Public health

The London Voluntary Services Council has issued an updated map of social prescribing in London.

The regularly updated map includes the range of different social prescribing activities across the city and is open to new additions. Link to the London Social Prescribing map update

Public Health England and NHS England have published a guide calling on health commissioners to engage more with local community and volunteer groups to improve people’s health. The guide says commissioners should “use the family of community-centred approaches as a tool to consider potential options for commissioning health improvement and preventive services”.

A reading list of 35 books selected by mental health experts and young people has been launched with the aim of supporting young people’s mental health. Part of the Reading Well Books on Prescription scheme the list aims to provide 13-18 year-olds with a wide range of self-help and information titles, as well as memoir, graphic novels and fiction.

A new study, from UCLA Medical Centre and University of Pittsburgh and published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, suggests that a range of physical activities including gardening and dancing, can increase brain volume.

The research was published today (Friday 11 March).

The way health and social care is delivered has changed and is continuing to change, with increasing numbers of acute NHS trusts providing social care, more GP federations, and technology playing a greater role in the way services are delivered – coupled with the challenge of a growing elderly population with multiple service needs.

The CQC’s consultation document covers six themes, responding to these challenges. You can watch the six themes in an animated presentation here.

The second international conference is coming to Bristol UK on June 19, 20 and 21 2017.

The conference will showcase inspirational practice, policy and the latest research in culture and arts in health and wellbeing. It will discuss the role of arts and creativity in healing, care and wellbeing across the life course. It will encourage discussion and shared learning, facilitating dialogue between researchers, policy makers and practitioners. Conference themes will encompass multiple art forms and will include:

Showcasing the inspiring work from museums across the UK, the week will be launched with a roundtable on Museums and Health for the All Party Parliamentary Working Group on Arts & Health.

Read more

A series of events in partnership with Public Health England, Local Government Association, Royal Society for Public Health, Arts Council England.

Seminars in Manchester, Torquay and Birmingham share learning from the Cultural Commissioning Locality Projects. These have brought together managers and commissioners in health, public health and local authorities with arts and cultural organisations to test and develop creative approaches to achieve better outcomes.

Public Health England has published research analysing the impact of allied health professionals on public health. The research shows the positive effect of music, art and drama therapy but calls for more research to demonstrate the full impact of this work.

 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allied-health-professionals-interventions-that-improve-public-health

The Government has introduced a health devolution agreement for London signalling significant changes to the way health services are commissioned in the capital. New services designed to integrate physical and mental health and focusing on prevention will be introduced locally.

The agreement will begin with five devolution pilots to be launched across London focused on different topics: