Everyone who read the extracts from Michael Schofield’s memoir, published by the Guardian on January 19th, must surely have been moved by the sometimes harrowing description of his daughter Janni who was diagnosed with child-onset schizophrenia aged just 7 years old. Janni is an exception, as schizophrenia generally starts between the ages of 15 and [read the full story…]
The NICE guideline on psychosis with coexisting substance misuse was published in 2011, which means it’s now nearly 3 years out of date. This is because guidelines take many months to produce, so by the time they are published the evidence in them is 1 year old at best. Some NICE guidelines are supplemented by [read the full story…]
NICE have recently started publishing a series of evidence summaries looking at unlicensed and off-label medicines. The second summary in the series looks at the use of prolonged-release melatonin tablets as a treatment for sleep disorders in children and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Future mental health summaries include ‘Quetiapine for generalised [read the full story…]
The final report into the events at Winterbourne View Hospital was published on Monday (10.12.12) and sets out a programme of action which aims to ensure that people no longer have to live in hospitals, but receive support in line with best practice. Key outcomes in the Government’s programme include: Proposals to strengthen accountability [read the full story…]
We Elves know that exercise is critical in the prevention of disease and evidence for the benefit of exercise in many forms of disease. This is highly relevant as our 5×50 worldwide exercise flash-mob challenge about to start on Friday 23rd November (see earlier post). Don’t forget to sign up for and join the Musculoskeletal [read the full story…]
NICE have published a new quality standard aimed at supporting the recovery for adults with drug use disorders, including opioids, cannabis, stimulants and other drugs. This set of documents on drug use disorders now sits beside the existing NICE quality standards on dementia, depression in adults, alcohol dependence and service user experiences of adult mental [read the full story…]
The NHS has this week published a new ‘mandate’ which sets out a number of agreements between the Government and the NHS Commissioning Board, which is responsible for improving health outcomes by supporting the commissioning of effective services. The mandate identifies five areas for improvement: preventing people from dying prematurely enhancing quality of life for [read the full story…]
NICE have published three new public health briefings for local government on Inequalities and population health, the Public Health Outcomes Framework and Alcohol. These documents are aimed at local authorities and their partner organisations in the health and voluntary sectors, in particular those involved with health and wellbeing boards. Local government is preparing to take [read the full story…]
Have you ever had a painful shoulder? Did it get better on its own? I have a friend, not another Elf, who had bilateral frozen shoulders. It was a most functionally limiting and painful problem. Fortunately intra-articular steroid injections saved the day and made a huge difference to both pain and function. If you have [read the full story…]
These new recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) cover home visits, early education and childcare for vulnerable children. The public health guidance recognises that disadvantage before birth and in a child’s early years can have life-long, negative effects on health and wellbeing. It aims to ensure that both universal and [read the full story…]
