In this update:

·         social cohesion ·         anti-discrimination laws ·         women in leadership ·         behaviour change ·         care home closures ·         provider performance scores ·         ATSI health ·         quality governance ·         high risk patients ·         integrated care ·         medical workforce ·         GPs & medication ·         food supplements

·         diet ·         asbestos regulations ·         medical marijuana ·         prisoner health ·         older people ·         disability health services ·         service user rights ·         direct care workers ·         child protection statistics ·         serious case reviews ·         child sex offenders ·         childhood bereavement ·         sexual violence

·         disability advocacy ·         disability & education ·         autism diagnosis ·         autism & education ·         youth transitions ·         young offender reintegration ·         rural housing ·         community information sources ·         town regeneration ·         health impact & urban design ·         teenage supported housing ·         sustainability

Canary in the Cage? Lead Indicators and their potential use by Local Safeguarding Children Boards and partner agencies carefully selected lead indicators could serve a useful purpose in alerting managers to emerging conditions in the operations of a local safeguarding system that, if left unattended, might compromise its future capacity to safeguard children and young people...lead indicators could focus on capacity and capability of workforce (e.g. staff vacancies, turnover, sickness etc), the quality of professional decision making (re-referral rates, conversion rates etc), and levels and quality of partnership engagement (monitoring of attendance at meetings). UK Education (Sep 2011)

	Mapping Social Cohesion 2011 Report – Summary of Key Findings ... findings point to an erosion of individual connectedness and weakening of those involved in communal organizations, important indicators of threats to social cohesion. Scanlon Foundation (Sep 2011) Consolidation of Commonwealth anti-discrimination laws: discussion paper Attorney General (Sep 2011) Women in Politics and Public Leadership The public sector in NSW is the largest employer of women in NSW and it has more female than male employees. However, this does not translate to senior positions within the public service where the majority of positions are held by men. NSW Parliamentary Library (Sep 2011) Auditing Behaviour Change The Government has traditionally used a combination of incentives and levers, such as  information campaigns or regulation, to encourage individuals to change their behaviour in a way that will help Government achieve its policy goals...Government must monitor programme outcomes, the relationship of costs incurred to outcomes achieved, and share best practice across departments to ensure that cost-effectiveness is optimised UK Audit (Sep 2011) Care home closures - Practical tools and guidance to manage short notice closures how to cope with the closure process and how to reduce any negative impact on residents... people who live in care homes need continuity in their care and support, regardless of who provides it and where it’s provided UK SCIE (Sep 2011) Methodological Considerations in Generating Provider Performance Scores for Use in Public Reporting  A Guide for Community Quality Collaboratives US AHRQ (Sep 2011) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2010: detailed analyses provides over 2,000 pages of comprehensive analysis against 71 health indicators covering health status and outcomes, determinants of health and health systems performance. AIHW (Sep 2011) Canadian Health Accreditation Report Quality Starts at the Top - The Pivotal Role of the Governing Body focuses on governance and its relationship to quality and patient safety. Can Accreditation (Sep 2011) The Higher Risk General Surgical Patient: Towards Improved Care for a Forgotten Group Poorly designed hospital services, particularly access to emergency operating theatres and radiology treatment all result in patients missing out on early diagnosis and rapid life-saving care...makes nine detailed recommendations to reduce complications and deaths, as well as reduce the cost of treating a group of patients who account for almost 90 per cent of post-operative general surgical deaths. UK CS (Sep 2011) Integrated care summary: What is it? Does it work? What does it mean for the NHS? Evidence indicates that organisational integration will not deliver benefits if clinicians do not change the way they work. ...An alternative to organisational integration is to find ways of enabling organisations to coordinate their work more effectively UK Kings Fund (Sep 2011) Australia’s New Health Crisis - Too Many Doctors there is an urgent need for a new review of the GP workforce situation. This should be tasked, among other things, to assess what is an appropriate benchmark of population to GP ratio in today’s circumstances, and to establish the extent to which Australia’s medical workforce districts meet this standard. Monash Uni (Sep 2011) N=1: Why people matter in medicine GPs should be able to refer patients with medication problems to a pharmacist adviser who can also be used as a source of advice for both patients and GPs on medication related issues. UK  Royal College of Physicians (Sep 2011) Food supplements: guidance and FAQs The responsibility for legislation on food supplements in England has transferred from the Food Standards Agency to the Department Health UK Health (Sep 2011)
	How Americans Rate Their Diet Quality: An Increasingly Realistic Perspective Americans have become much less likely to rate their diets as “Excellent” or “Very Good” in terms of healthfulness, even though the healthfulness of the American diet has undergone little change over this period. US Agriculture (Sep 2011) Proposals on Revised Control of Asbestos Regulations consultation UK HSE (Sep 2011) Regulating Medical Marijuana Dispensaries An Overview with Preliminary Evidence of Their Impact on Crime  Sixteen US states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that allow certain individuals to use marijuana for medical purposes.... US Rand (Sep 2011) The health of Australia's prisoners 2010 almost 1 in 3 prison entrants had ever been told they have a mental health disorder and 1 in 5 prisoners in custody was taking medication for a mental health condition AIHW (Sep 2011) New ways of restoring and supporting the independence of older people  key feature of the re-ablement approach is to develop a customised individual plan with clients Benevolent Society  (Sep 2011) The use of health services among Australians with disability People with severe or profound disability rely up to 10 times as heavily on health services, such as general practitioners, as Australians without a disability AIHW (Sep 2011) Rights, responsibilities, risk and regulation Investigating risk in the lives of adults who use care and support...considers how current care provision impacts on the human rights of service users; and analyses the extent to which the present regulatory and commissioning frameworks stifle or encourage risk-taking in adult social care. UK Rowntree (Sep 2011) Improving Job Quality: Direct Care Workers in the U.S. looks at strategies for improving job quality in the care work sector...domiciliary care, nursing homes, assisted living facilities US CEPR (Sep 2011) Safeguarding children statistics: the availability and comparability of data in the UK Exploration of similarities and differences in the characteristics of children coming to the attention of, or receiving services from children’s social care across the UK is problematic... Adopting a consistent approach would facilitate comparative analysis of similarities and differences in need and service responses UK Education (Sep 2011) A study of recommendations arising from serious case reviews 2009-2010 a critical, thematic analysis of recommendations from 33 of the serious case reviews (cases of child death or serious injury through abuse or neglect) completed in 2009-2010....includes a brief literature review is provided of analyses of recommendations stemming from reviews of child death or serious injury. UK Education (Sep 2011) Misperceptions about child sex offenders Specifically, the issues addressed include whether all child sex offenders are ‘paedophiles’, who sexually abuse children, whether most child sex offenders were victims of sexual abuse themselves, rates of recidivism among child sex offenders and the number of children sex offenders typically abuse before they are detected by police. AIC (Sep 2011) Childhood Bereavement: a rapid literature review whilst most children do experience some negative impact on psychological wellbeing in the short term, for the majority these difficulties do not persist or require specialist intervention. UK Education (Sep 2011) Conventional and innovative justice responses to sexual violence Despite 30 years of significant change to the way the criminal justice system responds to sexual violence, conviction rates have gone down in Australia, Canada, and England and Wales...This paper reflects on the limits of legal reform in improving outcomes for victim/survivors. ACSSA (Sep 2011)
	Someone on our side: Advocacy for disabled children and young people Advocacy for disabled children and young people can lead to considerable improvements for them and their families UK Children's Society (Sep 2011) To gain, retain and retrain: the role of post-school education for people with a disability measures aimed at improving the engagement in education of those without qualifications may help to alleviate some of the longer-term problems associated with the growing rates of disability in an aging workforce. NCVER (Sep 2011) Autism spectrum disorders in children and young people: recognition, referral and diagnosis NICE (Sep 2011) Educational provision and outcomes for people on the autism spectrum looked at current educational targets and assessments used for children on the autism spectrum within schools in England and how they relate to children’s outcomes both in the short term but also in the longer term, in adult life. UK AET (Sep 2011) Successful youth transitions (free registration required)Helping young people to avoid poor school and negative early labour market experiences can eliminate the adverse long-term consequences of unemployment and assist them to make the transition to adulthood. A number of interventions which can help young people make a successful youth transition are also discussed. LSAY (Sep 2011) Reintegration and Transitions guidance aims to provide an over view of best practice within reintegration and transitions for young people under 18 who offend. also Assisting Young People aged 16 and 17 in Court Scotland (Sep 2011) Migration, labour demand, housing markets and the drought in regional Australia Perhaps the most important effect of drought is on the increased stress it places on families who are adjusting to financial pressures generated by regional decline. AIFS (Sep 2011) How People Learn About Their Local Community more Americans report watching local TV news than any other source... Younger adults,  rely on local television less, a fact that suggests more vulnerability for the medium in the future. US Pew (Sep 2011) Town Centre Regeneration: How Does it Work & What can be Achieved?   to develop a clearer understanding of the activities taking place as part of town centre regeneration and the outputs and outcomes that follow on from this, to understand how town centre regeneration works and what it can achieve. Scotland (Sep 2011) Integrating Health Impact Assessment in Urban Design and Planning: the Manukau Experience explores how a health impact assessment (HIA) process was used to forge closer links between health and urban design agendas in Manukau City. The case study reveals many common interests among public health and urban designers/planners NZ health (Sep 2011) Supporting independence? Evaluation of the teenage parent supported housing pilot involved seven local authorities providing ‘enhanced support packages’ for teenage parents, with a particular emphasis on those aged 16 and 17 and those not living with parents/carers UK Education (Sep 2011) Measuring sustainability highlights ways sustainability is being defined, measured, and practiced throughout the U.S... improving energy efficiency of multifamily housing.. how sustainability has been defined and measured during its brief history..techniques employed by regional planning organizations US HUD (Sep 2011)

 

In this update:

·         disaster insurance ·         multiple needs ·         participatory budgets ·         care markets ·         means testing ·         not-for-profits ·         data teams ·         electronic health records ·         data quality ·         inequality ·         medical tourism ·         priority setting

·         health governance ·         health leadership ·         emergency departments ·         future of hospitals ·         post acute care ·         running costs calculator ·         ambulance services ·         LBGTI in later life ·         HIV/AIDS ·         mental health privacy ·         mental health & justice ·         child mental health

·         indigenous children ·         juvenile justice screening ·         remodelling social work ·         child protection & drugs ·         domestic violence ·         housing & care ·         affordable housing ·         women in public housing ·         housing choice ·         neighbourhood challenges ·         surveillance cameras

Australian Social Trends from Australian Bureau of Statistics Includes: Housing assistance for renters  focuses on social (public and community) housing and Commonwealth Rent Assistance, and the characteristics of those people who receive these types of assistance. Community service workers an overview of workers in industries that provide residential care services, child care services and other social assistance services in Australia. download PDF of full issue Updated National and state summary indicators on health and international comparisons

	The asset insurance arrangements of Australian state governments focuses on the arrangements for the States and Territories to access Commonwealth funding through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements. Specifically, it provides an overview of how the level of state government assistance is calculated through the 2011 NDRRA Determination and the impact of the States' disaster relief expenses and NDRRA payments on the States' share of revenue from the Goods and Services Tax Aus Senate (Sep 2011) Turning the Tide: A Vision Paper for multiple needs and exclusions People facing multiple needs and exclusions experience a combination of problems such as mental ill health, substance misuse, homelessness and contact with the criminal justice system....puts forward a vision in which in every local area people experiencing multiple needs and exclusions are supported by effective, coordinated services, with small teams helping people  access the support they need and all agencies being flexible in their responses to this group. UK Making Every Adult matter (Sep 2011) Communities in the driving seat: a study of Participatory Budgeting in England - Final report Participatory budgeting directly involves local people in making decisions on the spending priorities for a defined public budget....The most popular themes against which money was spent were: activities for young people; crime and public safety; environmental improvements; community and cohesion activities; health initiatives; and play and sports facilities. UK Communities (Sep 2011) Oversight of user choice and provider competition in care markets Most people who use personal budgets to pay for their social care report improved wellbeing. But more needs to be done to ensure that care markets deliver a genuine choice of services to all users, that support is available to help them exercise choice, and that essential services relied on by vulnerable people continue to be provided in the event of the failure of a major provider. UK Audit (Sep 2011) Means Testing  It will be difficult for government departments to achieve value for money from means-tested benefits unless government understands the impacts of means testing, learns from past experience and improves coordination between different benefits. UK Audit (Sep 2011) Misuse of the non-profit sector for money laundering and terrorism financing Money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) risks to the Australian non-profit sector are thought to be low. However, the impact of such misuse is inevitably high... AIC (Sep 2011) Building data science teams A data-driven organization acquires, processes, and leverages data in a timely fashion to create efficiencies, iterate on and develop new products, and navigate the competitive landscape. (Download PDF report) US O'Reilly (Sep 2011) Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records designed to help anticipate, avoid, and address problems that can occur when implementing and using an electronic health record (EHR). US AHRQ (Aug 2011) Improving coding, costing and commissioning Annual report on the PbR data assurance programme 2010/11 Greater use of basic checks by trusts would lead to improved data quality. These include checking submissions against other data sources, and benchmarking unit costs against those of other providers. Better senior leadership within organisations and greater clinical involvement are also needed. UK Audit (Sep 2011) Does income inequality cause health and social problems? Evidence from a range of studies suggests that there is a correlation between income inequality and health and social problems. UK Rowntree (Sep 2011) Medical Tourism: Treatments, Markets and Health System Implications: A scoping review Despite the high-profile media interest and coverage, there is also a lack of hard research evidence on the role and impact of medical tourism for OECD countries. Medical tourism introduces a range of attendant risks and opportunities for patients. OECD (Sep 2011) Setting priorities in health: the challenge for clinical commissioning One of the most extensive reviews into how primary care trusts (PCTs) made decisions about funding priorities confirms that while most commissioners have established robust systems in relation to funding new services and exceptional treatments, they generally struggle to apply the same rigour to ‘core’ spending. UK Nuffield (Sep 2011)
	Governance for health in the 21st century makes recommendations on how governments can strengthen governance for health through collaboration. WHO Regional Office for Europe (Sep 2011) The Development of an Emerging Leader: Lessons from Sweden: Health Care & Leadership compares and contrasts the Swedish and Canadian systems and describes some of the programs to which healthcare leaders on the tour were introduced. Canadian College of Health leaders (Sep 2011) Review of admission and discharge referral practices for the metropolitan hospital emergency departments examining both pre-hospital admission and post-discharge processes, and the reasons for patient referrals to current community nursing hospital in the home services see also London Health Adult emergency services: Case for change the probability of dying as a result of many emergency conditions is significantly higher if the admission is at the weekend, compared to a weekday. ... If the weekend mortality rate in London was the same as the weekday rate there would be a minimum of 500 fewer deaths a year. Reduced service provision at weekends is associated with this higher mortality rate. WA Health (Jul 2011) The hospital is dead, long live the hospital This report examines the future and sustainability of hospital services in light of the drive for efficiency savings required in the NHS. It explores potential models for hospital and various aspects relating to provision of hospital services, such as commissioning and accountability UK Reform (Sep 2011) Exploring alternative level of care (ALC ) and the role of funding policies: An evolving evidence base for Canada synthesizes the evidence regarding funding policies designed to improve patient care in the transition period between acute and post-acute settings. Can CHSRF (Sep 2011) 'Ready Reckoner' clinical commissioning groups running costs tool an interactive running costs tool for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The tool allows CCGs to consider the financial implications of different commissioning support arrangements and staffing structures, and allows them to work through the potential impact that their population coverage has on resources. UK Health (Sep 2011) Transforming NHS ambulance services A more integrated emergency care system is required to ensure that ambulances are not kept waiting outside accident and emergency, can hand over patients faster and get back out to help others. UK House Of Commons (Sep 2011) Lesbian, gay and bisexual people in later life  a reduced network of support – compared to their heterosexual peers – means older lesbian, gay and bisexual people are more likely to rely on formal social care UK Stonewall (Sep 2011) Movement, Knowledge, Emotion: Gay activism and HIV/AIDS in Australia documents an important chapter in the history of public health in Australia and explores how HIV/AIDS came to be a defining issue in the history of gay and lesbian rights in Australia. Latrobe Uni (Sep 2011) Privacy, Confidentiality & Information Sharing –Consumers, Carers & Clinicians position statement and issues paper National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum Mental health care and the criminal justice system examines the provision of mental health care for adults in the UK criminal justice system UK CMH (Sep 2011) Working with under 18 year olds: Guidance for Commissioners, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies(IAPT) service providers and those working in IAPT services...Children and young people do not present or process mental distress or disorder in the same way as adults UK NHS (Sep 2011)
	An Exploratory Analysis of the Longitudinal Survey of Indigenous Children the first large-scale longitudinal survey in Australia to focus on the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children. the size and composition of Indigenous children's families and households; how key measures of parental wellbeing are associated with family and household structure ;the factors associated with different types of early childhood education attendance; and how migration is related to self-reported measures of the community and other area-level characteristics. CAEPR (Sep 2011) Communication Needs and Hidden Difficulties Questionnaire (CNHDQ)  a screening tool which allows staff in Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) to gather information about a range of often hidden difficulties in young people. These include: communication needs, dyslexia, dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). UK Communication Trust (Sep 2011) A Summative Report on the Qualitative Evaluation on the Eleven Remodelling Social Work Pilots 2008-11 The social work remodelling project was a pilot programme developed to allow authorities to explore different ways of delivering social work practice. Local authorities were provided with additional resources to attempt to address the deficits they identified in delivering an effective social work offer to children and their families....to explore processes supporting improved multi-agency, evidence-based social work practice that would allow staff to use their expertise more widely and in new ways , to free social worker time to enable more direct work with vulnerable children UK CWDC (Sep 2011) Targeted Grants to Increase the Well-Being of, and to Improve the Permanency Outcomes for, Children Affected by Methamphetamine or Other Substance Abuse: First Annual Report to Congress summarizes the activities of regional partnerships grants for addressing the needs of families with methamphetamine or other substance abuse problems who come to the attention of the child welfare system. US ACF (2010) Personal stress, financial stress and violence against women the risk of actual or threatened violence was significantly higher who in the last 12 months have experienced financial stress. NSW BOCSAR (Sep 2011) Getting to grips with integration: making housing count drills down into the key components for the housing sector on the UK Coalition Government's health and social care agenda.: personalisation, public health, older people, secondary and acute healthcare UK Housing LIN (Aug  2011) How great is the shortage of affordable housing in Australia’s private rental market? Between 2001 and 2006, Australia’s private rental market grew by 11 per cent. Despite this growth, shortages of affordable rental housing for low-income households worsened. AHURI (Sep 2011) How does living in public housing affect women’s employment? income-based rents, poor security and stigma associated with public housing may present significant obstacles to working. AHURI (Sep 2011) What matters most when Australians choose a home? there are real differences in priorities across the population. In particular, while young families are focussed on house size and type, older and single-person households are much more likely to think that characteristics of where they live are more important. Grattan Institute (Sep 2011) Introducing the neighbourhood challenge: Seventeen stories begin Methods being trialled include community organising, local challenge prizes, social enterprise, skills sharing and community match funding amongst others. UK NESTA (Aug 2011) Evaluating the Use of Public Surveillance Cameras for Crime Control and Prevention  Findings indicate that in places where cameras were sufficiently concentrated and routinely monitored by trained staff, the impact on crime was significant and cost-beneficial, with no evidence of crime displacement. US Urban (Sep 2011)