Road injuries, ethnicity and location

An article in the latest issue of Health and Place looks at ethnic as well as socio-economic inequalities in road injuries to children. Researchers examining data from London found that children categorised as "Black" had higher injury rates than their White or Asian counterparts. BBC News reports on road accident deaths over the past decade, featuring a mapping tool.

Childhood obesity rise levelling off?

Figures released from the National Child Measurement Programme confirm the suggestion first proposed by a National Heart Forum report that the rapid rise in childhood obesity is now slowing (see Fair's Fare 19 November). Data from the Health Survey for England 2008, to be published imminently, is expected to offer further evidence of a trend in this direction.

Park life: green space and health

There's quite a bit of evidence that people think access to green spaces makes them feel better, but do doctors' assessments tie in with this? A study from the Netherlands published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests that physicians concur. Using morbidity data from GP practices and postcode mapping of green spaces, researchers found that prevelance rates for groups of disease were frequently lower in areas with more green space within a 1 km radius. They also found that the relationship between green space and health was clearest for anxiety and depression and also amongst children and people of a lower socioeconomic status.

Quo vadis?: local authorities and healthy communities

Local authorities have a greater depth of understanding of "the main health challenges" and their part in tackling them, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI for IDeA. The Healthy Communities Direction of Travel Survey involved interviews with senior staff in local authorites and PCTs to assess awareness of the health improvement agenda, as well as capacity to respond to it and levels of partnership working.

Mind the gap

DH has produced a summary of progress towards inequalities targets based on rates of infant mortality and life expectancy at birth. Infant mortality data was released earlier this month. The possibility of narrowing the gap between the general population and the spearhead group "remains challenging" (see Fair's Fare 19 November).

Open wide

The British Dental Association's new policy document on inequalities highlights "an unacceptable and growing chasm" between those with good dental health and those without. The report looks at the impact of dental contracts and the role of the dental team in health promotion in the context of tackling inequalities.

What's the big idea?

A BMJ editorial discusses changing perspectives on the big idea that "what matters in determining mortality and health in a society is less the overall wealth of that society and more how evenly wealth is distributed." The article, by Professors Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson highlights a review by Naoki Kondo and others: Income inequality, mortality, and self rated health: meta-analysis of multilevel studies.

Domestic Violence

Primary Care Commissioning provides guidance on commissioning services for women and girls who are victims of violence. This forms part of the Home Office sponsored strategy, Together we can end violence against women and girls. Formal NHS specific guidance will be available in the New Year, when the DH taskforce on violence against women and girls will also report. DH has also published a toolkit for health professionals working with children and young people affected by domestic violence.

Healthy places

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), the government's advisor on all things architectural, has published a report showing how good design and planning "can have a positive impact on public health" and how PCTs and others can help save the planet by co-locating services.

Learning Disabilities

Rather later than originally announced, DH provides guidance for world class commissioning of services for people with learning disabilities. It’s designed to support the delivery of the Valuing People Now commitments, as well as responding to recommendations in the Parliamentary and Health Service ombudsman’s report, Six Lives.

Art for health’s sake

Some innovative outreach by Walsall Borough Council and NHS Walsall is showcased by the IDeA website. As well as setting up drop in health checks in Walsall Art Gallery as part of the annual Wellbeing Festival, the Arts into Health programme has provided health education through theatre and has also created resources to support schools in delivering the Personal Social and Health Education curriculum.

...more equal than others?

The promised consultation on implementing age equality legislation in health and social care has been published by DH. Part of getting the industry ready to comply with the Equality Bill, this follows the publication of Sir Ian Carruthers’ review last month. Responses are due in by 10 February 2010.

Early days

Promoting its new parenting advice site Babylifecheck , DH highlights some research that shows that new parents need most advice and support around eight weeks after the birth, once the family support network has begun to decline.
Meanwhile HSJ provides a useful survey of success in smoking cessation work amongst pregnant women.

Mortal coil

The latest update of life expectancy data for England shows that trends for both men and women are on course to meet current targets. However, the gap between the general population and the Spearhead Group (England's most deprived areas) remains challenging and is, in fact, wider than when the monitoring began (the baseline uses the 1995-97 figures; monitoring began as part of the Government spending review in 2004).

Looked after children

The statutory guidance on promoting the health of looked after children has been published by DH, replacing the 2002 version. Importantly, the guidance is now statutory for PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities as well as local authorities.

Uncovering the evidence

NHS Evidence - diabetes has published its round-up of systematic reviews on the subject. Another Annual Evidence Update is provided by NHS Evidence - Ethnicity and Health; topics include obesity and South Asian children and using analysis of cancer by ethnicity to improve commissioning.

Good, but not good enough

Responding to the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group (TPIAG) 2007/08 annual report, Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo called on local authorities and health trusts to continue to prioritise this area of work. Since the start of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 1997, the under-18 conception rate has fallen by 10.7 per cent and teenage conceptions leading to live births haven fallen by 23.3 per cent. Following recommendations from TPIAG and others, the government has announced that from 2011 sex and relationship education will form an element of Personal Social and Health Education, which in turn becomes a statutory part of the school curriculum.

Long arm of the law

The Health Act 2009 received royal assent on 12 November. One of its key element is the strengthening of tobacco control legislation in order to prevent harm to children and young people. This new provision bans most shops from displaying tobacco products as well as the sale of tobacco from vending machines. DH is currently consulting on the regulations that will implement these provisions and it is expected that they will come into force in the next few months.

On the level?

The signs are that childhood obesity is levelling out, according to a report published earlier this month by the National Heart Forum. Researchers from the National Heart Forum Modeling Team compared data from the Foresight report with more recent trends from the Health Survey for England. DH was quick to connect the good news with a variety of initiatives, including the Healthy Towns programme. The Wall Street Journal highlights the effectiveness of the European healthy town programme, EPODE, which began in France in the 1990s.

Children's Services

DH has announced the areas of focus for Sir Ian Kennedy’s review of children’s services. They include pathways of care, safeguarding arrangements and transition to adult care. The report is due in March 2010.

Health Visitors

Ambition, action, achievement is the tag line for a paper on health visiting. Getting it right for children and families reports on the first phase of the Action on Health Visiting programme and is intended as a guide for Health Visitors and their teams.

Breastfeeding

There is new commissioning guidance from DH on local breastfeeding support services which aims to help PCTs provide coherent services for this key health outcome area.

A better start

An update to the Healthy Child Programme, the public health early intervention programme, reflects changes in the children's health landscape. The new version, which puts an increased emphasis on pregnancy and the first five years of life, higlights parenting support, applying new information about neurological and children's development, altered public health priorities and a focus on vulnerable families. There are now three core documents, covering pregancy and the first two years, the two year review and five to nineteen years old.

In the margins

Data on marginalised groups in the East of England is provided by Eastern Region Public Health Observatory (ERPHO). Covering looked after children, travellers and gypsies and asylum seekers and refugees amongst others, the figures are provided at local authority level.

Mind the gap

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for 1 in 3 deaths in England and Wales and the burden of this falls most heavily on people living in deprived areas of the country, according to the Care Quality Commission. In its report, Closing the Gap, the Commission calls for a renewed drive to deal with CVD. Stroke Statistics 2009 from the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association provides some evidence to support this view. National mortality target monitoring covers data on circulatory disease. The latest release, which includes figures for 2008, shows that, although overall mortality rates for circulatory disease have fallen, the gap between the Spearhead Group (PCTs in the most deprived areas) and England is not reducing at a similar pace.

Immunisation

NICE guidance issued in September aims to reduce differences in immunisation uptake. This latest Public Health guidance document will be supported by implementation tools later this year.

Community spirit

Examples of good practice abound in a report resulting from the Communities for Health Programme. There's also a report on the story so far from IDeA. Also new from the Communities and Local Government Department, Building Cohesive Communities: What frontline staff and community activists need to know, a guide what works in building communities for frontline workers.

Migratory behaviour

Reports from the Office of National Statistics offer a new way of presenting migration data. Information released provides estimates of short term migration at local authority level for the first time. ONS has been working on changes to the reporting as part of the Migration Statistics Improvement Programme.

It's your age...

What do health and social care organisations need to do to ensure that people who use their services are not discriminated against because of their age? The government asked Sir Ian Carruthers, Chief Executive of NHS South West, and Jan Ormondroyd, Chief Executive of Bristol City Council, to review this issue, so that the industry will be ready to comply with the public sector requirements in the Equality Bill, currently working its way through Parliament. Significant recommendations include: research on the upper age limit in breast cancer screening and the use of QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Years) in decision making. There will be consultation on the report's recommendations in December.

... it's so bracing!

Seaside towns should accentuate the positive was one message from a conference organised by IDeA, along with Sefton Borough Council. Is the tide turning? Putting health first in coastal communities looked at how seaside towns can address the health challenges that face them.

Intensive care

Effective help for young first time parents and their new babies is provided by the Family Nurse Partnership. Reporting on the second year of the FNP programme, evaluation by University of London, Birkbeck noted that the project is having a positive effect on reducing smoking during pregnancy as well as increasing breastfeeding rates. FNP provides intensive support to vulnerable first time young mothers and their families. The specially trained nurses work with the families until the child is two.

View from the bridge

Consultation closed on the first phase of the marmot review on health inequalities in England. You can take a look at responses thus far on the UCL website.

A sense of place

The Place Survey gathers information on people's perception of their local area and services. Overseen by the Department of Communities and Local Government, the second phase of results have just been published. The survey also includes questions about satisfaction with decision making, information, community safety and involvement.

Blowing their own trumpet

At least 70 000 lives have been saved in the ten years of NHS Stop Smoking Services' existence, according to figures released by DH in September. Elsewhere, it's clear that there's a long way to go: cigarette packet information is still unclear as to risk, an article in the Journal of Public Health suggests. Researchers in this study from Canada looked at consumer perception of brand descriptors and imagery as well as the association of perceptions of taste of health risk in expressions such as "low tar" or "mild". An article on the BBC website may suggest the direction of travel.

Domestic violence

The Home Office reports on the past year's activity under the Domestic Violence Action Plan. Amongst the objectives for 2009-10 is the setting up of a DH-sponsored taskforce on health aspects and the publication of a Children and Domestic Violence toolkit.

Out in the cold

Ending rough sleeping by 2012 is the government's ambitious target, set out in No-one left out, published in 2008. A paper from the Communities and Local Government Department provides guidance for local authorities that may not have traditionally experienced high numbers of people sleeping rough. There's also a self-assessment toolkit to help local authorities review existing arrangements. According to the Department "there are 464 people sleeping rough on the streets of England on any single night" (based on the total street count for 2009).

Global classroom

The UK could learn from how other countries use the human rights framework in order to tackle poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation argues. The JRF's research paper surveys activity in the US, Canada and Europe and as well as developing countries.

Alcohol

Alcohol misuse costs the NHS in England around £2.7 billion each year, according to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. Its report, Reducing alcohol harm: health services in England for alcohol misuse looks at the effectiveness of DH policies. Amongst its recommendations is that DH should challenge PCTs as regards reducing alcohol-related hospital admissions.

The BMA targets alcohol marketing as a means of reducing harm to young people, advocating a ban on advertising and establishment of minimum pricing.

Baby friendly

HSJ (8 September) looks at the Unicef/WHO accreditation scheme designed to promote breastfeeding, arguing for implementation across the NHS.

Rural communities

Tackling health inequalities in Fenland offers a particular set of challenges: as well as isolation and an aging population, the area is also home to a sizeable traveller community. The IDeA site offers a video podcast of Fenland District Council's approach which provides some insight into the local authority's thinking.

Children's Services

In it together, a guide produced by the Local Government Association, offers examples of good practice in delivering services for children with complex or challenging needs. The report focuses on commissioning, as well as multi-agency working and caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Infant mortality

Social deprivation, ethnicity and maternal age are the more significant predictors of infant death rates, a study published in the BMJ confirms. Variations between PCTs attainment of targets for infant mortality are more likely to be dependent on these factors than on quality of service or budget considerations.

Social marketing

The National Obesity Obersvatory offers guidance on geographical mapping. This briefing paper stems from market research relating to Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives. It explains the development of a more detailed geodemographic segmentation approach.

Home visits

Recent studies have shown home visiting programmes can have long term social and health benefits - but are they cost effective? A study published in the Journal of Public Health looks at a programme for vulnerable families during antenatal and postnatal periods.
Nurse led home visits are also highlighted as being valuable in effective assessment of childhood asthma, it is shown in a study published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.
NB you will need to log in via Athens to access the full text of these articles.

Sure Start

The Children, Schools and Families Select Committee is about to turn its attention to the Sure Start programme. The Committee will be looking at how far this integrated model of children's centres offers an effective response to deprivation. Written submissions should be in by 12 October.

Childhood obesity

A new leaflet for parents from DH, "Why your child's weight matters" explains the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) and offers advice on healthy lifestyle linked to the change4life programme. Guidance for PCTs and schools for NCMP in 2009/10 is also available on the DH weibsite. BBC News reports on a study in Bristol of managing and treating childhood obesity in primary care. The qualitative study of frontline practitioners is published in the British Journal of General Practice.

Smoking Cessation

A new paper from NHS Employers offers guidance to PCTs in commissioning pharmacy-based stop smoking services. Although clearly designed for use in smoking cessation, it may also offer a template for commissioning other services from community pharmacies.

In the latest issue of Tobacco Control (vol 18 issue 4), a team from the University of Oxford's Department of Public Health attempt to quantify the health and economic burden of smoking in the UK. (NB you will need an Athens password to access the full text of the article).

No secrets?

The DoH was "delighted" with the level of participation in its consultation on changes to the "No secrets" guidance on protection of vulnerable adults. The Department has published a summary of views but gives no clear timeline for any changes in the law or the guidance. Amongst the key messages from the consultation was the stress that the system for adults should not simply replicate the child protection regime. The vast majority of respondents also favoured a clearer definition of "vulnerable adult."

Learning Disabilities

Numbers of people with Profound Multiple Learning Disabilties (PMLD) are set to increase over the next fifteen years, according to a study for DoH by the Centre for Disability Research at the University of Leicester. The report anticipates increasing numbers and thus increasing demands on health and social care services: it suggests that in an "average" area in England with a population of 250 000 there are likely to be 78 adults with PMLD receiving health and social care services, rising to 105 in 2026.

At the heart of the community

New guidance from the Department of Communities and Local Government aims to help local authorities embed community cohesion in their policies and practice. An accompanying study for the Department by puts the economic case for improved cohesion, which includes a brief survey of health benefits of increased cohesion. More guidance, from IDeA (the Improvement and Development Agency), looks at the importance of community engagement when planning and implementing health promotion and health services. Aimed largely at local authorities, the paper looks at the roles of the voluntary sector and local government as well as NICE community engagement guidance and provides examples of good practice.

Lived experience

It comes as no surprise that a review of research into the experience of poverty shows that it is "almost always overwhelmingly negative". Living with Poverty reviews qualitative research over the last ten years on children's and families' experience of poverty. Commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions, the report has a particularly strong focus on setting out children's experiences of poverty.

Older people

A prevention package for older people was launched by DoH on 22 July. Contributing to the Government's age strategy Building a Society for All Ages, these publications form a suite of resources designed to help SHAs, PCOs and local authorities in commissioning services for older people. Amongst the resources just published are a survey of existing entitlements to sight tests, cancer screening and flu vaccinations, along with best practice guidance on falls prevention and fracture management and an update of intermediate care guidance. DoH anticipates that further resources will be added in the future.

Social exclusion

A government study is looking at how socially excluded groups gain access to primary care. The Social Exclusion Task Force (part of the Cabinet Office) is working with DoH on a six month project, assessing how well current services meet the health needs of socially excluded people, as well as exploring tools for improvement. There will be a study published in Autumn 2009; questions and comments can be sent to primaryhealthproject@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk.

Fair care

Please mind the gap, a report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Parkinson's, highlights inequalities in service provision for people with Parkinson's and their families. The report calls for a review of the National Service Framework for long term neurological conditions in order to assess levels of implementation, along with support for commissioning and workforce planning. In response, the Parkinson's Disease Society has launched a new campaign, Fair Care for Parkinson's.

Information or intelligence?

Dr Foster Intelligence's latest publication in the Intelligent Board series aims at the inequalities agenda. The Intelligent Board 2009: Commissioning to reduce inequalities comes with a web-based toolkit, providing data on hospital admission rates for a range of conditions that are commonly associated with health inequalities, including diabetes, heart disease and stroke. The gadget is aimed at members of the public as well as Commissioners and other health professionals; it provides reports at PCT and GP practice level.

Marmot review

Consultation on the first phase of the Marmot review of health inequalities opened at the end of June. Questions largely ask for comment on the reports from the nine groups tasked with a survey of the evidence base for social determinants of health. Responses are due in by 5 August. This first phase report will then be published in September 2009.

Minimum standards

The cost of a minimum living standard rose in the past year by about 5%, even with overall prices falling, according to a report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. First produced in 2008, the Minumum Income Standard Report is based on what members of the public consider necessary for an acceptable standard of living.

Ambition, action, achievement

... is the alliterative phrase attached to a draft framework document fulfilling the community service commitments of the final Darzi report. Along with the quality framework itself, there are 6 guidance papers, one of which addresses the inequalities agenda (Transforming community services for health, wellbeing and reducing inequalities). HSJ has an in-depth review of the framework document.

The state we're in

The 2009 health profiles have been released. Providing a snapshot of health at county or local authority level, they help commissioners and providers to target their activity where it's most needed. Regional and SHA level profiles will be available later in the year. Key changes highlighted by Public Health Minister Gillian Merron include reduction in rates of early death from cancer, heart disease and stroke, as well as increases in general life expectancy and of children's access to PE in state schools.

Target practice

A focus on routine and manual smokers for stop smoking services will make a significant contribution to achieving PSA and health inequality targets, DoH guidance argues. The guidance also stresses the importance of partnerships with local authorities and the third sector and awareness of the wider context of tobacco control.

Social enterprise

The Social Enterprise Investment Fund is accepting applications again, the DoH has announced. The Fund, which was set up in 2007, provides financing and business support for not-for-profit enterprises in the health and social care sector. The promotional report, Transforming Health and Social Care, gives case studies from earlier beneficiaries, including a cardiovascular screening project, a keep fit programme and St Luke's Healthy Living Centre in Southend.

Our house

Growing up in social housing looks at the relationship between housing, family circumstances and later development. The report, produced by the Tenant Services Authority, along with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, uses data from four studies, tracing samples of people born in 1946, 1958, 1970 and 2000, to examine the changing nature of social housing.

Decisions, decisions

How the healthcare system helps patients to make informed choices is the focus of a new policy paper from the Health Services Management Centre at the University of Birmingham . The paper evaluates a range of communication methods and raises some serious questions about the use of the internet, which the authors suggest is "emerging as the government’s key delivery route for information about health services". Those areas of the population who are least well served by healthcare services, the paper argues, are also less likely to be able to access or search effectively many of these information resources.

... more equal than others

The Department of Health's Single Equality Scheme statement for 2009-2012 sets out policy and measures by which the DoH and will fulfill its obligations under current equality legislation, including the health inequalities agenda.

Cancer screening

Affluence affects takeup of breast cancer screening, while it's ethnicity that appears to have more influence over cervical cancer screening uptake, a research report published in the BMJ suggests. Researchers at Oxford University's Cancer Epidemiology Unit used sociodemographic data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to look at uptake rates amongst women aged 40-74 from 2005 to 2007. Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Intelligence Network have also produced a study on cancer incidence and survival by ethnic group.

Making it happen

A new Child Poverty Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 11 June, following consultation earlier this year (Ending child poverty: making it happen). The Bill, which puts into a legal framwork the government's commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020, is jointly sponsored by the Department for Children Schools and Families (DSCF), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Treasury. As well as national level accountability, the Bill also creates an obligation on local authorities and their partners (including SHAs) to set out a local needs assessment and a joint local child poverty strategy and to consider the issue when developing Sustainable Communities Strategies. The latest issue of Community Care includes some case studies of local "innovation pilots" funded by DSCF.

Are you experienced?

National statistics on the self-reported experience of patients in black and minority ethnic (BME) groups were released on 10 June. The data, based on the National Patient Survey programme output, shows that people from BME groups were more likely to report a negative experience (or "less likely to report a positive experience," as the DoH press release puts it) than white patients. Differences were most marked in the primary care survey and least in the mental health survey.

Stub out smoking

This week Public Health Minister Gillian Merron announced that the 25 local authority areas with highest smoking prevalence will receive a share of £2.5 million to develop further stop smoking initiatives. These could include support for trading standards to enforce regulations on the sale and advertising of tobacco products or work with local revenue officers to combat ther illegal tobacco market as well as anti-smoking marketing activities.

... and statistics

The June issue of Health Statistics Quarterly from the Office of National Statistics provides some useful inequalities data (topics include adult female mortality, infant deaths and chronic illness).

Gypsy and Traveller Communities

Primary Care Contracting has issued a Primary Care Service Framework for gypsy and traveller communities, Public Health Update reports. The PCSF is designed to help PCTs "extend entitlement" to these traditionally hard to reach groups.

Rehab

Record numbers of young people were treated for drug problems last year, a Radio 1 news feature announced. The data provided by the National Treatment Agency suggests that the rise is simply in treatment levels rather than reflective of increased drug use. The NTA has also released a report identifying good practice in rehabilitation and detoxifiation centres.

Smoking Cessation Services

The latest issue of the Journal of Public Health includes a systematic review of strategies to enhance access of disadvantaged groups to smoking cessation programmes that makes quite bleak reading. The team of researchers considered 48 studies, around half from the UK, but found few that provided clear evidence of success, partly owing to a lack of reporting of socioeconomic data. However, the authors do note that NHS stop smoking services have managed to reach smokers living in disadvantaged areas. They also identify good practice, such as the use of "health equity audits" to interrogate client data and ensure that services are reaching disadvantaged groups. Meanwhile the Department of Health has announced a "new systems-based approach", modelled on the process used by stop smoking services in Yorkshire and Humberside.

What's bred in the bone

The foundations of adult disease can be laid by developmental and biological disruptions in early childhood, argue the authors of an article in The Journal of the American Medical Association, highlighted by Dr Buttery's Public Health BLOG. The article focuses on how neuroscience can inform the debate, but other articles in the issue, which has a child and adolescent health theme, look at futher health promotion and access to healthcare issues.

Safer Together
...is the theme of National Child Safety Week (22-28 June). The Child Accident Prevention Trust has put together an information pack for anyone working with children and young people and there's also a website.

Childhood Obesity

It's more likely that children from poorer communities in London will be obese than those from more affluent families, the London Health Observatory reported last week. The LHO's report consitutes the first detailed analysis of local level data from the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) for 2006-8. NCMP data was released earlier this month. The LHOs' director praised PCTs and local authorities for the quality of data recording, but noted that the figures constituted "a striking finding for both London’s most deprived and for black communities.” Risk of obesity was highest amongt children from the poorest boroughs, with with a range of 6% to 14% for children in reception year, and from 12% to 26% in year 6. Additionally, there was a significantly higher risk of obesity for children from black ethnic minority groups in both year groups than other ethnic groups. Overall, London's figures are higher than the national average, too. The National Obesity Observatory's May newsletter provides a useful survey of data on obesity and deprivation.

Right back at you
The Government's response to the Health Select Committee's report on Health Inequalities offers a defence of its policy and practice. Areas challenged include: the "trade off" between redistributing health resources to tackle inequalities and NICE technology appraisal, the government's commitment to evaluating initiatives, effectiveness of the Sure Start programme and the vulnerability of public health budgets. On this last matter, the government's paper notes that ACRA (the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation) is working on a new approach to inequalities and allocation after 2010-11. The Government also appears to accept the Committee's recommendation that it needed a clearer understanding of how PCTs spend funding provided under the inequalities allocation.

A picture of Britain
NHS Information Centre published its latest report on alcohol last week. Drawing on a range of published resources, the report analyses drinking behaviour amongst adults and children, attitudes to alcohol and drink-related costs, ill-health and mortality, largely using data from 2007/8. It also discusses the issue of cost and affordability of alcohol. Meanwhile the Home Office is consulting on how alcohol is sold and supplied. The consultation, which proposes a new code for retailers, closes on 5 August. A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation looks at case studies from other fields, such as youth smoking prevention, that may help to frame policy approaches to dealing with alcohol harm.

Every Child Matters
The DCSF has launched its new Every Child Matters website. The new site provides a single point of access for the three key sites, ECM, Sure Start and the DCSF Local Authorities area. From 14 May, these sites will no longer be updated, although will still be accessible for a while.

Housing
A useful guide to housing issues faced by families with a disabled child has been published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It's aimed at non-specialists and offers a good summary of the issues involved, along with case studies.

Violence against women
A new taskforce looking at how to spot early signs of violence against women and girls has been announced by the Health Secretary. The group, which includes health professionals as well as women's organisations, will investigate the scale of the problem as well as aiming to provide effective training for NHS staff.

Inequalities toolkit
A team at Sheffield University has developed a toolkit for helping NHS providers and commissioners address inequalities in access to healthcare. The work was a product of an action research project in Yorkshire and Humberside and can be used alongside the Department of Health document Health Equity Audit: a guide for the NHS.

Asthma management
Marking National Asthma Awareness Week, Health Secretary Alan Johnson called for local health agencies and schools to improve management of children’s asthma.There is a new Best Practice Guide on children’s asthma in development and adult asthma will be one of the focus areas in the strategy on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease expected later this year. However, Children and Young People Now reports that the government has scrapped the Schools (Health Support) Bill which would have placed a legal duty on schools to support children with long term health conditions.

Poverty line
Figures released for 2007/8 in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series suggests the government will be hard-pressed to meet its aim to halve the number of children living in poverty by 2010, at least according to Save the Children and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Progress?
The government’s verdict on its efforts in dealing with the UK’s health inequalities, as identified in the Acheson report, was published on 7 May. The paper, Tackling Health Inequalities: ten years on, covers the years between the Acheson report and the announcement last November of a strategic review lead by Professor Sir Michael Marmot. The Marmot review is expected to publish its findings early in 2010.