The Enhanced Healthy Schools model published by the old Department for Children, Schools and Families (now the Department for Education) asks schools to carry out a Health Needs Assessment for its population of pupils.  A training session at the Dryden Centre, Gateshead, on Wed 26th May gave teachers some tools to use when gathering evidence to assess health need and when making recommendations to improve health-related services.

All the resources used in the session can be downloaded below:

Youth workers visiting us at Clarendon for health information.

Sector 3 are one of several partners in"Health Stop", a new unit in the Metro Centre, where shoppers can drop in and get advice and information on all sorts of health issues.

Sector 3 will be talking to people about Brief Intervention for Smoking on Saturday 8th May between 10am and 1pm.  If you are at the Metro, why not drop in and see what's going on - or even better, get some info for someone who's thinking of quitting smoking.  Help is here! 

Healthy Highfield Week is an opportunity for everyone to see what is going on in Highfield, in the West of Gateshead, and to get involved in healthy activities and sessions.

Under the influence - the damaging effect of alcohol marketing on young people
British Medical Assocation, September 2009
This report examines the damaging effect of alcohol marketing on young people. It aims to identify effective ways of protecting young people from the influence of alcohol promotion and marketing, thereby redressing the excessively pro-alcohol social norms to which they are exposed.

A booklet explaing how to keep young children safe and what to do in an emergency. Includes: burns and scalds, falls, poisoning and choking, drowning, childrens development stages 0 - 3 year olds, useful websites, useful contacts, home safety checklist.

Produced by NHS South of Tyne and Wear
for further copies order online at:
or telephone the Public Health Improvment Information Team on 283 1124 / 1125 / 1126.

Child Safety.pdf

The May 2009 newsletter is now available on the NHS Evidence national library for public health website

Archived newsletters are now at:
http://www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth/page.aspx?pagename=NEWSLETTER

Annual Evidence Update on Obesity (Public Health Specialist Library)
http://www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth

The Public Health Specialist Library is updating last year's Obesity Annual Evidence Update focussing on the same topic of Childhood Obesity: Surveillance and Prevention. There has been a lot of new evidence published in these areas, especially in regards to prevention in terms of diet, physical activity, and protection due to breast feeding and early childhood health and diet. The National Obesity Observatory has reviewed the evidence and written summaries about what this means for current programmes and schemes such as the National Childhood Measurement Programme.

This monthly bulletin covers national, regional and local (St Helens & Halton) news, events and other relevant information which relate to the six key areas of the 'Choosing Health' white paper, and some wider public health information.

Read the August 2008 bulletin here

The bulletin is produced collaboratively by the Health Improvement Library, the Primary Care Library, St Helens Health Partnership and Halton Health Promotion Service.

Check out this photostory using local photos and audio promoting Breastfeeding awareness.

This year’s campaign will be encouraging mothers from low-income backgrounds to initiate and continue to breastfeed their baby. The campaign focuses on encouraging women to access the support that will help them to breastfeed for longer, and the strapline, ‘Breastfeeding: every day makes a difference to your baby’, reflects the message that each day a women continues to breastfeed is another day the child receives important health benefits from its mother’s milk.

What’s going on in Gateshead!

Bosom Buddies celebration evening at Pelaw Social Club
Friday 16th May
7pm – 11pm with disco, buffet and raffle.
Tickets £4.00 available from Heather Stone at Felling Children’s Centre
Tel: 433 5639

“Buddies at Saltwell Park” – Saltwell Towers
Saturday 17th May
10 am – 4 pm
Information stands, colouring activities, craft, raffle, music and movement, face painting, raffles.
Contact Felling Children’s Centre
Tel: 433 5646

Department of Health news release (21 February 2008)

80 per cent of children measured

Around 80 per cent of school children - an increase of 32 per cent compared to the previous year - in Reception and Year six have been weighed and measured as part of a scheme to fight obesity ...........
http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=354255&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

How to set and monitor goals for prevalence of child obesity: guidance for primary care trusts and local authorities
Department of Health, February 2007
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_083110

This guidance follows on from the publication of the Government’s obesity strategy Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross-Government strategy for England. The guidance provides advice to PCTs and local authorities on how to set child obesity goals as part of the Vital Signs and the National Indicator Set. This will be followed shortly with full guidance on developing local plans.
Download guidance (pdf file)

This monthly bulletin covers national, regional and local (St Helens & Halton) news, events and other relevant information which relate to the six key areas of the 'Choosing Health' white paper, and some wider public health information.
Read the October issue here

The bulletin is produced collaboratively by the Health Improvement Library, the Primary Care Library, St Helens Health Partnership and Halton Health Promotion Service.

A new tool is now available from the DfES which allows comparison of performance indicators for any chosen Local Authority with a group of "statistical neighbours" that are similar in characteristics.

The list of indicators doesn't match the list in the user guide, and unfortunately it is the health indicators (teenage conception rate and infant mortality rate) that have disappeared, but I have posted a query to the DfES to ask why. Also the model doesn't seem to show regional and national benchmarks, but please comment and if you can find them.

Link to the DfES web page from which you can download the tool.

Effectiveness of interventions to promote healthy eating in preschool children aged 1 to 5 years.
Health Education Authority, 1998

An older review which is still a valid and useful part of the evidence base.
It's available on the NICE website under HDA publications at:
http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=501975
or you can download it here:
Download review (65 pages)
The full review contains a useful 3 page Executive Summary

Three documents of interest;
SFT Letter to Stakeholders
Updated Parent's Guide
School Lunch Guide

What do you think of the new school meals? Click on 'comments' and let us know...

The Government has developed a booklet for parents: "Why your child's weight matters�?, which includes information for parents about:

• The National Child Measurement Programme
• Why maintaining a healthy weight is important
• Steps that parents can take to help their family lead a healthy lifestyle

You can download the booklet HERE or contact Health Promotion Resources on 0191 4335684 for your copy.

This publication brings together a range of indicators of average health status among the population of infants, children and young people in Gateshead. It should be read as a companion to the Gateshead Children & Young People's Plan. The volume is part of the 2005 Gateshead Compendium of Health Related Statistics.

Download Health of Infants, Children and Young People

Interventions to reduce substance misuse among vulnerable young people.
Quick reference guide
Public health intervention guidance 004
NICE, March 2007
Download file

For the full guidance, in pdf and Word versions, patient information, background and associated documents, see the NICE web site at
http://guidance.nice.org.uk/PHI4

Second Choosing Health progress report
Department of Health, October 2006
Download report (84 pages)

Tabular report in topic sections showing Commitment/Action achieved in May 2006 report; Commitment/Action achieved in this report; Commitment/Action still outstanding

Prevention of sexually transmitted infections and under 18 conceptions.
Quick reference guide
Public health intervention guidance 003
NICE, February 2007
Download Quick reference guide

For the full guidance, in pdf and Word versions, patient information, background and associated documents, see the NICE web site at
http://guidance.nice.org.uk/PHI3

Factsheets covering specific topics on health improvement including the Public Service Agreement target areas specifically associated with the achievement of improvement of overall public health, and the reduction of health inequalities.

Download factsheets file
Contains the following 13 factsheets:

Alcohol misuse
Helping children and young people lead healthy lives
Diet and nutrition
Health inequalities
Health, work and well being
Obesity
Physical actvity
Sexual health
Tobacco
Workforce
Mental health
Social marketing
Local government & communities

or download individual factsheets from the Department of Health web site at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4139513

Sexual Health Awareness Week (12th to 18th February)
No Smoking Day (14th March)
Breastfeeding Awareness Week (13th to 19th May)
Cancer Prevention - Fruity Friday (25th May)
Heart Health Week (2nd to 10th June)
Immunisation Awareness Week (10th to 16th September)
World Mental Health Day (10th October)
Alcohol Awareness Week (10th to 16th December)

These health promotion campaigns will be promoted across the borough of Gateshead in 2007. To register to receive an awareness pack of resources please complete the attached Campaign Resources form.

Download campaigns and dates (PDF 70KB)
Download campaign resources order form (Word 30KB)

As the Christmas party season gets underway, young people in Gateshead and South Tyneside will be encouraged to take positive steps towards understanding ‘How Much is Too Much?’ in a local alcohol awareness week from 11th to 17th December 2006. The campaign is aimed at helping the under 25s to make informed choices about their alcohol use through access to accurate and balanced information.

Download a copy of this 2004 Health Needs Assessment carried out by the Health Promotion Team within Gateshead PCT. It looks at self-assessed health status among Gateshead school children and summarises the work that is going on in Gateshead to promote health in the school setting.

Download Children and Young People's Health: The School Setting (1.3 MB)

In 2004, Gateshead Council commissioned the School Health Education Unit (SHEU) at the University of Exeter to carry out a survey of health related behaviours among a sample of Gateshead schoolchildren. The SHEU produced a summary of results for Gateshead children including some comparisons with average results for England. This can be downloaded by following the link below.

Download Young People in Gateshead 2004 (340KB)

The government has published guidance setting out what we know about effective delivery of local teenage pregnancy strategies ....
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/health/teenagepregnancy/?asset=News&id=42818

Teenage Pregnancy Next Steps: Guidance for Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts on Effective Delivery of Local Strategies
Download full guidance

Population statistics for children and young adults
Hugh Cochrane
Department of Health, July 2006

Population estimates for England for 2004 at Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Primary Care Trust (PCT) level for residents aged 0-30, by age band. These statistics have been produced for the Children and Young People's Policy Review of Integrated Services for Disabled Children and Young people, but may also be useful for other purposes.
Download statistics

Interventions to prevent accidental injury to young people aged 15-24
Evidence briefing
Gail Errington, Kathleen Athey, Elizabeth Towner, Heather Dickinson, Mariana Brussoni, Michael Hayes,
Louise Millward, Nichole Taske
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), July 2006
Read evidence briefing (67p.)
Read evidence briefing summary

Accidental injury is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in young adults aged 15-24. This age group, which has received far less attention than children and older people, includes the period from late adolescence and the transition to early adulthood.

This evidence briefing is a review of reviews of interventions to prevent accidental injury to young people in the 15-24 age group.