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Contents:

NHS and social care interest

1. Healthy start: proposals for reform of the welfare food scheme
2. 'Compact' - improving the relationship with the voluntary and community sector
3. Information technology strategy for NHS dentistry in the 21st century

NHS interest

4. See and Treat - guidance and workshops launched
5. Palliative care - extra funding
6. Chief executives event
7. NHS Alliance fifth annual conference and exhibition, 17-18 October

Social care interest

8. Latest social work recruitment campaign
9. Children in need in England: Results of a survey of activity and expenditure by local authorities in England

NHS and social care interest

1. Healthy start: proposals for reform of the welfare food scheme

A consultation document on reform of the 60-year-old welfare food scheme was published by the Department on Monday 28 October. This programme provides milk and vitamins primarily to expectant and nursing mothers, babies and children under-five in low-income families. The proposals for reform make the best use of existing resources (£142m) to widen nutritional choice and bring the scheme up-to-date in line with latest expert advice on nutrition.

The new scheme, due to operate from 2004, proposes to exchange fixed face value vouchers for fruit and vegetables, cereal based foods, other foods suitable for weaning as well as milk and infant formula. These vouchers will replace the current milk tokens. Vitamin supplements will remain as part of the scheme.

The age range will be unchanged, and the scheme will introduce a new choice of either free milk or a piece of fruit for children at nursery school. Eligible mothers will register for the new scheme with the NHS through ante-natal and post-natal clinics.

Comments are invited on the proposal by Friday 13 December to healthystart@doh.gsi.gov.uk The document is located at www.doh.gov.uk/healthystart/index.htm The expert (COMA) review of the Welfare Food Scheme is being published simultaneously with the consultation document and can be found at www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

For further information contact Dr Ray Earwicker on 020 7972 4504 or ray.earwicker@doh.gsi.gov.uk

The Department is determined to see all NHS organisations in England signed up to a geographically relevant 'local compact' by 31 March 2004.

A local compact should be part of the on-going consultation and involvement process of monitoring, reviewing and implementing service changes. It involves local voluntary and community organisations, local authority councillors and officials, NHS boards and staff all working together.

A local compact will be a valuable mechanism for these organisations to help develop local health and social care policies and improve NHS local delivery.

Chief nursing officer Sarah Mullally is the Department of Health's compact champion. Information about the compact, local compacts and what to do next can be found at www.doh.gov.uk/compact/index.htm

For further information contact Charles Perry on 020 7972 4093 or charles.perry@doh.gov.gsi.uk

This document details proposals for the development of information technology (IT) within dentistry. In particular, IT technology support will be required for the development and application of a standard oral health assessment and clinical pathways for dentistry which will need to be applied consistently across the NHS.

The document can be found at http://www.doh.gov.uk/ipu/whatnew/index.htm

4. See and Treat - guidance and workshops launched

'See and Treat' is a system of care designed to reduce waits and improve the patient's experience in accident and emergency departments. It has already been implemented by some trusts and guidance has just been published by the Modernisation Agency supported by the British Association for A&E Medicine (BAEM) and the RCN A&E Nursing Association.

See and Treat is being supported by the Emergency Services Collaborative, which was launched on October 8th with the first wave. A series of six workshops around the country in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds are being held to introduce the principles of see and treat. A facilitator has also been appointed recently to initially help organisations who are facing challenges with the four hour wait target to implement this system of care.

The guidance in the form of a leaflet and a CD ROM can be ordered by contacting Sonia Lee on 020 7972 1139 or sonia.lee@doh.gsi.gov.uk

To find out more about the Emergency Services Collaborative or See and Treat, visit the web site www.modern.nhs.uk/emergency or call the number above.

A joint working group of NHS and voluntary sector representatives has been established to develop proposals for a new approach to specialist palliative care funding which will command the confidence of the NHS and its palliative care partners (see Bulletin 128). The group is due to report to Ministers later this Autumn. The new approach will ensure delivery of the NHS Cancer Plan commitment to increase NHS investment in specialist palliative care, including hospices, by £50m by 2004 to tackle inequalities in access and to enable the NHS to make a realistic contribution to the cost of hospices incur in providing agreed levels of service.

To support this initiative, the Secretary of State has announced an additional £10m from central budgets for specialist palliative care for 2002/03.

This extra funding will be allocated to PCTs on a capitation basis; resource adjustments will be notified shortly.

The extra funding must be spent on specialist palliative care. It should be deployed in line with cancer network strategic plans for palliative care and in line with part A of the draft NICE guidance on Supportive and Palliative Care (available at www.nice.org.uk from December).

StHAs are asked to ensure joint NHS and voluntary sector agreement to the deployment of these funds. Subject to pending Review of Central Returns approval, brief investment and outturn reports will be required from each StHA showing how this additional resource has been deployed.

Working as part of the cancer networks, PCTs should agree collectively how these resources will meet cancer network-wide needs and it is suggested, in line with the joint working group's recommendations, nominate a lead PCT to ensure co-ordination of this work.

It is unlikely that local health economies will be able to plan and implement new developments in-year. Consequently, we anticipate that the extra funding will be used to secure current specialist palliative care provision in both the NHS and voluntary sector and to signal movement towards providing a realistic contribution to these services.

Further information will be provided with RLA letters and will also be available from StHA Cancer Leads and Cancer Network Managers.

Contact: Robert.Freeman@doh.gsi.gov.uk

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The next chief executives event will be held on 11 February 2003, at the QE2 conference centre, London. This particular event is aimed at NHS chief executives to discuss and determine management issues. Invitations will be sent out from Nigel Crisp in early November.

For further information contact Nick Beswick at nick.beswick@doh.gsi.gov.uk.

The conference examined the success of shifting the balance of power for professionals and the public and in improving patient care and outcomes. Health secretary Alan Milburn addressed delegates on the power of primary care trusts in the new NHS structure. The Department of Health's director of patient experience and public involvement Harry Cayton spoke about supporting patients and building services around them. The department's chief nursing officer for England Sarah Mullally spoke about the role of the family health nurse during a session focused on improving nursing.

To read summaries of the speeches visit www.doh.gov.uk/conferences/nhsalliance5.htm

8. Latest social work recruitment campaign

The third phase of the social work recruitment campaign was launched on 24 October 2002 and will continue for three weeks. The campaign is using national, ethnic and community press and local radio to promote the fascinating work and people with which social workers are involved.

To mark the new phase, a new advert, 'Billy', has been produced with an adoption storyline. 'Billy' concerns a 3-year old boy who has been physically abused in the past, taken into care and is up for adoption. The social worker learns of the little boy's behavioural problems and passes this information onto Billy's new family to help them understand his background. Both press and radio scripts have been developed around this story.

Two other adverts, which have featured in previous campaigns, will also appear. 'Patrick' concerned with a young man suffering from schizophrenia and 'Errol' about an elderly man who receives help to die peacefully at home.

To date the campaign has been a big success with actual calls to the helpline double that forecast and a recent announcement that for the first time in years there has been an increase in applications to do social work.

For further information on the campaign contact Caroline Munkenbeck on caroline.munkenbeck@doh.gsi.gov.uk

For further information on careers in social work visit www.socialworkcareers.co.uk or call the social work helpline 0845 604 6404

This report presents a local authority breakdown of the main children in need figures for England for a survey week in September/October 2001. The figures update an earlier survey - the first of its kind - in February 2000.

Revised national figures are being published at the same time, updating the provisional figures which were published in July 2002.

Key points:

• the survey provides data on numbers of children in need, and the activity and expenditure incurred on them by social services departments, for 144 authorities
• nearly a quarter of a million children in need receive services from social services in England in a typical week
• the average child in need costs social services £230 per week.

The report can be found at www.doh.gov.uk/cin/cin2001latables.htm The revised national figures can be found at www.doh.gov.uk/cin/cin2001results.htm

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copyright: © | Last updated: 4 November, 2002