Local Health Profiles 2011 for Northamptonshire now available

The Public Health Observatories of England have published the Local Health Profiles for Northamptonshire. The profiles draw together information which includes:

• An ‘At a glance’ summary description of people’s health in the area, which includes information on locally identified priorities
• Maps and charts showing how the health of the area compares to the national view and information on health inequalities within the local authority
• Charts presenting changes in death rates over a 10 year period, compared to rates for England
• A 'spine chart' health summary showing the difference in health between the area and the regional / England average

The Health Profiles website also provides interactive maps and charts for users to create their own views of the data, and links to further supporting and relevant products.

You can find all of the profiles for Northamptonshire on the Association of Public Health Observatories site.

Alternatively you can find the profiles for individual areas here:

• Corby
• Daventry
• East Northamptonshire
• Kettering
• Northampton
• Northamptonshire
• South Northamptonshire
• Wellingborough     
  

NICE launches new guideline for hip fractures

NICE have launched a new guideline for the treatment of hip fractures that calls for surgery to take place no later than the day after hospital admission. The guideline also states that hospitals should deliver a co-ordinated Hip Fracture Programme to help faster recovery.

You can find the full guideline and all associated documentation on the NICE web site.

Places still available for July training courses

There are still some places available on the Library Service training courses in July. Training is free to NHS staff and run at a variety of locations around the county. The links below will give you more information.

• An Introduction to Critical Appraisal

• Evidence for Health

• Literature Searching Using the Databases

Our Basic Introduction to Health on the World Wide Web (a course for people who want to know more about the basics of using the Internet) is now available on demand.

And if you can't make our courses, we can always come to you. The Library Service can deliver our standard courses, more tailored workshops or shorter, specialised sessions at any location around the county. All we need is an NHS network connection and a suitable venue. Contact us for more information.

RCN launches new sexual health resource

The Royal College of Nursing has launched a new on-line training resource on sexual health. It provides easy-to-understand learning for RCN members to dip into and addresses a wide range of sexual health issues relating to people of all ages and lifestyle choices.

You can find it in the Learning Zone on the RCN web site.

Springer offers free access to research articles on E. coli bacteria

In the light of the current outbreak of E. Coli in Germany, with cases in the UK and beyond, medical publisher Springer have provided temporary free access to over 400 articles on E. Coli for the next 12 weeks (until the 26th of August).
You can find all of the articles on the SpringerLink site.

More information about the outbreak in Germany is also available (in English) on the Robert Koch Institute web site.

Health Promotion Resources has Re-opened at Forest House

The Health Promotion Resources Service has now completed the move out of Westgate House in Northampton and is open for business at it's new home in Forest House, Telford Way Industrial Estate, Kettering (near the General Hospital, for directions click here).

Our full contact details are:

Health Promotion Resources,
Forest House,
2 Riley Road, 
Telford Way Industrial Estate,
Kettering NN16 8NN
Tel: 01536 527403
Fax: 01604 685465 (unchanged)
Email: hpresources@northants.nhs.uk

We look forward to seeing our customers old and new, at our new premises.

Marathon success for Librarian Jane Proctor

One of our Librarians, Jane Proctor, completed her first ever marathon in Edinburgh on Sunday. Running to raise funds for Crohn's and Colitis UK, Jane finished in a very good time of 4 hours and 36 minutes and has so far raised over £500 via the Just Giving web site.
Congratulations on a truly fantastic effort from all the Library team.

Health Promotion Resources is Now Closed for the Move to Forest House

Health Promotion has now temporarily closed to begin packing for the move to Forest House in Kettering next week.  Unfortunately during this time we will be unable to fulfill any leaflet or resource orders as all of our stock is being packed into crates for the move.

If you need to contact us please email hpresources@northants.nhs.uk.
 
We will reopen on the 2nd of June.

Updated Guides to Using Electronic Resources

In light of the changes to NHS Evidence, we have revised a number of our User Guides to ensure they are up to date with the latest developments on the site.

Our guide to e-journals

If you get stuck with using electronic journals, need to read an e-book, want to know how to search the Cochrane Library for systematic reviews, or look up a medicine in the BNF for Children we have a guide that can help.

For these (and more) see the User Guides page on our web site.

And of course, if you get stuck you can always contact one of the Libraries for advice, or book onto one of our training courses.

NHS Evidence changes - new Library guide available

 NHS Evidence have now launched the new site which has integrated the content from the previous National Library for Health service. The new single site has a very different look and feel with improved functionality.

The databases and journals are now accessed via page on the new site. The actual interfaces for searching both of these remain unchanged.

The Specialist Collections have been replaced by topic pages which bring together different kinds of information on the same subject, such as this one on bipolar disorder. The search engine also features new functionality.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has also launched Nice Pathways. An online tool for health and social care professionals, NICE Pathways brings together all connected NICE guidance on a topic in a user-friendly electronic flowchart.

Previously there has been no easy way to see at a glance everything NICE has said on a specific condition, across all its separate published guidance. Nice Pathways will allow users to quickly view and navigate NICE guidance and other tools on any given topic across an entire care pathway.

We will be revising our user guides and training in the next week or so, but in the mean time we have produced a quick guide to the new site.

Advanced warning - Health Promotion Resources is moving

The Health Promotion Resources Service is moving from it's temporary base at Westgate House to a new location at Forest House in Kettering.

The Service will close on the 18th of May to begin the task of packing and will reopen on the 2nd of June. Unfortunately during the move we will be unable to offer an resources loans or fulfill any leaflet orders.

More details will follow shortly...

Medical Masterclass now available

Medical Masterclass is a training package developed by the Royal College of Physicians to help doctors prepare for their MRCP(UK) examination (all parts). It will also be of interest to many others with an interest in clinical medicine.

Medical Masterclass is comprised of:

• 12 module books covering the scientific background to medicine, clinical skills and the range of medical specialties
• accompanying CDs containing 60 interactive case studies
• the Medical Masterclass web site containing interactive self-assessment questions. This consists of approximately 3000 MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 Written Examination type questions, with a new mock timed exam challenge added every month. You can even see how your score compares to other users and how you perform in each of the different specialties

Module books and CDs are available at the Richmond Library. If you want to make use of the web site you can also get a user name and password from us which will allow you to work through the modules, saving your progress as you go.