NICE multimorbidity guidance almost excluded people with learning disabilities

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The NICE scoping guidelines on multimorbidity now thankfully include people with learning disabilities. However, the original scoping draft specifically excluded them, despite NHS England and the Department of Health commenting on the first draft.

Here, Pauline Heslop, one of the authors of the Confidential Inquiry report and a key campaigner to get people with learning disabilities included in the scope, talks about some the issues this raises.

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Commissioning to address mental health ethnic inequalities

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Caroline De Brun highlights the new guidance for commissioners of mental health services for people from black and minority ethnic communities, produced by the Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health.

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Department of Health publish new guidance on reducing the need for restrictive interventions

A handout photo, issued by the BBC, of a screen grab from the Panorama investigation into abuse at Winterbourne View. Photograph: BBC/PA

In Scandal, Social Work and Social Welfare (Policy Press 2005), Butler and Drakeford examine the ways, in which, social welfare policy is often formulated in a response to scandals or inquiries. These scandals highlight areas of abuse or neglect but also can act as an engine for change. This is true across all areas of [read the full story…]

Autism Evidence Update from NICE published

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It is not clear exactly what the prevalence of autism is amongst the population of adults with learning disabilities. Estimates vary amongst published studies and a recent review carried out by the team at Improving Health and Lives  looked at a range of studies that attempted to estimate the prevalence of autism among community-based or [read the full story…]

NICE evidence update: Interventions to reduce substance misuse among vulnerable young people

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The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have recently searched for any new evidence that may be relevant to a public health guideline published in 2007; ‘Interventions to reduce substance misuse among vulnerable young people’. In this blog I summarise the new evidence that has emerged and highlight whether or not it is likely [read the full story…]

Antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery – SIGN Guideline 104

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The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network  (SIGN) has just launched their updated guideline on antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery.  SIGN’s first guideline of this topic (SIGN 45)  was published in 2000 and updated in 2008.  The guideline does not aim to provide every surgical speciality with a comprehensive text on preventing  surgical site infection (SSI), but rather [read the full story…]

Dental Interventions to prevent caries in children – SIGN Guideline 138

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The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) have just launched a new guideline on caries prevention in children.  The guideline replaces two existing guidelines; SIGN 47 on preventing dental caries in children at high caries risk and SIGN 83 on prevention and management of dental decay in the pre-school child.  The guideline was developed using SIGN [read the full story…]

Draft guideline on sugar intake for adults and children from WHO – open for consultation

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Back in December we highlighted a review by Moynihan and Kelly (Dental Elf – 12th Dec 2013) on the relationship between caries and sugars that was commissioned to inform the development of updated WHO recommendations on sugar.  Another review of the relationship between sugar and body weight by  Te Morenga et al  was also undertaken [read the full story…]

Psychosis and schizophrenia in adults: updated NICE guidance for 2014

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While the organisation’s name may change frequently, currently National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), its role remains constant – to provide clear published guidance on the role of treatment options within the NHS. The publication of new NICE guidance represents a significant event as clinical recommendations shape the nature of provided care nationally [read the full story…]

New NICE guidance recommends that all NHS hospitals and clinics become completely smoke-free

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Over 40% of all cigarettes smoked in England are smoked by people with severe mental illnesses. This group are more likely to become physically ill than the rest of the population, but they are less likely to be given help to quit. Smoking is especially common among people with mental health problems: whilst 1 in [read the full story…]