12 May 2023

UK

More than half of ICSs lack ‘crucial’ health management systems

‘They look like highlighters’: Rise in underage vaping worries teachers

International

Australia: We worked out how many tobacco lobbyists end up in government, and vice versa. It’s a lot

Link of the week

Prevention research conference 2023

Wes Streeting Radio 4 interview

UK

More than half of ICSs lack ‘crucial’ health management systems

More than half of integrated care systems do not have a fully developed population health management system, despite this being a ‘core aim’, HSJ  can reveal.

NHS England’s What Good Looks Like framework tasked ICSs with setting up an “ICS-wide intelligence platform with a fully linked longitudinal data-set” that can carry out planning, risk stratification and population health analysis.

The requirement is a key part of NHSE’s digital aspirations for ICSs, which have been ordered to drive population health management across their patches so clinicians can intervene earlier in patients’ care and managers can improve NHS planning. 

However, responses to freedom of information requests sent by HSJ revealed only 18 of England’s 42 ICSs have such a system in place.

A further 10 ICSs said they had one or more population health management systems across their patch, but these did not have the capabilities NHSE required.

Compliant systems must use primary, acute, mental health, community and social care data to “enable population segmentation, risk stratification and population health management”, according to WGLL. 

Thirteen ICSs do not have a population health management system in place across their entire patch, while one ICS did not respond.

A spokesman for NHSE said the requirement to have a population health management system with fully linked local data was “rightly ambitious”, and he added NHSE was “supporting ICSs to achieve this through hands-on technical advice and the sharing of good practice of those areas leading the way”.

Source: HSJ, 2 May 2023

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‘They look like highlighters’: Rise in underage vaping worries teachers

Headteachers are concerned that more and more children are struggling to concentrate in class because they are addicted to vaping.

The majority of vapes on the market contain nicotine, which is shown to negatively impact developing brains.

But underage vaping is on the rise and schools are having to create new policies to crack down on the issue.

Selling vapes to under 18s in the UK is illegal but research shows the number of 11 to 17-year-olds vaping has doubled in the last two years.

The survey from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found 7% of 11 to 17-year-olds vaped on a regular basis in 2022, up from 3.3% in 2021.

Nearly half of those who vaped (46.5%) said they'd bought the vapes themselves from shops.

In a statement, the Department of Health and Social Care said it has "launched a call for evidence on youth vaping to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products."

It added: "We are also establishing a new illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage vape sales as well as the illicit products young people have access to."

Source: ITV, 11 May 2023


See also: ASH – Resources on youth vaping

Read Here

International

Australia: We worked out how many tobacco lobbyists end up in government, and vice versa. It’s a lot

Writing for The Conversation, Becky Freeman, a Professor at the University of Sydney and Christina Watts, a research fellow at the University of Sydney, discuss the findings of their recent study into the ‘revolving door’ between tobacco lobbyists and government and how this risks undermining public health policies.
 
The authors found that 48% of in-house tobacco company lobbyists and 55% of lobbyists acting on behalf of tobacco companies held positions in government either before or after their role lobbying for the tobacco industry. They also detail how the tobacco industry uses third-party allies to lobby on their behalf and highlight the tobacco industry funded Australian Retail Vaping Industry Association as an example.

Freeman and Watts state that this is an issue because harm-causing industries use this to learn of policies affecting their products or services, to develop relationships with key individuals and to shape policy in a way that protects their interests, which can lead to delayed or weakened public health policies.

The authors conclude by recommending greater public disclosure of tobacco industry employees and activities, extending the period of time employees must wait between switching from the private to the public sector and promoting greater awareness of the ‘revolving door’ tactics used by harm causing industries. 

Source: The Conversation, 11 May 2023

See also:  How tobacco companies use the revolving door between government and industry to influence policymaking: an Australian case study  

Read Here

Links of the week

Prevention research conference 2023

The Prevention Research 2023 conference will take place on 14 & 15 November 2023 in Edinburgh. This conference brings a unique opportunity for researchers, practitioners and policy stakeholders to come together to share and discuss the latest research on preventing non-communicable disease and reducing health inequalities across the UK.

The call for abstracts will now close on 25 May 2023 and we are accepting oral presentations, symposia and workshop submissions.  The themes include (but are not limited to) mental health, children wellbeing, systems approaches, commercial determinants and the applications of novel methods. You can find out more here.

Read Here

Wes Streeting Radio 4 interview

Wes Streeting, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, was interviewed on Radio 4 this morning to discuss Labour’s approach to tackling cancer, smoking and obesity. Listen here from 2:34:42. 

Listen Here
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