Health Survey for England Part 1 published
NHS England has published the Health Survey for England (HSE), 2022 Part 1. The HSE is used to estimate the proportion of people in England who have health conditions and the prevalence of risk factors and behaviours associated with certain health conditions.
HSE 2022 is being published in two parts. Part 1 covers:
- Adults’ health-related behaviours
- Adults’ drinking
- Child health and health-related behaviours
Part 2, set to be published later this year, will cover:
- Adult health
- Overweight and obesity (adults and children)
- Social care provision
- Kidney disease
Access the Part 1 results via the NHS England website here.
Developing a chatbot to provide information about trusted resources
Researchers have developed a chatbot to support people with neurodevelopmental disabilities or differences (NDDs) . CAMI (Coaching Assistant for Medical/Health Information) was developed in collaboration with individuals with lived experience. It provides information about trusted resources covering core knowledge and services relevant to families of individuals with NDDs.
In a published tutorial, researchers said their work highlighted the importance of engaging end users. It also demonstrates that complex medical and health-related information can be integrated using knowledge graphs and by leveraging existing large datasets. They argue health and computer science domains need to collaborate to achieve the granularity needed to make chatbots truly useful and impactful.
Read more about the chatbot's development via the JMIR website here.
Health inequalities in Northern Ireland
The Department of Health has published an analysis of health inequality gaps between the most and least deprived areas of Northern Ireland. The report also provides analysis of inequalities within health and social care trust and local government district areas. It is accompanied by downloadable data tables which contain all figures including district electoral areas, as well as urban and rural breakdowns.
Download the full report via the Department of Health website here.
Inequalities in men's health
In this blog on The King's Fund website Deborah Fenney and Veena Raleigh discuss why inequalities in men's health are not being addressed. They say action is needed given the scale of preventable ill health and death among large numbers of men in some communities.
Read the full blog via The King's Fund website here.
Guiding principles for machine learning medical devices
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has published guidelines for communicating clear and relevant information about machine learning-enabled medical devices. The guidelines were developed in collaboration with the FDA and Health Canada. They align with previously published guiding principles and offer good practice guidelines on transparency for all medical devices.
Access the guidelines via the GOV.UK website here.
Study: Guidelines on the involvement of adolescents in health research
A new systematic review identifies all currently available guidelines on adolescent involvement in health research and evaluates their scope, content, context and quality. Researchers found current guidelines are often narrow in scope, targeting specific users and populations while focusing on limited research areas.
They concluded there is a need to develop a set of guidelines which are comprehensive in scope, cover all key aspects of adolescent involvement, can be adapted for different contexts and are based on rigorous and systematic methods.
Read the full study via the Wiley Online Library here.
Six health priorities for the next Government
Policy Connect has published a Health Manifesto outlining six priorities for Britain's next Government. The manifesto was developed in collaboration with health and care stakeholders and based on Policy Connect's evidence base. Key priorities include:
- Reforming mental health care, in particular the Mental Health Act and the benefits and sick pay system.
- Fostering innovation in research through greater partnerships.
- Empowering women's health to eliminate gender-based health inequalities.
View the full manifesto via the Policy Connect website here.
Charities should be 'key partner' in tackling health inequalities
New Philanthropy Capital has published a report arguing charities and funders should be a key partner in delivering the new government’s plans to tackle social challenges such as health inequalities. The Partners for change report includes recommendations in three key areas:
- Putting the partnership between government and charities on a strong footing.
- Priority policy areas where civil society and government can work together for change.
- How charities and funders can support effective partnerships.
Read the full report via the New Philanthropy Capital website here.
Addressing trending health information with conversation data
In this PharmaPhorum article Amy Brown discusses how healthcare organisations can analyse conversational data to identify emerging health information trends and create communication to address potential confusion before it escalates. She says misinformation often accompanies trending topics, for example with Ozempic. Amy argues specific education efforts, informed by conversational data insights, can reduce frustration and guide people towards reliable information.