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Older people playing bingo

Inequalities, COVID-19 and the older population: developing a community-based response

Camilla Lewisluciana Lang By , , and Filed Under: All posts, Cities and Environment, Health and Care, Health and Social Care, Levelling up Posted:

Older people were disproportionately affected by the emergence and spread of COVID-19, whether in hospital, the community or in care homes. Just taking the period from January to December 2020, 72,178 people died 60 days after testing positive for COVID-19 or with it mentioned on their death certificate – 67, 451 of whom were 60 […]

Why do teachers need to think about student experiences of loneliness?

By , and Filed Under: Education, Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

Globally, many governments have set an objective to reduce loneliness, including among adolescents. So far, however, the focus has been on individuals, and is most often out of school time. In this article, Professor Pamela Qualter, Dr Rebecca Jefferson, and Dr Lily Verity discuss their work in the UK, and internationally, and argue whole school […]

We all age differently: approaches to understand the diverse lives of older people

By Filed Under: Cities and Environment, Health and Social Care Posted:

There’s no one kind of ‘older person’, and often, describing them as such overlooks the enormous diversity of this group. Policymakers and service providers have typically relied on one-size-fits-all approaches, which are not always appropriate for diverse populations within the umbrella of ‘older people’. Here, Dr Amy Barron outlines a new toolkit for policymakers to […]

Long in the tooth: is water fluoridation out of date?

By and Filed Under: All posts, Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

One ongoing intervention to tackle tooth decay in parts of the UK is the provision of fluoride in drinking water. But such moves aren’t always popular with the communities involved.  There is also a lack of evidence based on contemporary populations. Here, Dr Michaela Goodwin and Professor Michael Kelly outline the findings of a new […]

“I don’t do anything”: It’s time to place more emphasis on strength training in later life

By Filed Under: Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

Since 2011, the UK Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) guidelines on physical activity have included strength recommendations. However, there is limited evidence that these recommendations are getting through to those who need them. In this blog, Dr Ashley Gluchowski outlines how older adults are engaging with the guidelines, and whether more can be done by public […]

Child of the North: Child mental wellbeing

By , , , and Filed Under: Education, Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

Children’s mental health and wellbeing was deteriorating prior to COVID-19, but there was significant decline during the pandemic, particularly in the North of England. This blog post covers the collaboration between Professor Pamela Qualter, Professor Matt Sutton, Stephanie Gillibrand, Professor Neil Humphrey and Dr Ola Demkowicz in their study of children’s mental health, originally published […]

Child of the North: The economic impacts of child health

By and Filed Under: Health and Care, Health and Social Care, Levelling up, UK economy Posted:

The economic performance of the North of England consistently lags behind the national average. One factor that could partly explain this ‘productivity gap’ is the poorer physical and mental health of children in the North, along with a widening educational gap, with long-lasting impacts on the labour market. In this blog, Dr Rose Atkins and […]

Saving lives and money through early detection: Lynch syndrome case study

By Filed Under: Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

A new national standard for cancer testing in England and Wales (NICE ‘Diagnostic Guidance 42’) was published in October 2020, following a successful policy engagement campaign from Professor Emma Crosbie’s team at The University of Manchester, and Policy@Manchester. In this piece, adapted from our On Cancer publication, Professor Crosbie explains why this is just the […]

All sorted now? The continued risk of COVID-19 to patients with severe mental illness

By and Filed Under: Health and Care, Health and Social Care Posted:

The success of the coronavirus vaccine rollout in the UK and internationally has allowed some return to normality for many people. However, one group that was – and continues to be – at risk of being overlooked in the context of COVID-19 is those with severe mental illness (SMI). In this blog, Dr Lamiece Hassan […]

Rules of the road: The need for new quality standards for AI technology in healthcare

By and Filed Under: All posts, Health and Care, Health and Social Care, Science and Technology Posted:

In recent years, we have seen a profusion of AI, algorithm, and machine-learning technologies enter clinical practice. This has happened across the health and care sector, and cancer testing and treatments have been no exception, with some proven benefits. For example, AI has been shown to be capable of recognising patterns in scan images that […]

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