Evidence
NHS Health Scotland's Evidence for Action (EfA) team’s role involves specific inputs to the design and delivery of health improvement programmes within and beyond NHS Health Scotland, such as the Anticipatory Care Programme.
The Evidence for Action team:
- gathers together evidence relating to the effectiveness of health improvement action in key subject areas, and communicates that evidence in ways that help policy-makers, organisations and practitioners to develop and deliver effective action
- promotes and contributes to the further development of approaches to evidence-informed decision making on policies and other actions that will improve health and reduce health inequalities.
The knowledge and confident application of the evidence base and awareness and refinement of good practice to suit local circumstance are considered key components of the programme. However, these ambitions can only be realised when access and consideration is given to current effectiveness evidence.
Guidance for health professionals for the Anticipatory Care Programme
Recommendations and Guidelines
NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) produces public health guidance for England, aimed at promoting good health and preventing ill-health. NHS Health Scotland produces ‘Scottish Perspectives’ on such guidance to enable the action recommendations, adapted or amended if considered appropriate, to be used to support the development and implementation of policy and practice in Scotland.
Scottish Perspective on NICE public health: Guidance 15 – Identifying and supporting people most at risk of dying prematurely(internal link) focuses on: reducing the rate of premature deaths from cardiovascular disease and other smoking-related diseases; finding and supporting those most at risk and improving access to services.
The resource Keep Well Interventions Evidence Overview of Guidelines and Evidence a resource for pilots (internal link) provides an easily accessible overview of current guidelines on action that can be taken by professionals and members of communities in pursuing the vision and focus of Keep Well. Evidence on the effectiveness of relevant interventions is also detailed where this helpfully supplements and complements the guidelines identified.
Engagement Methods
The paper Keep Well Engagement and Concordance: Evidence Overview- A resource for pilots (external link) was produced by Elizabeth Bream (NHS Lothian) in March 2006 to guide pilot project implementation. It provides an overview of existing evidence relating to:
- how to contact and offer assessment/preventative care to hard to reach populations (in primary care)
- how to ensure compliance/concordance with interventions (in primary care)
The evidence relating to engagement should be considered in conjunction with the more reccently produced resource: Motivators and barriers to engagement with health checks (2009) (internal link). This paper reports on research which was undertaken during the latter half of 2008 which explored the motivators and barriers to engagement with health checks.
Reviewed 6 May 2011