Research exploring vaccination confidence provides lessons for public health campaigns

Healthwatch England has joined forces with Traverse to explore vaccination confidence among people from African, Bangladeshi, Caribbean and Pakistani backgrounds living in the UK.

The subsequent report draws out key themes to support improvement in the way the NHS and other public health professionals communicate with the public. They include:

  • Allowing for agency
  • Ensuring your organisational status is clear
  • Focusing on transparency
  • Localising approaches
  • Addressing ambiguity

The report also includes top tips for the tone and format of communications. 

They include recognising black and Asian people are not one homogenous group in communications, creating content that has a conversational format while providing as much information as possible and ensuring the tone of voice speaks to the audience as opposed to at them.

Healthwatch England

Ethnicity coding in English health service datasets

A Nuffield Trust report looks at the quality and consistency of ethnicity coding within health datasets and calls on NHS England to provide new guidance for health service providers and GPs.

It says the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted ethnic disparities in health care and outcomes in England, but data on the ethnicities of patients remains poor.

Data quality problems disproportionately affect records for minority ethnic patients.

Nuffield Trust says the lack of comprehensive, high quality data on health and mortality by ethnicity is a significant obstacle to understanding ethnic inequalities in health.

Nuffield Trust

NHS digital database from GP records delayed

The Government has announced plans to create a central NHS digital database from GP records in England will be delayed by two months.

The system was due to launch on 1 July but will now launch on 1 September.

It is hoped the delay will allow more time for the NHS to engage with patients and the wider public on the plans.

PIF members National Voices and the Patients Association published a joint statement with Healthwatch England and the Richmond Group of Charities welcoming the delay and calling for a national campaign to allow people to make an informed choice about their data. Read the statement in full here.

Understanding Patient Data also welcomed the move saying it gave the opportunity for the new system to be rolled out in 'a more trustworthy way'. Read the full blog here.

Study: Nurse-patient communication and information provision

A new study explores patient and nursing perspectives of communication and information provision during surgical pre-admission clinics.

The authors said, while patients are often described as co-producers, there are challenges including how standardisation affects personalised care and the ability of patients to retain high volumes of information.

They found patients welcomed the opportunity for active involvement in their care but there were informational boundaries and illness and treatment-related anxieties were barriers to patient engagement with information.

Authors concluded nurses need to feel empowered to adopt strategies that allow for different informational needs.

Wiley Online Library

NICE draft guidance on treatment options for people with moderate rheumatoid arthritis

NICE has published final draft guidance which recommends several treatment options for around 25,000 people with moderate rheumatoid arthritis that have not responded to conventional therapies.

Adalimumab, etanercept and infliximab, taken with methotrexate have been recommended for use within the NHS. 

Adalimumab and etanercept can also be used as monotherapy when methotrexate is contraindicated or not tolerated.

NICE previously recommended biological treatments only for severe rheumatoid arthritis. 

Final guidance is expected to be published on 14 July.

NICE

Study: Mobile health in chronic disease management and patient empowerment

A study aims to investigate how Mobile health (Mhealth) affects consultations and patient empowerment among those living with a chronic disease.

It found mHealth is used to discipline patients and correct their behaviour. 

The authors argue use of mHealth during consultations may unintentionally lead to relevant aspects of patients’ lives related to the disease being ignored, inadvertently silencing patients’ voices.

They call for further research to investigate how mHealth impacts patient empowerment during consultations.

JMIR

Experience of young people cared for in mental health, learning disability and autism inpatient settings

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has published a themed review exploring the experience of young people with mental health problems, learning disability or autism in specialist inpatient mental health care.

The review asks three key questions about young people’s inpatient experience:

  1. What are the key influences?
  2. What is the best way to gain insight?
  3. How can new understanding be used to improve inpatient care?

NIHR

Public urged to seek care if they have concerns about eye health

The College of Optometrists is encouraging the public to seek eye care if they have concerns about their vision or eye health.

The call comes after research by the college found 31% of adults in Britain have noticed their vision get worse since the COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdowns. 

Almost half of those polled (44%) believed their eyesight worsened due to increased time in front of screens.

However, many did not take action because they did not think the problem was serious enough (29%) or because they were concerned about catching COVID-19 when visiting the optometrist (25%).

College of Optometrists

New wellbeing toolkit for alcohol related brain damage

Mental health charity Penumbra has launched a self-management toolkit for people living with alcohol related brain damage (ARBD).

The toolkit was developed with staff and residents at two ARBD services in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

As well as providing important medical information about ARBD and alcohol use, the toolkit covers key practical and holistic information on recovery and guidance on improving digital skills, budgeting and rights.

Penumbra

Event: Talk Cancer live online workshop

Cancer Research UK is hosting a live online workshop to help people feel more confident talking about cancer and health as part of their role. 

The workshop is suitable for anyone in a role where they are talking to members of the community about health and wellbeing. 

The session on 24 June is interactive and free to join. Click on the link below to register.

Cancer Research UK

COVID-19 added to lung health vaccination factsheet

The European Lung Foundation has updated its infographic factsheet, Protect your lungs: get vaccinated.

The factsheet now includes COVID-19 as one of the infections affecting the lungs that can be prevented through vaccination.

Click on the link below to download the updated factsheet for free.

European Lung Foundation