council and delivered by dietitians from Brent Community Services, London North West Healthcare NHS Trust. The programme is set in Children’s Centers across Brent and aims to improve health and wellbeing of children under five and their families. It is delivered over eight to ten weeks, each week focusing on a different nutrition and eating topic where parents learn about: reducing sugar and salt; foods for bone health; label reading; importance of fruit and vegetables; fussy eating and weaning.
We compared the outcomes of manual and motorized instrumented ankle spasticity assessments in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Health clinics for children in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale helped to reduce the number of visits to A&E, urgent care and GP practices during the busy winter period.
Paediatric Nurse Practitioner Clinics (PNPC), run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, ran from 31 October 2015 to 31 March 2016. During the period, nurse practitioners from the Rochdale borough Children’s Community Nursing Team saw 1,666 young people; providing assessment, treatment, advice and medication.
A new texting service to enhance the way young people can access health advice has been launched by Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s School Nursing Service.
Young people talking with a school nurse about new texting service With more and more children and young people using hand held mobile devices in their daily lives, the ChatHealth text service is an easy way for young people to confidentially ask for help about a range of issues, or make an appointment with a school nurse. They can also find out how to access other local services including emotional support or sexual health services. In pilot areas in the country such as Leicestershire already using ChatHealth, pupils have said they like using the messaging service because it is less embarrassing, quick and easy, anonymous and non-judgemental.
The large-scale research study – Healthy Start, Happy Start – has been running since July last year in Camden and Hillingdon, and also Islington and Oxfordshire.
It aims to help improve children’s development and behaviour and support families by intervening early, potentially preventing early behavioural problems.
Aims: The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to assess the effectiveness of interventions using iPad applications compared to traditional occupational therapy on visual-motor integration (VMI) in school-aged children with poor VMI skills. You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
NICE - the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – has said it will not be able to recommend Orkambi (lumacaftor-ivacaftor, Vertex Pharmaceuticals) for treating cystic fibrosis.
NICE - the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – has issued advice to parents, carers and clinicians on spotting and managing bronchiolitis – a chest infection – in babies and young children.
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust have developed a new 10 step transition pathway for children on their journey into adult health care settings.
The main aim of this study was to compare the long-term effect on glycometabolic control of eHealth intervention and traditional care in T1DM SAP-treated adolescents. In our study we demonstrated a favorable impact of monthly teleassistance on treatment compliance. Adolescents receiving frequent feedback provided by the medicalmultidisciplinary team, You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Ofsted’s third Social Care Annual Report presents a mixed picture. While performance is inadequate in too many local authorities, several demonstrate that improvement is possible – often from a low base – and are now leading the way in providing good and outstanding services for children.
The study found that viral survival was significantly less at the lower humidity – at two hours, virus survival had reduced by 99.9%. At high humidity, it took 24 hours to reduce by 99%.
Children's toys – particularly shared ones like in daycare centres and hospitals – have often been implicated in spreading infection during outbreaks. However, this study can't provide all the answers. For example, it can't inform us about the survival of other bacteria and viruses (e.g. tummy bugs spread hand-to-mouth), or whether viral survival may be the same on other surfaces.
Both BBC News and the Mail Online provided informative reports on the main findings of the study, along with a warning from the British Dental Association that, "Sports drinks are rarely a healthy choice and marketing them to the general population, and young people in particular, is grossly irresponsible. Elite athletes might have reason to use them, but for almost everyone else they represent a real risk to both their oral and their general health."
The British Soft Drinks Association responded by saying that, "Sports drinks are designed for vigorous physical activity and should be consumed in moderation. This year soft drinks firms agreed not to advertise drinks high in sugar to under-16s."
Young people in Rochdale can now get easier access to health advice thanks to a new text-messaging service.
Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale (HMR) School Nursing Service, part of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, will be launching the ChatHealth service for young people aged 11 to 19 years on 23 May.
Those who attend school in Heywood, Middleton or Rochdale, or live in the borough, can access the service by texting their concern or question to 07507330382.
ChatHealth is an award-winning initiative, developed by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which is available Monday to Friday from 9am to 4:30pm, throughout the year excluding bank holidays.
A new website has launched that provides a wealth of mental health and emotional wellbeing support to young people.
Healthy Young Minds (formerly CAMHS) provides specialist support to children and young people, as well as to their families and carers.
It’s common for young people to experience low-level mental health and emotional wellbeing issues. However, most do not need the specialist support provided by the Healthy Young Minds Service.
They simply need some advice and support to help them deal with the stresses and worries of their day-to-day lives, such as exam stress, low self-esteem, bullying and relationships.
Health visitors in Bury and Rochdale have implemented a pioneering text support service to help breastfeeding mums.
The services, which are part of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, have adopted a text messaging system called Flo which allows them to send advice and encouragement to new mums to help them feel confident feeding their baby.
The Rochdale borough service has been running for a month and feedback from mums has been overwhelmingly positive.
An exciting new text messaging service called ChatHealth has launched here in Cumbria, it allows secondary school children to text their school nurse with any issues they are having in a confidential way.
Despite the obvious challenges faced by families caring for children on home ventilation, there is surprisingly little research into the details of their daily lives. In particular, little is known about the quality of life of the child and caregiver plus the associated social and economic burdens of care. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Person centred planning is an approach and collection of tools including colourful images and text to allow professionals, parents and anyone close to the child or young person to make future plans with a them rather than having the plan done for them.
Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire is bringing together a group of parents.
We’re helping them develop the vision, confidence and skills to be equal partners in Public Health’s plans to improve the lives of local children.
The natural response to the intrusive bodily sensation is positional change. This study explored how children and young people (CYP) with intellectual disabilities had their comfort needs met when using adaptive positioning equipment. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Our case for change aims to prioritise infant mental health of babies and young children in care, bringing together a wide range of evidence from research and practice, from the UK and internationally, to help tell a compelling story about why we need to rethink our approach to infant mental health in the care system.
Design for Change equips children with the tools to be aware of the
world around them, believe that they play a role in shaping that world,
and take action toward a more desirable, sustainable future.
This is an important multi-centre study for those working in paediatrics, where guidance lags behind that in adult populations because of a lack of evidence on which to make recommendations. Possibly because of limited power and a low baseline rate, primary analyses demonstrated no significant effect in the time to first bloodstream infection however despite these limitations secondary analyses demonstrated a benefit from the use of antibiotic-impregnated catheters in reducing infection rates by over 50%.
Acute bronchiolitis is a common emergency in the first two years of life, and there is no effective treatment. The authors have identified that there is no evidence that chest physiotherapy is useful, nor is this surprising given the pathophysiology of the disease. Also, handling these sick babies may cause acute decompensation, so chest physiotherapy may actually be harmful.
The government will overhaul the way child deaths are investigated after an independent review found the Serious Case Review process was “discredited” and unfit for purpose.
Under the current system, Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards are required to undertake Serious Case Reviews when a child dies or is seriously injured and abuse or neglect is thought to be involved.
The government will replace this locally-commissioned system with a new centralised framework based on a mixture of national and local reviews. Ministers believe the new system will bring greater consistency, speed and quality to investigations.
This paper presents the results of an exploratory study linking the national data-sets for all children in need and child protection services in England. The study was informed by an emerging literature on systems thinking in public services, and aimed to examine variations and patterns of response in local authorities to demand for child welfare services in their area.
To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Commentary on study whose findings suggest higher video game use is linked with higher academic achievement and fewer conduct disorders. Commentary also covers limitations of the study.
The National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA) 2014/15, published today by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) clearly demonstrates that, overall children and young people with diabetes - the vast majority of whom have Type 1 diabetes - are achieving better control thereby reducing their lifetime risk of diabetes-associated complications such as kidney disease, blindness and amputations.
This randomised control trial suggests two behavioural approaches to remedy disturbed sleep in infants may work better than a sleep education only control group approach.
This may be true, but may also be a chance finding or affected by bias. For example, the statistical significance of some of the results was hard to interpret, as many were presented as graphs only. This means we can't be sure that some, or even many, of the differences are down to chance.
The study was also very small, with only 14 to 15 people in each of the three test conditions at the start of the study.
There were even less after three months – only seven in each group. This isn't enough to make accurate, reliable or generalisable statements about which method works best.
Current work in Cumbria involves the development and implementation of 4 Parent/Carer facing pathways (High Temperature, Constipation, Diarrhoea & Vomiting and Coughs, Colds & Breathing Difficulties) covering the conditions which result in the highest number of emergency admissions for children.
These pathways take the form of guides for parents/carers and aim to help parents/carers understand how to manage their child’s condition and explain when to seek help. The parent/carer facing pathways are available electronically via a web page, posters and in the future through inserts in Red Books given to parents prior to the birth of their child. A professional-facing sick child pathway, which addresses all four of the above conditions in a single pathway has been developed to provide clinical governance to underpin the pathway information.
The professional-facing pathway is targeted at GPs and Nurse Practitioners in Primary Care. It aims to support GPs and other referrers in assessing children who are ill and help them to decide the best course of action. The professional-facing pathway will be available to Primary Care practitioners via their electronic systems *(EMISS Web/Vision) and is supported by the Ill Child Traffic Light tool, which populates patient information and can eventually be developed to provide an electronic referral. Future plans encompass rolling the pathways out to Community Paramedics and other health care providers.
As part of completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Central Lancashire I designed a tool to be used with children and young people. This tool is a leaflet with the letters BE HAPPY on the front and corresponding words on the back to be completed with the child or young person.
Each letter covers an issue that I have found contributes to some of the difficulties young people can face and all areas are evidence based.
The Troubled Families programme works with families with multiple problems, such as unemployment, anti-social behaviour, truancy and mental health problems. It is operated at a local authority level on a payment-by-results model.
Two royal colleges have urged GPs and paediatricians to train together to boost their skills and help improve standards of care for children. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
A father’s age, alcohol use, and exposure to environmental factors have been linked by increasing research evidence to birth defects in his offspring, a review has found, suggesting that these defects result from epigenetic alterations that can potentially affect several generations. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
As part of Foster Care Fortnight, Staffordshire County Council’s fostering bus will be touring the county to encourage more foster families to come forward.
A new report showcasing how GPs are designing and leading innovative schemes to improve the integration of care in the best interests of patients, has been published by the Royal College of GPs today. Case studies include Derbyshire GP practice employing MH worker; GP-led Child Health Clinic on Shetland; Brighton Memory Assessment Service
Baby Café is a National Childbirth Trust (NCT) network of around 60 drop–in centres helping around 7,500 mums each year across the UK. Expectant and new mums, their babies and partners, family members and friends can attend for free to benefit from support and guidance on breastfeeding, and social support from other parents.
The publication includes advice on: encouraging a healthy pregnancy; the importance of newborn screening and vaccination; encouraging secure attachment; promoting breastfeeding; improving maternal mental health; healthy child programme; health and development reviews
With the focus on relationships in Mental Health Week, NHS England has put the spotlight on Sheffield where they are helping nurture relationships between adopters, foster carers and children to improve their adoption outcomes and mental health.
Almost 50 adopted children have had a smoother transition to their new homes thanks to a fresh £85,000 scheme in Sheffield helping assess and support their mental health needs.
The Pre-Adoption Service, run by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, hosted a successful unique year-long trial to reduce the number of failed adoptions and children needing mental health services in the future.
The Chair of the British Academy of Childhood Disability explains how data is making a difference in ensuring disabled children, young people and their families get the services they need:
The Children and Young People’s Health Services dataset, otherwise known as the CYPHS, is helping to revolutionise the quality of data local areas have available to design and plan services fit for purpose that are efficient and effective.
A new text-messaging service that allows youngsters to get confidential health advice and support will launch in Shropshire next week.
‘ChatHealth’ is provided by Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust’s School Nursing Service and will go live on Monday (9 May). With more and more young people using hand-held mobile devices in their daily lives this is an easy way for them to access to services using technology that they are familiar and comfortable with.
The care system is neglecting the mental health needs of children and teenagers, says a government report. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Read DfE-backed co-operative housing scheme for care leavers to launch and the latest children services news & best practice on Children & Young People Now
"Scientists have revealed which fruit can stop toddlers crying due to stomach pains," says the Daily Mirror, missing the point of the study it reports on.
The study looked at the use of diluted apple juice to prevent dehydration in children with upset stomachs.
The Education Committee's report on the mental health and well-being of looked-after children notes that a significant number of local authorities and health services are failing to identify mental health issues when children enter care.
Children and young people with special educational needs find learning more difficult than most people their age. Discover what the people of Slough told their local Healthwatch about their experiences of using the services that support these young people.
To review outcome measures used to evaluate hand function, with emphasis on manual capacity and performance, in children with bilateral cerebral palsy (CP), to describe the content and measurement properties of such measures, and to investigate the quality of the studies that have examined these properties. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
From May we will be inspecting SEND provision for children and young people by local areas.
We will also look at how well education services, social care and health work together to identify, assess and meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and or a disability.
We will carry out these inspections jointly with Ofsted and we have worked very closely with Ofsted and the Department for Education to develop the new inspection arrangements.
Parents are more likely to use mobile technology to calm children with behaviour difficulties, a new study In the Journal of the American Medical Association for Paediatrics has shown.
Children with social and emotional difficulties are more likely to be given mobile devices, such as iPads, to calm them down, according to the study of 144 children aged 15 to 36 months in low-income families. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
This paper describes the development, validation, and reliability of the Functional Communication Classification System (FCCS), designed to classify expressive communication skills of children with cerebral palsy (CP) aged 4 years and 5 years (between their fourth and sixth birthdays). Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
We used multiple regression on a retrospective cohort of 473 ambulatory children with cerebral palsy who underwent conservative treatment, single-level orthopaedic surgery, single-event multi-level orthopaedic surgery, or selective dorsal rhizotomy. Outcomes included gait pattern, gait speed, energy cost of walking, and the Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument. Explanatory variables considered were pre-treatment levels of each outcome, treatment group, prior treatment, age, and dynamic motor control computed from surface electromyography using synergy analysis. Effect sizes were estimated from the adjusted response. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
The present study examined the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Mobility, Fatigue, and Pain Interference Short Forms (SFs) in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) for the presence of differential item functioning (DIF) relative to the original calibration sample. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Eight databases were searched for measures of visual ability. Key selection criteria for measures were: use with children with CP; focus of visual ability measurement at the Activities and Participation domain of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) Checklist was used to assess psychometric properties. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Sex differences have been reported in children with cerebral palsy (CP), with males having a higher risk of developing CP, but it is not entirely clear whether sex may also affect the severity of motor impairment. The aim of the present study was to critically review the existing literature on sex influence on neuromotor outcome in children with CP. The published papers confirm that CP occurs more frequently in males than in females. Within different types of CP or individual level of impairment, however, there was limited evidence that sex also had an effect on their performance. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of repeat botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) injections in children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) on the basis of a best evidence synthesis. Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
A group of leading clinicians and commissioners from across the capital were brought together to develop a set of standards for care of children and young people with asthma and pre-school/viral induced wheeze to complement the existing London Quality Standards, Primary Care Commissioning Framework and Children and Young People’s Acute Care Standards.
Adolescents at the upper end of the range for normal body weight have higher cardiovascular and all cause mortality in young adulthood or midlife, shows a large follow-up study that found an even higher risk in people who were overweight or obese in their teenage years. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is being warned that it risks damaging its reputation if it does not reject income from manufacturers of infant formula milk. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
This publication has been updated for 2016 following the successful transfer of commissioning responsibilities of the Healthy Child Programme for 0-5 year olds to local government in October 2015. This includes the commissioning of Health Visitors who lead and support delivery of preventive programmes for infants and children including providing advice on oral health and on breastfeeding and reducing the risk of tooth decay.
The study aimed to assess the social and developmental effects of a mild head injury on 47 young children aged under five years. The group was compared to groups of children who'd had an orthopaedic injury (e.g. a fractured bone) or no injury.
Six months after the injury, researchers observed the child and their parents during 45 minutes of play or other activities, and rated the interactions among the head injury group as significantly poorer than the no injury group. There were no differences from the orthopaedic group.
There are several limitations to this study, including lack of observation prior to the accident to compare against. We also do not know whether these score differences have any meaningful implications for the child's long-term development, particularly given that the parent's reported no change in their interactions with their child.
Parents should not be overly concerned by these findings. However, they know their child best and if they think a head injury could be having longer-term effects on their child, they should seek medical advice.
In relation to the conditions in your question, we found some secondary evidence about the use of probiotics in children with the following conditions: constipation (not specifically chronic), C. difficile-related diarrhoea, antibiotic-related diarrhoea, and thrush...
There is growing concern that the UK is not performing as well as it should in securing and promoting health for children and young people.1 The reasons behind the UK's child health problems are complex, including socioeconomic conditions and other upstream determinants of health, and health systems and healthcare factors, as shown in figure 1. A comprehensive strategy to improve UK child health should therefore include action across all the domains and determinants of health. Integrated care is about joining things up in order to meet health needs, and in ways that make sense to children and families. Therefore, it should make an important contribution towards improving child health. Although this hypothesis is plausible, and is the basis of a great deal of policy, evidence is still indirect and limited. A concerted effort towards improving healthcare and child health must be supported by a strong drive to improve children's health services and systems research. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Public Health England (PHE) has reported a continued increase in cases of scarlet fever across England with 1319 new cases between 21 to 27 March, the highest weekly total recorded in recent decades (data available from 1982 onwards).
Dad James Jeynes tells of his fight to get a Personal Health Budget for his terminally ill son Lewis that could help transform his life while also saving the NHS money
Random effects meta-analysis of nine cross sectional studies demonstrated higher exposure (typically highest vs lowest quantile) to smoking in movies was significantly associated with a doubling in risk of ever trying smoking (RR 1.93, 95% CI 1.66 to 2.25). In 8 longitudinal studies (all deemed high quality), higher exposure to smoking in movies was significantly associated with a 46% increased risk of initiating smoking (RR 1.46; 95% CI 1.23 to 1.73). These pooled estimates were significantly different from each other (p = 0.02). Moderate levels of heterogeneity were seen in the meta-analyses. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details for full text. SSOTP - request a copy of the article from the library http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Launched by the UK’s largest meningitis charity, Meningitis Now, the Meningitis Signs and Symptoms app serves as a reference guide to all the common signs and symptoms of meningitis. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details