Quality standards for antenatal and postnatal mental health

NICE quality standards describe high-priority areas for quality improvement in a defined care or service area. Each standard consists of a prioritised set of specific, concise and measurable statements. They draw on existing guidance, which provides an underpinning, comprehensive set of recommendations, and are designed to support the measurement of improvement. This quality standard covers the recognition, assessment, care and treatment of mental health problems in women during pregnancy and the postnatal period (up to 1 year after childbirth). It also includes providing pre-conception support and advice for women with an existing mental health problem who might become pregnant, and the organisation of mental health services needed in pregnancy and the postnatal period. This quality standard is endorse by NHS England, and supported by the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

ENS4Care: Evidence Based Guidelines for Nurses and Social Care Workers for the deployment of eHealth services

The EU-funded Ens4Care project has developed five guidelines for European nurses and social workers on how to use eHealth for promoting a healthy lifestyle and prevention, clinical practice, skills development for advanced roles, integrated care and nurse ePrescribing. 

The 2-year-project, that was launched in December 2013, funded by the EU and coordinated by the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) together with 24 partners from all over Europe, including a mix of different professional associations in nursing and social care, nursing regulators and unions, informal carers, patients, researchers and research communities, civil society representatives and industry. They have collected a total of 122 existing good practices of using eHealth tools by nurses and social workers at both national and regional levels, with aim to inform not only the health and care sector, but also policy-makers. 

Primary Care guideline for adults Western Cape, South Africa

The Knowledge Translation Unit (“KTU”) is a clinical research unit within the University of Cape Town Lung Institute (“UCTLI”) which has spent 15 years developing the Practical Approach to Care Kit (“PACK programme”) to support and empower nurses, doctors and other health workers working in primary healthcare.

PACK Adult is a comprehensive clinical practice guideline that aims at equipping nurses and other clinicians to diagnose and manage common adult conditions at primary level. The starting point is any of 40 common symptoms, each of which provides the opportunity to identify one or more of 20 important chronic conditions in the second half of the guideline. These include infectious diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular risk, hypertension and diabetes, mental health conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, epilepsy and women’s health. See sample pages and contents pages below.

BMJ has partnered with the KTU to make the PACK programme available to assist in improving ...

Primary Care guideline for adults Western Cape, South Africa

The Knowledge Translation Unit (“KTU”) is a clinical research unit within the University of Cape Town Lung Institute (“UCTLI”) which has spent 15 years developing the Practical Approach to Care Kit (“PACK programme”) to support and empower nurses, doctors and other health workers working in primary healthcare.

PACK Adult is a comprehensive clinical practice guideline that aims at equipping nurses and other clinicians to diagnose and manage common adult conditions at primary level. The starting point is any of 40 common symptoms, each of which provides the opportunity to identify one or more of 20 important chronic conditions in the second half of the guideline. These include infectious diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular risk, hypertension and diabetes, mental health conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, epilepsy and women’s health. See sample pages and contents pages below.

BMJ has partnered with the KTU to make the PACK programme available to assist in improving ...

National Framework for Children and Young People’s Continuing Care

This Framework (reviewed) is intended to provide guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) when assessing the needs of children and young people whose complex needs cannot be met by universal or specialist health services. CCGs have a legal responsibility for securing to a reasonable extent the health care which an individual needs, and this guidance is about the process which should be followed for the equitable discharge of that responsibility for children and young people with complex needs. This revision takes account of the new structures of NHS commissioning created by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the new integrated approach to the commissioning of services for children and young people with special educational need or disability (SEND) which the Children and Families Act 2014 introduced. In particular, where a child or young person has a SEND, which will often be the case, then CCGs and local authorities ...

Strengthening a competent health workforce for the provision of coordinated/ integrated health services

The paper proposes a list of competencies to be consolidated by the health workforce in order to realize coordinated/integrated health services delivery. To this end, the paper proposes a cycle for the process of competencies consolidation, identifying strategies required at the services delivery level and possible tools for implementation as well as describing the enabling conditions at the health system level and providing an overview of roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders involved.

Addressing Violence against Women and Girls in Health Programming

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is the most widespread form of abuse worldwide, affecting one third of all women in their lifetime. VAWG undermines the mental and physical health of women and girls, violates their human rights and can have a negative impact on long-term peace and stability.

This two-part guidance note is part of a series of DFID guidance notes on VAWG. It focuses specifically on how to address VAWG in health programming, where DFID aims to make progress towards one key impact:

Women's and girls' health outcomes improve as a result of the health sector response to VAWG.

This guidance note aims to provide practical advice, tips and examples to strengthen the impact of health programmes on preventing and responding to VAWG. It is based on international good practice from bilateral and multilateral donors, UN agencies, international and national NGOs, and DFID’s own programme experience ...

Building capacity in primary care rehabilitation clinical practice guidelines: a South African initiative

The large number of South Africans with disability who cannot access good quality rehabilitation presents a public health and human rights challenge. A cost-effective, efficient approach is required to address this. Implementation of high-quality, contextually relevant clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) could be a solution; however, this requires significant investment in innovative capacity-building.

Patient centred care for multimorbidity improves patient experience, but quality of life is unchanged

The UK has an ageing population. A 2018 study of multimorbidity in England found that 54% of people over 65 had multimorbidity in 2015. This is expected to rise to 68% by 2035, with 17% of people over 65 expected to have four or more conditions. National guidelines tend to focus on single conditions. People with multimorbidity may have their conditions managed individually without due consideration of the overall burden of their diseases and treatments. Recognition of this prompted the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other international organisations to develop guidelines on managing multimorbidity. These focus on regular comprehensive review of the person’s health and circumstances. This trial assessed a care model that incorporated all strategies recommended by guidelines.

Integrated care for older people (ICOPE): guidance for person-centred assessment and pathways in primary care

The ICOPE guidance for person-centred assessment and pathways in primary care (ICOPE Handbook) helps community health and care workers put the recommendations outlined in the ICOPE Guidelines into practice. The Handbook assists with setting person-centred goals, screening for loss in a range of domains of intrinsic capacity and assessing health and social care needs to develop a personalised care plan. The care plan may include multiple interventions to manage declines in intrinsic capacity, provide social care and support, support self-management and support caregivers. The domains of intrinsic capacity include cognitive decline, limited mobility, malnutrition, visual impairment, hearing loss and depressive symptoms.

Integrating patient complexity into health policy: a conceptual framework

Clinicians across all health professions increasingly strive to add value to the care they deliver through the application of the central tenets of people-centred care (PCC), namely the ‘right care’, in the ‘right place’, at the ‘right time’ and ‘tailored to the needs of communities’.

This ideal is being hampered by a lack of a structured, evidence-based means to formulate policy and value the commissioning of services in an environment of increasing appreciation for the complex health needs of communities. This creates significant challenges for policy makers, commissioners and providers of health services. Communities face a complex intersection of challenges when engaging with healthcare. Increasingly, complexity is gaining prominence as a significant factor in the delivery of PCC.

Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) components of health policy, this paper proposes a policy framework that enables policy makers, commissioners and providers of health care to integrate a model of ...

Integrating Sexual and Reproductive Health Services Within HIV Services: WHO Guidance

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, may be integrated within HIV services. Integration is associated with increased offers and uptake of sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, which is likely to result in improved downstream clinical outcomes. Integrating HIV and sexual and reproductive health services has been found to improve access, the quality of antenatal care and nurse productivity while reducing stigma and without compromising uptake of care.