Pregnancy and Birth to Five Update
1
Feb 2012
The Department of Health (DoH) have issued another statement on the situation with the "Pregnancy" and "Birth to Five" booklets, which have been out of print for several months now.
There are now two interactive on-line guides to help 'fill the gap'.
Statement
Future provision of 'Pregnancy Book' and 'Birth to Five’ book is still being considered as part of the Department of Health’s review of existing arrangements for producing printed and digital material.
In the meantime, the NHS Choices website provides the most up-to-date information relating to pregnancy, maternity and the early years, including an interactive Pregnancy Care Planner (based on ‘The Pregnancy Book’) and Birth to Five guide (based on the ‘Birth to Five’ book) and a range of videos on issues relating to pregnancy, babies and children. - www.nhs.uk
On-line Guides
There are two on-line guides based on the information in the two books which can be used, at least in part, to replace the unavailable books. The guides do look good and it is well worth making a note of the web addresses.
Pregnancy Book - www.nhs.uk/planners/pregnancycareplanner
Birth to Five - www.nhs.uk/planners/birthtofive
Health Events Calendar 2012
14 Nov 2011
We now have a copy of the health events calendar for the first half of 2012,
and it can be downloaded from this site - go to the Health
Campaigns List 2012 page.
The calendar we publish is now collated by the Calderdale Health Improvement Resource Centre. It is published in two parts due to the sheer number of events to be included now.
It gives a lot of detail, including dates, contact numbers, emails and websites.
To Be Confirmed
Several of the campaigns are marked 'Tbc' - To be confirmed. This is because of the current difficult climate which means that some organisations are not sure they will be able to go ahead with their campaign yet.
So keep checking back to the page to see if the position has changed. We will update the version as updates become available.
Promote Choose Well
2 Nov 2011
The Choose Well message is very important. It benefits the patients and the NHS in many ways so it is essential that we are all promoting it during our working day, whether part of the NHS or as an external health worker.
Please do your part in improving treatment and saving time and money by always highlighting 'Choose Well' to your clients, patients and any members of the public you meet.
We all Benefit
When talking about it remember to mention the benefits they will get:
- It will get them better treatment - Going to the right service first ensures seeing the right health professionals with the right experience for their particular problem.
- Quicker treatment - Going to the right service first also avoids time-consuming checking and redirection, and it leaves services free to treat the people that DO require that service.
- Saves money - It will also save them money, avoiding duplicate or extra travel. Also, avoiding unnecessary costs to the NHS will ultimately save money for everyone.
Choose the right treatment...
Self Care |
NHS Direct |
Pharmacist |
GP Practice |
Minor Injuries Unit |
Accident and Emergency - 999 |
There are six levels of treatment in Choose Well. See one of the leaflets for more details (see below).
Free Resources Available
We have a range of leaflets available to explain the Choose Well idea, and these are a good starting point for discussing it. We also hope to have an A3 poster available soon too.
To find the free Choose Well items:
- Go to our on-line catalogue
- Log in (so you can order items)
- In the TITLE box type choose well
- Click the Search button at the bottom of the screen
Reviewing and Renewing Items
4 Oct 2011
After a bit of a break over the Summer, with limited staffing, the Team are all back and working hard again. A large part of our work at the moment is reviewing, deleting and updating our library items.
VHS Tapes
We
are particularly looking at the VHS videos. These are being used less
and less these days but there is still 1 VHS borrowed for each 2 DVDs.
The main reason that tapes are still in use is that so many of them are not available as DVDs yet. Many of them are produced by small production companies which just don't have the resources to update all of their products yet.
Another problem is with older titles. Many, in topics that don't change, have become 'classics' that have stood the test of time and are still in regular use. But often these are no longer in production, with no hope of getting a DVD version so in this case we can often get permission to move them onto DVD so they can continue to be used. We are doing some of this at present too.
Deleting
However we are deleting a lot of items where they are not being used or are becoming out of date and are making a lot of extra space on our shelves. Some topics are more critical than others, and we always get guidance from a relevant professional to advise on what should be deleted or replaced. Feedback from our users as they use items is also very important.
New Items Added Weekly
We are continually adding new items, usually about four each week, so it is very important to check our New Items List on a regular basis.
When in the catalogue, simply click the New Additions menu item on the blue menu on the left of the page.
Ideas Needed
We are always pleased to have suggestions and recommendations of new items from our users. This is the main method by which we hear about available products.
So please keep us informed of anything that may help us to keep the library up to date, e.g.
- A new item you know of
- An item is out of date
- Improvements to an existing item
G.H.H.C. Bracknell - Limited Opening Times
4 Jul 2011
The Great Hollands Health Centre in Bracknell have just changed their opening times:
10:00am to 12:30pm daily - plus other odd times
They have reduced them to a 'core' time of only 10:00am to 12:30pm each day, plus some additional random times which can not be predicted, dependent on staff availability. Please call them before visiting outside the core time to check whether they will be open - call 01344 786 900
The centre is undergoing some reorganisation at the moment, so the opening times may even change again.
Collection/Return Point
Great Hollands acts as our Bracknell 'Collection/Return Point' and will continue to provide this service for us. This will affect several of our service users, so please make sure you do call the centre before visiting outside of the core times.
Other Options
Don't forget that there are several delivery options available from us. It may be that another option would be better for you.
- If you work from an NHS site then you can have items delivered straight to you via the NHS Internal Mail
- You may have an NHS work colleague who could act as a collection/return link
- Another nearby health centre might be willing to act as a collection/return point for you
- One of our other collection/return points may be an option
Wokingham (Wokingham Hospital) or Windsor (King Edward VII Hosp.) - See our maps page for details
If you have any questions re the centre opening times or our delivery options, please give us a call - 01753 63 8678
Birth
to Five Stocks Limited
4 Jul 2011
The Dept. of Health (DoH) has announced that the "Birth to Five" books are currently out of print and they are awaiting a decision on when to reprint. They are not taking any back-orders for these either.
These are widely used by Health Visitors across the county so we obviously hope that they will start printing again soon.
Note that these books are intended for and prioritised for Health Visitors.
Some Stock
We have just had our last delivery of these so will be able to fulfil orders for a month or so. However if the decision to reprint drags on too long we will run out. From experience, other decisions like this can take several months.
We are watching the situation and will update the story when we know anything new.