Surf's Up 14 (1)

National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI)

(http://www.ncri.org.uk/)

The National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) is a partnership between the governmental, charitable and private sectors.  The site gives information on NCRI's activities, including its strategic reviews in cancer and initiatives to address national infrastructure issues in UK cancer research. It is designed to develop as an information hub for NCRI's member organisations, specialised strategic review groups and the cancer research community as a whole and to provide the UK gateway to the International Cancer Research Portfolio database (http://www.ncri.org.uk/includes/icrp.htm or http://www.cancerportfolio.org/)- a database of ongoing cancer research funded by UK and US organisations.

Health Management Online

(http://www.healthmanagementonline.co.uk/ )

New last year,  Health Management Online is a resource for Health Managers from SHOW (Scotland’s Health on the Web http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk).   Features include: access to the library catalogue, reading lists and management briefings, links and lists of new documents, circulars and other material that are of relevance to health managers.   I’d also like to remind readers of the NeLH for Health Management (http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/management) which contains a range of resources including the useful Health Management Briefings (http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/management/mantop.htm).

Practitioners with a Special Interest

http://www.gpwsi.org/subindex.shtml

This site aims to provide a comprehensive overview of developments relating to Practitioners with a Special Interest, featuring a variety of material, articles, papers, policies and a discussion forum.  A database of practitioners (searchable by speciality or by region) is being developed.   The purpose of this work is to keep patients out of hospital by developing the roles of GPs, Nurses and AHPs. It will concentrate primarily on the interface between primary and secondary care and will strive to develop integrated services across specialities. Access to specialist services in particular will be improved for those patients who would previously have been referred to secondary care or who require chronic disease management.

Integrated Care Network

http://www.integratedcarenetwork.gov.uk/

The Integrated Care Network is a Department of Health, Health and Social Care Change Agent Team, and NatPaCT Development Programme initiative in partnership with the LGA, ADSS, the NHS Confederation, IDeA and ODPM.  There are substantial resources dedicated to the promotion and support of integrated working, but also potential for duplication, omission and fragmentation. The ICN helps to overcome these issues and harness what is available in a focused way.  The site features material on organisational development, policy, research, inclusion, performance & evaluation, governance, news, events and a discussion area. 

Centre for Public Scrutiny

http://www.cfps.org.uk/

The Centre for Public Scrutiny has been created to promote the value of scrutiny in modern and effective government.  Its site contains information on overview and scrutiny and the scrutiny champions network.  Other useful material on Overview and Scrutiny, including access to OSCAR - National Database of Scrutiny Reviews, examples of good practice, essential reading and resources and the diary of scrutiny officer are available on the IDeA Knowledge site http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/  This requires free registration.  

Health Action

http://www.healthaction.nhs.uk/

Health Action is a website and knowledge management service for primary care and their partners on effective practice in improving health and addressing health inequalities.  Health Action topics include: Community Involvement; Health and Employment; Health and Housing; Mental Health; Partnership Development and Learning Networks.  The site is maintained by the Health Development Agency.

The Health Foundation

http://www.health.org.uk/

The Health Foundation (formerly the PPP Foundation) is an independent charity launched on the 9^th July 2003 that aims to improve health and the quality of healthcare for the people of the UK. Developing leadership is one of its priorities and it annually distributes over £15 million to individuals, organisations and institutions through award schemes and other funding opportunities. As well as supporting leaders in health, The Health Foundation seeks to improve quality and performance in healthcare delivery, and to build capacity in institutions concerned with the education and training of healthcare professionals. The site includes information on its awards and a developing section on Healthcare policy. 

International Men’s Health database

http://www.emhfdatabase.org/

The International Men’s Health database (IMHD) is an initiative from the European Men’s Health Forum.  It is a database of individuals and organisations that work with, or influence the health of men within their country and internationally. It is intended to be a key resource for health practitioners, academics, users of health services and policy makers.

Judge websites for health

http://www.judgehealth.org.uk/

The Judge project was developed in partnership between Contact a Family and the Information Management Research Institute, School of Informatics, Northumbria University. The Centre for Health Information Quality was also involved in the creation of this website.  They have developed two sets of guidelines for judging the quality of health information Web sites, based on the views of health consumers and support groups.  One set helps health consumers make informed choices about web sites http://www.judgehealth.org.uk/consumer_guidelines.htm and the other assists support groups to produce good quality web sites http://www.judgehealth.org.uk/support_guidelines.htm

Other web site changes

There have been various other website changes of note. 

Promoting Health and Wellbeing in Wales

http://www.hpw.wales.gov.uk/

This is the new website replacing the Health Promotion in Wales website.   Lots of features including, the Health Promotion in Wales library catalogue, links to related websites, programmes, publications, strategies and CMO updates from the CMO for Wales, Dr Ruth Hall.   

The Strategy Unit has been moved from the Cabinet Office website to the Number 10 website http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page77.asp

. The Strategy Unit (SU) was created in June 2002 as the result of a merger between the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU), the Prime Minister's Forward Strategy Unit (PMFSU) and part of the Centre for Management and Policy Studies (CMPS), it’s cross cutting remit includes health and social care issues.

IDeA knowledge 

http://www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk/

IDeA knowledge from the Improvement and Development Agency has undergone a redesign, now its material is separated into three main areas: improving your council; improving your services and partnerships and the community.   Areas covered include Overview and Scrutiny and Local Strategic Partnerships.

And now for something completely different

Librarian Avengers http://www.librarianavengers.org is back after a short hiatus.    Contains ‘Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian’ http://www.librarianavengers.org/worship.html, a forum http://www.librarianavengers.org/phpbb/, a blog and other goodies. 

And if that didn’t scare you then this just might.  Coverage from the BBC of an article in Ethics and Behaviour on the Dying Art of Doctors Slang. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3159813.stm.  

And finally, for all you seventies-o-philes, there’s a BBC Roobarb and Custard site http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/roobarb/ where you can watch clips, learn endless roobarbian trivia and send e-postcards of our wobbly friends.  I’ll just be getting my spacehopper out of the attic then..…

Back to Inform 14 (1)

This page was last updated on: 17 March 2004