Guidelines newsletter and new book reports available.

The NHS GGC Guidelines newsletter for February 2007 and a list of new books added to the Maria Henderson Library in November and December 2006 are available on the Maria Henderson Library section of the NHSGGC Library Services web pages.

Mortality inequalities report published

The report Inequalities in Mortality in Scotland, 1981-2001 has been published by the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at Glasgow University.

The report combines the use of death records from 1980-2002 with Census data from 1981, 1991 and 2001 to provide a comprehensive picture of the changing patterns of inequalities in mortality in Scotland. It details inequalities by individual socio-economic circumstances and area deprivation (based on Carstairs deprivation categories and the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation Income Domain), as well as highlighting geographical inequalities.

The report is available online or in hard copy from the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit.

Learning Exchange resource added to e-library

The Learning Exchange resource has been added to the NHS Scotland e-library. It's an initiative of the Scottish Institute forExcellence in Social Work Education with the objective to support and enhance the learning of people involved in social work and social care education through the provision of a digital repository and the development of new digital learning materials.

The Learning Exchange catalogues and hosts learning and teaching materials, from simple text-based learning activities, to links to external material on the open internet, to complex multimedia resources. Content has been collected from a number of sources including academic institutions, social work agencies and independent providers of educational content. In addition the Institute’s Learning Technology Team has created, or repurposed, many new resources in collaboration with social work academics, agencies and independent content providers.

Access to the Learning Exchange is available to anyone with an Athens username and password for the NHS Scotland e-library.

A literature review on multiple and complex needs : lessons for policy and practice

The Development Department of the Scottish Executive commissioned this literature review to inform its Multiple and Complex Needs Initiative which aims to improve services for people with multiple and complex needs. The review collates and evaluates existing research evidence to understand the processes through which people with multiple and complex needs engage, or do not engage, with services to resolve their problems. This paper summarises the main lessons learned from the review and details several good practice case studies. The document can be found here.

Eating Disorders Awareness Week, 4-10 February

Eating Disorders Awareness Week is being run by beat (formerly the Eating Disorders Association). beat is a national charity based in the UK that offers information, help and support to people affected by eating disorders and, in particular, anorexia and bulimia nervosa. The site contains a help and support section including details of their helplines, and a young people's messageboard.
Further information about the Week can be found here.

The Library has organised a book and leaflet display on eating disorders. The leaflet, listing links and relevant books available to borrow, is available on request.

Other useful links:

NHS QIS: click here

NICE guidance: click here

Royal College of Psychiatrists: click here

Library Open Week, 5-9 February

The Maria Henderson Library open week runs from Monday 5th – Friday 9th February. Why not drop by, or contact us for more information about library services.
* Drop in sessions – need a quick question answered by library staff? Or a short introduction to online journals? Perhaps your Athens account has expired? Pop in any day this week between between 12.00 and 2.00 and someone will be on hand to help out
* You can also contact us at 211 3913 or library@glacomen.scot.nhs.uk to arrange training in finding information on the NHS Scotland eLibrary (www.elib.scot.nhs.uk)
* Charity book sale and swap – anyone with unwanted books, both fiction and non, can drop them into the library. You can either donate them for sale, or swap them for something that’s already there! Proceeds from the book sale and swap will go to the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH)
* Any overdue fines paid this week will be donated to SAMH

* Free goody bags – available to collect while stocks last!

** Friday 9th February is our open day, with free tea, coffee and biscuits. All are welcome **

People's experiences of recovery and keeping well

2 February 2007

Over the past year, people in local areas across Scotland have been starting to develop local recovery networks. These networks bring together people in the local area who are interested in recovery from mental health problems and mental illness. Funded by the Scottish Recovery Network (SRN), Outside the Box has been working with these local networks, to give them development support in getting the network off the ground, such as running local events, sharing information and organising training.

Resulting from this work are two publications which draw on the experience of the local networks. The booklets will be a useful resource for anyone who wants to promote recovery in their local area. Click here to download both booklets.

For further information, click here.

Personality Disorder website

The National Personality Disorder - Personality Plus website is the website of the National Personality Disorder Programme. This is a collaborative initiative between the Department of Health, Home Office (Health & Offender Partnerships) and Care Service Improvement Partnership(CSIP) and is supported by the National Institute for Mental Health in England. Although concentrating on England the website seems to have a good deal of more general information for both services providers and users.

QOF reports for Glasgow published

Quality and Outcomes Framework reports for invidual health boards (including Glasgow) and the national overview are available on the QIS website. The quality assurance framework was developed by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland to support NHS Boards in establishing systems and processes to support the Primary Medical Services Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) review process, and to monitor Board performance against the core standards. The QOF provides a significant financial incentive to demonstrate achievement against a wide range of clinical and organisational quality standards.