iHV welcomes launch of VCSE Inclusion Health Audit Tool

The Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Alliance has launched an Inclusion Health Audit Tool to help voluntary sector organisations measure and improve their engagement with Inclusion Health groups.

Inclusion Health groups are the communities which experience the poorest health outcomes across a range of indicators, including self-reported health, life expectancy and morbidity. Among these communities are four of the groups most vulnerable groups to health inequalities: sex workers, vulnerable migrants, homeless people and Gypsies and Travellers.

The audit tool diagnoses gaps in your organisation’s policy and action in working to tackle health inequalities and creates a unique guide which will help you to embed action on tackling health inequalities into your everyday activities. The online tool consists of five sections and takes around 15 minutes to complete.

Go to VCSE Inclusion Health Audit Tool

New Planning for Pregnancy tool launched

Tommy’s, in partnership with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), Public Health England (PHE) and the UCL Institute for Women’s Health, has launched a digital tool today to give women all the information they need to know before pregnancy.

There are several key steps that can be taken before conception to improve fertility, pregnancy health and the baby’s future health. However, before women become pregnant, they are often not talking to health professionals and many are not aware of about how they can reduce their risks.

The tool is being launched this week with a national #AreYouReady campaign to raise awareness of the importance of planning for pregnancy as a factor in having a safe and healthy pregnancy.

In a survey of more than 750 women, pregnancy health charity Tommy’s found that the majority of women put a lot of thought and planning into an annual holiday. When it comes to trying for a baby, however, most of us aren’t aware there is anything to do other than stopping contraception.

The survey found that 67% of women plan for three or more months for a holiday, compared to 20% planning for three or more months for a pregnancy. Just under 40% of respondents said they stopped using contraception the same week they made the decision to have a baby, leaving little time to make any change that might affect the health of pregnancy and baby, such as taking folic acid, improving diet and achieving a healthy weight.

The survey also found a big difference between the perception of how long it takes to get pregnant compared to the reality. More than a quarter of women surveyed (25.3%) became pregnant within one month compared to fewer than 5% expecting this to happen.

Go to Planning for Pregnancy Tool

Go to Planning for Pregnancy Hub

The hub includes comprehensive information about all the topics women planning a pregnancy need to know about, from healthy diet and exercise, to taking folic acid.

The #AreYouReady campaign

The campaign to launch Tommy’s new Planning for Pregnancy digital tool (#AreYouReady) plays on the idea that women are currently not aware that there is anything to be done before getting pregnant, and thus they do not plan for it as they do for other events in their lives, such as holidays or moving home.

The campaign aims to educate and inform women aged 18-40 of the importance of looking after yourself and making behaviour changes before pregnancy.

This includes

taking folic acid at least two months before pregnancy
quitting smoking
maintaining or coming closer to a healthy weight (BMI)
adopting healthy eating behaviours
staying active or becoming more physically active before pregnancy
speaking to a GP if taking medication for a mental or physical condition.

#AreYouReady campaign film

Children’s attachment – online learning tool

NICE has just launched an online learning tool – Children’s attachment – that uses interactive activities and case studies to support the implementation of NICE guidance.

The tool sets out how the guideline can be applied in a practical way to support children and young people who may have attachment difficulties, as well as their carers and families.

This e-learning tool has learning activities to help you to implement the guideline “Children’s attachment: attachment in children and young people who are adopted from care, in care or at high risk of going into care” and improve outcomes by focusing on some of the key implementation challenges identified. It is divided into four sections:

Understanding attachment
Causes of attachment difficulties
Recognising possible attachment difficulties
Supporting children and young people who may have attachment difficulties, their carers and families.

It will take around one hour to complete and you can undertake it in more than one session if required. The tool will resume where you left off. You will need to login to the NICE system to access the e-learning.

This free online tool has been developed by the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE).

It’s aimed at staff who have contact with children & young people who are adopted from care, in special guardianship, looked after by local authorities or on the edge of care.

Go to e-LfH website