Resources

Children with epilepsy - new electronic resource

A free resource, entitled Paediatric Epilepsy, has now been made available electronically. The resource specialises in critical review articles about daily practice eg differing cultural views on epilepsy and its management. What is the 21st century telling us about the medium and long-term outcomes of childhood onset epilepsy?  If you are interested, email Brian Chappell b.chappell@neuroeducation.org.uk, to register your email address and you will be added to the email distribution database to receive future quarterly issues.

Paediatric Epilepsy: Current Awareness Service - first digital issue

The first quarterly digital issue and the abstracts that relate to the literature searches completed over the last three months.  The abstracts correspond, in the correct order, with the publication titles in the main journal section.  Read more

What can I do? Protecting your child from sexual abuse

In the wake of recent news stories about allegations of sexual abuse against children, the NSPCC is making its recently published booklet for parents and carers, What can I do? Protecting your child from sexual abuse, available for free to parents and professionals working with families

What can I do? Protecting your child  from sexual abuse with nursing practitioners and the families they work with who may have a need. You can look at this publication by following this link www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice/for-parents-and-carers/guides-for-parents/sexual-abuse/sexual-abuse_wda90715.html

We would like to offer all RCN members up to 10 free copies, and invite any parent they have contact with to apply to us for a free copy.

New diabetes online learning resource

A new online learning programme has been published by the Royal College of Nursing. Diabetes Essentials is designed to provide an overview of the core concepts of diabetes; diagnosis and current treatments and roles and responsibilities in regard to treating patients with diabetes.

The resource can be accessed via the RCN CPD Online Learning page.

Managing children with health care needs: delegation of clinical procedures, training, accountability and governance issues

In 2004, the Council for Disabled Children published ‘the Dignity of Risk’ which contained an advisory list of procedures previously produced by the Royal College of Nursing in 1999, highlighting those clinical procedures which could be safely taught and delegated to unregistered health and non-health qualified staff. This list was subsequently updated for ‘Including Me’ in 2005. Further revisions have since been made to reflect some of the queries which have arisen, clarifying pointers as needed. This most recent version takes account of changes occurring in the NHS and the significant risks posed to children and young people arising from the plethora of private providers and social enterprises. This document will continue to be updated at periodic intervals.

To read more you can download the document here (106KB PDF)

Safeguarding Children and Young people: roles and competences for health care staff, Intercollegiate document, September 2010

To protect children and young people from harm, all health staff must have the competences to recognise child maltreatment and to take effective action as appropriate to their role. They must also clearly understand their responsibilities, and should be supported by their employing organisation to fulfil their duties.

In 2006 the Royal Colleges and professional bodies jointly published Safeguarding children and young people: roles and competences for health care staff. The document described six levels of competences and provided model role descriptions for named and designated professionals.

Since that time, reviews across the UK have reinforced the need to further improve the safeguarding skills and understanding of health staff, and to improve access to safeguarding training. A specific review of safeguarding training by the Department of Health in England highlighted the need for greater clarity about the training that should be received by different staff groups.

To read more you can download the document here (867KB PDF)

Recruitment of nurse case assessors to review care received by children and young people with epilepsy

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Heath (RCPCH) is currently recruiting nurses to work as case assessors on the Child Health Reviews-UK case review project, which is part of the UK-wide Clinical Outcome Review Programme commissioned by HQIP. Case assessors will perform criterion-based and holistic assessments of clinical care received by children and young people with epilepsy, who have died of any cause or been admitted to hospital for intensive or high dependency care following a prolonged seizure.

Case assessors will work collaboratively in pairs of one nurse and one paediatrician to review care received based on case notes from various healthcare settings. Comprehensive training covering service evaluation projects, case assessment methodology and data protection will be provided, and final appointment will be confirmed following training.

For more information on how to apply please visit
www.rcpch.ac.uk/child-health-reviews-uk/recruiting-case-assessors/recruiting-case-assessors

Emotional neglect and emotional abuse in pre-school children

The NSPCC and Cardiff University have launched a new resource to help practitioners identify emotional neglect and emotional abuse in pre-school children.

The resource, which is free to download, alerts practitioners to the key signs they should look out for both in a child’s behaviour and in parent-child interactions which may indicate a child is being emotionally neglected or emotionally abused.

It is the latest in the CORE-INFO series of leaflets and is based on a systematic review of the latest worldwide published scientific research into the features of emotional neglect and emotional abuse in children under six, conducted by Cardiff University’s Child Protection Systematic Review group.

Dr Sabine Maguire, of Cardiff University, said: “The review showed there are clearly observable emotional, behavioural and developmental features in pre-school children who have been emotionally neglected or emotionally abused. Early recognition of these features potentially enables the cycle of emotional neglect or emotional abuse to be broken, thus preventing longer term consequences which may include increasing aggression, poor social skills and language delay.”

Dr Ruth Gardner, head of the NSPCC’s neglect programme said: “Emotional neglect and abuse in early infancy have a profound impact on children and can lead to them becoming anxious, anti-social, withdrawn, or aggressive later in life. It is vital that practitioners have the right resources to allow them to recognise the signs early, as the longer the child is left in an emotionally abusive or neglectful environment, the greater the resulting damage. By bringing together the learning from a wide range of research in an accessible way the new CORE-INFO resource will be very valuable in helping practitioners identify these children and seek specialised assessment where necessary.”

This is part of the work that the NSPCC is undertaking to tackle neglect a key priority for the charity, with its research showing that one in 10 children are experiencing severe neglect in childhood and recent report revealing that calls to its helpline about neglect have doubled in the last two years.

The resource can be downloaded by going to www.nspcc.org.uk/core-info

Latest Evidence Update from NHS Evidence - food allergy in children and young people

‘Food allergy in children and young people: Evidence Update May 2012’ is the latest Evidence Update from NHS Evidence – a service provided by NICE. It focuses on a summary of selected new evidence relevant to NICE clinical guideline 116 ‘Diagnosis and assessment of food allergy in children and young people in primary care and community settings’ (2011).

The full document can be downloaded here (PDF 272KB)

NHS Children's Neuro Update April 2012

The latest edition of the Safe and Sustainable Children’s Neurosurgical Services can be found here (PDF 3MB)

Allergywise

The Anaphylaxis Campaign has developed AllergyWise, an online course, based on its successful school nurse training in anaphylaxis and severe allergy.

AllergyWise for health care professionals is accredited by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and endorsed by the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI). The course is specifically designed for health care professionals including school or nursery nurses, health visitors, those with responsibility for training teachers and other staff working in schools and early years settings.

For more information, please download the Allergywise flyer (PDF 101KB)

Long-term conditions: AYPH Research Summary - February 2012

This summary of AYPH’s latest Research Update focuses on long-term conditions. We produce these regular updates to provide an overview for our members of current research, and to highlight recent policy developments concerning adolescent health. Topics covered by earlier updates include accidents and injuries, health inequalities, disability, physical activity, alcohol and substance use, teenage pregnancy and sexual health, and mental health and emotional wellbeing.

The summary in full can be accessed here (PDF 385KB)

Managing children with health care needs: delegation of clinical procedures, training and accountability issues

In 2004 the Council for Disabled Children published ‘the Dignity of Risk’ which contained an advisory list of procedures previously produced by the RCN in 1999, highlighting those clinical procedures which could be safely taught and delegated to non-health qualified staff. This list was subsequently updated for ‘Including Me’ in 20052. Further revisions have since been made to reflect some of the queries which have arisen, clarifying pointers as needed. This document will continue to be updated at periodic intervals.

To access the document, please go here (PDF 50KB)

All Babies Count- Support for parents

Becoming a new parent is a really exciting time. But it can also be worrying. The NSPCC booklet All babies count: support for parents explores the challenges that new parents face and the vulnerability of babies. Written following consultation with both parents and professionals, this is a resource for you to share with parents, especially those parents who are under stress as it includes advice on how to calm a crying baby, how to manage the stress of new parenthood, how to pick up signs of post-natal depression and where to get help.

NSPCC are offering those who work with parents 10 free copies of this booklet (whilst stocks last). Please email info@nspcc.org.uk  or ring 0207 825 2775.  Alternatively you can download a copy from www.nspcc.org.uk 

The NSPCC want All babies count to be a tool to support your work. If you have any comments or feedback about how effective this booklet has been, they would like to hear from you. Please contact them on info@nspcc.org.uk 

HeadSmart- raising awareness of brain tumour symptoms

HeadSmart is a new joint campaign by the Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre at the University of Nottingham, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust that aims to raise awareness of brain tumour symptoms by helping parents and health professionals spot the signs of brain tumours in children and young people.

For more information please visit www.headsmart.org.uk or download the PDF below.

HeadSmart- be brain tumour aware (PDF 86KB)

Useful links

Critical care - a one-stop resource for critical care practitioners
Resource from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which includes guidance, safety alerts and links to educational material to assist in the safe use and management of medicines and medical devices.

ERIC launches new website

ERIC (Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence) has launched a new website to allow health professionals, parents and children to easily access information and support on childhood continence problems.

Continence problems affect one in 12 children and young people in the UK and ERIC is the only organisation dedicated to providing information and support. The new website includes updated information for children, young people, parents and health professionals along with easy to navigate headings. The website also features interactive message boards, an online training booking facility and ERIC’s specialist online shop.

For additional information please visit www.eric.org.uk

Inpatient care for people with diabetes: The economic case for change

This paper was written for NHS Diabetes by Insight Health Economics (PDF 10,792KB)

Counting the costs of cancer

CLIC Sargent has published a new report on the financial impact of cancer on children, young people and their families.

The report found that:

The report in full can be accessed here (PDF 1MB)

[See: How to access PDF files].

Guidance on U16 pregnancy checks

Determining pregnancy status in young female patients under 16 years of age is an area that clinicians may find difficult.  Whilst regulators state it is required before surgical or radiological procedures the ethical, practical and contextual considerations can compromise compliance with good practice. This practical guide sets out the considerations and approaches that NHS organisations may consider when developing their policies in this area.  Supported by all the major professional clinical bodies and backed with evident statistics and tools it aims to support local members in brokering conversations and agreement around this sensitive process.

For more information, please visit www.rcpch.ac.uk/pregnancychecks

A whole systems approach to improve the planning and commissioning of services for children and families

The British Association for Community Child Heath (BACCH) has produced a discussion document for consultation. The intention is to try and improve the quality of planning and commissioning, delivery and regulation of services in order to achieve better outcomes for children and families through the adoption of a "family friendly framework". 

For more information, please download the framework (PDF 770KB)