'Curiosity': child safety and safeguarding c/o BBC News

'Teacher who killed his adopted son given whole life prison sentence

14:30 18 June

That concludes our live coverage of the sentencing hearing.

To recap what happened at Preston Crown Court earlier: A teacher who sexually abused and murdered the 13-month-old baby boy he adopted with his partner has been told he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Preston Davey died in July 2023 at the hands of Jamie Varley, 37, who subjected the child to physical, sexual and emotional abuse during the final four months of his life.

Varley, from Blackpool, told police Preston had accidentally drowned in a bath, but a post-mortem examination discovered the child had suffered 40 injuries.'

Continued ...

◇

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

curiosity
	PROFESSIONAL CURIOSITY

Source (Various): BBC Live News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4gyrewq8xkt

 Previously: 'curiosity' : 'risk'

Call for Participants: Survey on Trauma-Informed Archival Practice

Dear all,

My name is Emily Hill, I am a current master's student at the University of Glasgow completing my dissertation titled: 

 

To what extent is Trauma-Informed Archival Practice understood and used within the Archival Sector? How effective are the methods of support available to Archivists? 

The aim of this dissertation is to explore the breadth of knowledge within the Archival sector surrounding Trauma-Informed Archival Practice, where professionals have learned about Trauma theory and if the mental health and secondary trauma support available is accessible and effective. There is no prior knowledge of Trauma-Informed Practice needed to participate, as these concepts are explained within the Participant information forms. 

Participation in this survey will take approximately 15 minutes, including the Participant Information and Agreement forms which should be viewed and signed before participation in the survey questions. 

All survey responses are received anonymised, with the data being analysed in correlation with other respondent data on a question-by-question basis. 

I would be very grateful for your participation in this survey, and if you have any questions or concerns you wish to address prior to participating, please email me at 2650467H AT student.gla.ac.uk. 

You can access the survey here. 

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Best wishes, 

Emily Hill.

My source:
To view the list archives go to: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=RECORDS-MANAGEMENT-UK

Joining the digital dots across primary care and integrated care

My partner and I both received a letter today from our respective GPs. An invitation for a 'FREE LUNG HEALTH CHECK'.

Overleaf is an information sheet in landscape about the health check, plus three more sides of A4, similarly formatted - inviting trifold presentation.

After the 'Re. ......' an opening sentence asks: 'Have you ever been a smoker?'

Suddenly, I was dragged backwards through his-tory (some things don't change); not one history, but several:

INDIVIDUAL

|

    INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

My personal and life experience  and not just since my teens . . .

The letter states: **If you have never smoked, you are not eligible for this service**

My mother and father  smoked when I was a child and my siblings.    They got the message early 1980s.    'Society' smoked back then!     Once old enough, I refused to go to the corner shop.   Into the 1990s, patients, smoking (some chain-smoking) on admission, long-stay and other clinical areas. As a community mental health nurse, I learned diplomatic and health promoting skills when in the car, giving a patient a lift to hospital. And, when visiting their home where I was, of course, usually, a guest.

I wondered what has happened to the GP's records? To the primary care clinical record ? The custodians of my health record, that they should need to ask that question?    Or, does confidentiality tie some bureaucratic knots?   Where is 'integrated care' and its driver 'clinical informatics'?  The letter included the NHS Number.    Don't get me wrong, I/we appreciate the obvious effort here, even if the chronology is confusing, or,  speaks of afterthought? The letters are dated 19/06/2025. I must admit I haven't accessed my GP record, checking it for accuracy.   If anything, this is a prompt to do so. And seek a general medical.

Previously: 'smoking' : 'winwick'

Share your voice: IRMS New Professionals Award

- entries close 31 January 2026

Dear students, apprentices and new professionals,

What are you up to between now and 31 January 2026? How about sharing your thoughts on anything to do with Information, Data or Records?

If you’ve not come across it, the Alison North New Professionals Award was set up by Alison back in 2010 to support emerging talent in our profession. 2025 marked its 15th year and the award continues to recognise and champion new voices.

Over the last fifteen years, entrants have offered everything from light‑hearted reflections to deeper insights into how we do what we do. Every applicant adds value, winner or not, helping the profession see familiar challenges in new ways.

What’s new for 2026:

We’re making submissions more flexible. Previously, you had to write an 1,000 word article.

This year you can still submit a written piece or you can record one instead (audio or video). As long as your entry covers 1,000 words’ worth of content it’ll be accepted and shared with the panel for consideration.

Why bother?

We know you’re busy studying or finding your feet in new roles. But for a little time and creativity, successful entrants will receive:

• A funded place at the IRMS Conference 2026—a brilliant opportunity for content, networking and professional contacts. (IRMS 2026 is scheduled for 17–19 May at the Celtic Manor Resort, Wales.)
• Publication of your winning entry to our 1,000+ members, and sharing across our partner networks and the wider profession.
• Plus additional support to help you settle into—and thrive in—our fabulous profession.

So, ignore the inner imposter that says you’ve nothing to say. Set aside some time over Christmas and the New Year, and share your ideas.

For inspiration, our Patron, Scott Sammons, even interviewed recent winners on his podcast to explore why they applied—and why you should too.

(See https://theiglighthouse.podbean.com/e/special-episode-irms-new-professionals-award-carys-hardy/?token=dd9fdcd3d516c13f4874d8baca1c7b64 )

How to apply:

Deadline: 31 January 2026
Format: Written (1,000 words) or recorded (audio/video) equivalent
Details & submissions: https://irms.org.uk/professional-development/awards/new-professionals-award/

What’s stopping you?

Not a new professional yourself? Please share the application page with people who’d be a great fit and encourage them to apply—every little helps.

Best wishes,

Carys Hardy (She/Her)
Communications & Marketing Officer
Information and Records Management Society Ltd (IRMS)
Email: info AT irms.org.uk 

My source and list archives at: 
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=RECORDS-MANAGEMENT-UK

Auction: Twenty-two photographs of psychiatric patients at the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum [1850s]

DIAMOND, Dr Hugh Welch (1808–1886)

Twenty-two photographs of psychiatric patients at the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum [1850s]

Estimate - GBP 100,000 – GBP 200,000

Christie's London - December 10th 2025

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6564110?ldp_breadcrumb=back

Asylum patient by Hugh Welch Diamond, c1850-58
Hugh Welch Diamond (English, 1808-1886)
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

'The women Iook out at us across 170 years of history with a variety of expressions - bold and shy, serene and distressed. Yet all of them were regarded at the time as "lunatics". These faces were the  subjects of a pioneering project by the 19th-century psychiatrist Hugh Welch Diamond, superintendent of the female division of an asylum in London and the world's first photographer to take pictures of patients for the purpose of diagnosis and therapy.

Twenty-two of Diamond's asylum portraits - the largest surviving group - will be put up for auction on December 10 at Christie's in London, as part of a sale of books, manuscripts and photographs from the library of The Royal Society of Medicine. If they achieve their estimated prices, RSM, a membership charity, will raise more than £2mn to invest in physical and digital infrastructure.' ...

'Diamond was working at a time when society's views of people suffering from mental illness were changing. The earlier practice of shutting patients away in secure "madhouses" was giving way to more humane treatment. Diamond seems to have believed that photography would help doctors both to diagnose and to treat patients. His diagnoses were based partly on the idea, popular in Victorian medical circles, that an individual's physiognomy - their physical features, particularly the face - could reveal their mental state.

"He wanted to make people better and put them back into the world," says Sharrona Pearl, a medical historian at Texas Christian University who has studied Diamond's work. "He also enjoyed experimenting and liked the idea of bridging his expertise in medicine and photography.' p.32.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

Mental Illness PERSON - SUBJECT Patient's names not recorded Portrait - Consent?	Diagnosis and Treatment person - DATA - SUBJECT Photography as records Eagerness to classify - label
Social history Change in social attitudes Stigma and fear of mental illness Current relatives?	Confidentiality Institutional change Power imbalance Shift from 'custodial' to health care

My source:
Clive Cookson, Mind Hunter, FT Magazine, November 15, 2025, 1151, pp.30-34.

I have noticed Prof. Brendan Kelly is a regular FT respondent, as with this article:

'These photographs were likely to have been taken without meaningful consent and in the context of power imbalance. Yet publication can reclaim their individuality, address historical injustice and underscore our common humanity. Compassion, respect and humility should guide decisions. 

 Proceeds should support medical, educational, or justice-oriented programmes. Most importantly honouring forgotten patients of the past demands better care for people with mental illness today, who often languish, neglected, in homeless hostels or prisons. We can do better.'

Brendan Kelly Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Letters, FT Weekend. 22-23 November 2025, p.10.

See also: 'asylum' : 'photos'

Leurs (2023) Data as Boundary Objects, Datafication as Boundary Work

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

PERSON SUBJECT	person [DATA] OBJECT
'Situating data' inequality 'Conceptual Stepping Stones' - Social (and Political)  choreography?	SLAVERY REGISTERS - PASSPORTS RACISM COLONIALISM FEMINISM Star .. feminist slogan “the personal is political.”

Leurs, K. (2023). Data as Boundary Objects, Datafication as Boundary Work. In K. van Es & N. Verhoeff (Eds.), Situating Data: Inquiries in Algorithmic Culture (pp. 123–140). Amsterdam University Press.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376113967_6_Data_as_Boundary_Objects_Datafication_as_Boundary_Work

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_personal_is_political

Situated: Does the 'work' that can be done by a concept vary by definition, according to the (care / knowledge) domain it is found / placed in? Does this is turn influence the 'objects' that are found in the act of crossing(s)?

Online: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare - Weds 17th Sept 2025 BCS Coventry Branch

Online event organised by British Computer Society (BCS)

Full details: 
https://www.bcs.org/events-calendar/2025/september/webinar-ai-in-healthcare-neural-ai-v-symbolic-ai-why-we-need-neuro-symbolic-ai/

*** Agenda (UK time) *** 

18:30 - Meeting opens
Welcome and Introductions
18:40 - Hand-over to speaker
19:30 - Questions
20:30 - End

Scope of workshop

This is to support you in putting together your application for the FEDIP application and the workshop will focus on:

• What level you should apply for
• How to work with the Standard
• How to map your evidence
• Putting together context
• Preparing your evidence in the best way 
• What the assessors will look for

Free-of-charge registration to obtain the Zoom link

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-in-healthcare-neural-ai-v-symbolic-ai-why-we-need-neuro-symbolic-ai-registration-1383661000299?aff=oddtdtcreator
___________________________

My source: Dr Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro.

FEDIP: https://www.fedip.org/

12TH ANNUAL TANZANIA HEALTH SUMMIT 2025 (reminder)

THEME: "Harnessing Data Utilization and Technologies to Accelerate Universal Health Coverage"

INTRODUCTION 

Healthcare systems are evolving worldwide through the integration of health data and technologies. This integration is crucial for advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC), particularly in developing nations. Data forms the foundation, encompassing patient information, treatments, and outcomes. Technologies on the other hand serve as tools like cloud storage, IoT devices, and blockchain that enable efficient data collection and processing. AI, a subset of digital technologies, then transforms this data into actionable insights through machine learning and predictive analytics, improving healthcare delivery and decision-making. The healthcare AI market's projected growth of 36.8% CAGR from 2025 to 2030 (Matsukatov, 2024) reflects its potential to revolutionize healthcare delivery, from diagnosis to resource allocation. Tanzania exemplifies how this integration impacts developing healthcare systems - with its UHC service coverage index expected to exceed 48% by 2025, the country is working to bridge healthcare access and quality gaps (WHO, 2025). The upcoming 12th Tanzania Health Summit will address how these components work together in low-resource settings. The focus will be on practical applications: health technology platforms for data management, technology infrastructure for connectivity, and AI-driven analysis for disease prediction. This integrated approach shows how developing nations can leverage technologies to accelerate progress toward comprehensive healthcare coverage despite the current resource constraints. 

CONTEXT 

Tanzania's healthcare system exemplifies both the challenges and opportunities in leveraging digital technology to achieve Universal Health Coverage in sub-Saharan Africa. With a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1.3:10,000 (against WHO's recommended 1:1,000), the country has strategically embraced digital innovation to bridge critical healthcare gaps (WHO, 2025). The Tanzania Digital Health Strategy (2019-2024) serves as the blueprint for this digital transformation, focusing on three key areas: health information systems, electronic medical records (EMRs), and data-driven decision-making (Ministry of Health, Tanzania Digital Health Strategy; 2019-2024). This initiative has shown measurable progress, with EMR deployment reaching 66.57% of healthcare facilities nationwide (PORALG, 2025). The implementation of DHIS2 (District Health Information System 2) has enhanced national health data collection and analysis, notably improving disease outbreak response capabilities.

Conference details 
Text: Concept note

BCS - AI Health 2025 - Artificial Intelligence SG (reminder)

Date and time: Friday 7 November, 9:30am - 4:30pm

Location: BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP

Price: 42 - 108 GBP

Synopsis

BCS-SGAI, the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT's Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence, was founded in June 1980. Its mission is: "To foster achievement, capability and awareness in both business and research in Artificial Intelligence, and to promote the interests of the related community". It is one of Europe's longest-established groups working to support the community of artificial intelligence developers and users and is the organiser of one of the longest-running annual series of AI conferences in Europe: the AI-20xx series.

In England, 189 out of 208 (91%) hospital trusts are using electronic health records (EHRs) bringing opportunities and challenges and for Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the morning, there will be a session about EHRs with speakers from UK (animal health records), France (European Health Data Space infrastructure for the use and exchange of EHRs), and Spain (personal health records). Before lunch break, there will be a brief 101 hands-on tutorial about Neuro-Symbolic AI with short exercises. In the afternoon, there will be a session about clinical decision, exemplifying the use of AI-based healthcare technologies. Come along if you are interested in AI and its potential in healthcare.

• A comparison between open-source biomedical LLMs and general-domain LLMs (e.g. DeepSeek, Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT-4)
• How to lower the technical skills overhead (understanding of AI and programming code) needed to use open-source LLMs for content generation and content analysis of text, images and audio
• Exploring the plausible benefits of neuro-symbolic AI, combining neural AI (to process and extract patterns for health issues from unstructured data) with symbolic AI (explicit representations of background knowledge)

There will be Certificates of Attendance for those who register and attend the event.

We hope that you will come and join us, and that you enjoy this new offering from the BCS SGAI.

Speakers

Programme

More details and registration ...

(I look forward to attending.)

My source: BCS SGAI mail list.

AI Health 2025 Friday November 7th 2025

AI Health 2025

Friday November 7th 2025

At the BCS London Office
Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP (near Moorgate underground)

Organised by BCS-SGAI

BCS-SGAI, the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence was founded in June 1980. Its mission is: "To foster achievement, capability and awareness in both business and research in Artificial Intelligence, and to promote the interests of the related community". It is one of Europe's longest established groups working to support the community of artificial intelligence developers and users and is the organiser of one of the longest running annual series of AI conferences in Europe: the AI-20xx series.

In England, 189 out of 208 (91%) hospital trusts are using electronic health records (EHRs) bringing opportunities and challenges and for Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the morning, there will be a session about EHRs with speakers from UK (animal health records), France (European Health Data Space infrastructure for the use and exchange of EHRs), and Spain (personal health records). Before lunch break, there will be a brief 101 hands-on tutorial about Neuro-Symbolic AI with short exercises. In the afternoon, there will be a session about clinical decision support, exemplifying the use of AI-based healthcare technologies. Come along if you are interested in AI and its potential in healthcare.

There will be Certificates of Attendance for those who register and attend the event.

We hope that you will come and join us, and that you enjoy this new offering from the BCS SGAI.

Dr. Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro (BCS SGAI)*

https://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2025/

Please see link above for programme and speaker details.

*.. And my source - BCS SGAI.

RCN Congress 2025 iv - AI & quality improvement

Discussion: Artificial intelligence in nurse education &

Discussion: The role of nursing staff in quality improvement

We'll cover two agenda items in this post. First, resistance is futile in the apparent rise and ubiquity of artificial intelligence.

Discussion: Artificial intelligence in nurse education

Here is, another thing 'we need to get right'. Without checking, I'm sure I posted/tweeted about 'essay factories'. Now Generative AI has put the automated generation of academic essays on steroids. If a student is not motivated to learn, enthusiastic about their seemingly chosen course of study and the professional reward to be earned, then we are in trouble. Public and patient safety are at risk. AI, is however is here to stay - change and help us prosper(?). AI and GenAI are tools, just another step forward, an advance on finger tips, palms, stick, chalk, pencil, and pen. The brief for the discussion includes, with specific points emboldened:

'... Additionally, AI-driven simulations and virtual reality scenarios can provide hands-on experience in a controlled environment, enabling students to practice and refine their skills with greater confidence. 

Creating an engaging and supportive learning environment is key to helping nursing students embrace AI. HEIs can introduce AI concepts early in the curriculum and provide ongoing training and resources. Encouraging collaboration and open discussions about the benefits and challenges of AI can further enhance students' confidence in using these tools.

By taking these steps, nursing education can seamlessly integrate AI, ensuring future nurses are equipped to excel in an evolving health care landscape.

To effectively integrate AI into nursing education, RCN Wales, for example, advocates for higher education institutions (HEIs) to equip students with the skills to continually enhance their digital and biotechnological literacy, ensuring they meet their programme outcomes.

HEIs can incorporate regular assessments and feedback mechanisms to monitor a student’s progress and determine where AI tools add the most value.' . . .

Computer-aided learning has matured greatly since the 1980s and 1990s. AI and GenAI mark the seeming leap in progress over the past two years, with governments, professional bodies and society having to adjust and quickly. We need to watch how simulation, and virtual reality and other approaches to learning are applied, to assure the quality, safety and learning experience provided to students. There appears to be a risk in mental health nursing curricula being 'diminished'. Interpersonal skills are critical in psychiatric and psychological care. This might afford the advocates of technically-laden solutions to side-step the nuances of face-to-face human interaction. Amid the pursuit of what is mechanistic, let us value the humanistic also.

The biotechnical, is one a several literacies to keep sight of. AI, is of course bound up in bio-political concerns, that are still emerging. The 'health care landscape' is plural too: consider the patient's home, a ward, out-patient department, e-consultation, e-learning intervention, brief psychotherapy, occupational health, carceral care, and field hospital, veterans, migrant - refugee health and the homeless.

There's more, and references and a reading list are also provided on the above link.

Discussion: The role of nursing staff in quality improvement

'Quality improvement is about making a difference to patients by improving safety, effectiveness, and experience of care.

All nursing staff should have the abilities and support to become involved in addressing health care pressures, utilising their expertise in the profession as leaders, not only in care delivery, but also within the system. However, the work of nursing staff to deliver quality improvement is often limited to opportunities that are dependent on staffing, seniority and availability. 

Nurses’ willingness to attend training is often superseded by patient demand making attendance impossible. Other health care colleagues undertake work on research and service improvement alongside their role and as a requirement for their revalidation, this is not the case for nursing staff who don’t get these opportunities.

Consider the benefits of the nursing workforce undertaking quality improvement, conducting local research, reorganising working environments, translating or updating patient materials, trialling novel approaches to care or addressing health inequalities. These skills would not only improve the quality of care we provide but also prepare the nurse to influence and change systems throughout their career.

This is relevant UK-wide. Scotland's 2030 vision for nurses, states an intention to equip nurses with quality improvement tools and support, but only nurses in non-hands-on roles. NHS Wales offers quality improvement training through e-learning  via the ESR to health care professionals, in Wales. In Northern Ireland training is available, but only for Band 7 and above.'

What is the role of all nurses to get involved in quality improvement?'

There is a point with IT security that if it was 100% assured with all the prospective log-ins of an average user, would we ever get any 'real' work done? Does the same apply to research? I have heard this as an argument in practice; and a response to a drive for quality improvement too. Data takes time to collect, especially to answer new questions. Such arguments were also fielded when models of nursing were spoke of with eye-rolls and sighs of experience. Quality improvement is a fight, opportunities and resources can be found, especially if a culture of research is nurtured and sustained. What questions does a ward, unit, team have currently? What queries might new starters, newly qualified, students, and placement candidates provoke? If my reference to fighting seems strong; the fight is for time. The raw truth is in the NHS that quality improvement, research and supervision (in its various forms) are in competition, in the absence of coherent integration.

In bold above, the discussion includes:

'trialling novel approaches to care or addressing health inequalities'.

I wonder what that springs to mind? More seriously, we need be aware of what happens to 'quality'; in whatever educational form it is encountered and experienced. 

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

interpersonal skills informal / formal education QUALITY lifelong learning	biotechnical landscape quality improvement - clinical supervision?
inequity social preparedness for AI/GenAI	inequality management supervision?

Exhibition: Manchester (and online) “Our Lives, Our Privacy” c/o ICO

This a.m. I heard on BBC R4 Today 07.41.30... news (and interesting discussion) -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0029rg4

- of an exhibition in Manchester that may be of interest, if you're local, but it is also accessible online:

https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2025/04/come-and-visit-manchester-s-latest-exhibition-our-lives-our-privacy-to-celebrate-the-ico-s-40th-anniversary/

Our Lives, Our Privacy

'A digital exhibition featuring 40 items that tells the tale of how privacy has been at the centre of some of the biggest events and milestones we remember over the past four decades was launched last Autumn, but now a physical exhibition has come to Manchester. 

From 2 April to 30 June, we will be displaying the exhibition at Manchester Central Library in the first-floor exhibition space. Members of the public are welcome to pop in and see the items that have shaped our lives and our privacy.  

 

The ‘Our Lives, Our Privacy’ exhibition highlights poignant events in history including the launch of social media, the News of the World phone hacking scandal and the Covid 19 pandemic to name a few. It also looks at technological advancements like smart devices and raising questions about the future, including how accurate the episodes of ‘Black Mirror’ really are.'

==== Previously:

Jones, P. (1996) Humans, Information, and Science, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 24(3),591-598.
https://www.academia.edu/3555654/Humans_information_and_science

Jones, P. (1996) An overarching theory of health communication? Health Informatics Journal,2,1,28-34.

Jones, P. (2004) Viewpoint: Can informatics and holistic multidisciplinary care be harmonised? British Journal of Healthcare Computing & Information Management, 21, 6, 17-18.

Fryer, Jon. “Information Literacies – Learning, to Thrive in a Digital Age” IRMS Bulletin 230 (2022): 16-21.

As listed in the bibliography in this blog's sidebar.

I visited Manchester Central Library about two weeks ago, it is quite a building and full of public, cultural, and local information resources. Must do likewise in Liverpool.

Call for focus group participants: the records of adopted and care-experienced people -

– additional retention guidance for
record-keepers and care professionals

Could you help update retention guidance for record-keepers and care professionals by joining a focus group in November?

Care-experienced and adopted people, archivists & records managers and social workers are invited to participate in an online focus group to shape updated and detailed improvements in retaining care-experienced and adopted people’s records in England and Wales. This has been identified as a critical need by many recent reports including IICSA.

We recently published Guidance on the Records of Adopted and Care-Experienced People (Feb 2024) which sets out best practice, to improve consistency across England and Wales. We are a participative and inclusionary project led by members of the Chief Archivists in Local Government Group (CALGG), independent consultants and academics and professionals working in the records management, data protection and access to records fields, in the charitable and local government sectors. Some of our project members are adopted or care-experienced people.

Focus groups will take place on

Weds 13 Nov 11am-12.30

Mon 18 Nov 2-3.30pm

Thurs 28 Nov 2-3.30pm.

We will meet on Zoom: you will be able to join in your web browser, no zoom account or desktop app/licence is required.

Further information

The Guidance is aimed at people responsible for creating, managing, and providing access to care and adoption records. It includes the viewpoints of care-experienced people and adopted people to give practitioners a greater understanding of their experiences, needs and the challenges they face. The Guidance highlights that all organisations should have an up-to-date policy covering all records relating to children, young people and their families, together with procedures and plans to implement the policy including up-to-date retention schedules. Retention schedules recommend how long to keep different types of records. Each record type should have a retention period based on best practice, legislation, business need or a combination of these. Schedules also include how and when the retention period is triggered, and what should happen at the end of the period: typically either confidential destruction, or being kept permanently.

A retention period of [at] least 125 years from date of birth for case files and preferably 150 years as exemplary practice is recommended in the Guidance. However it also recommends the permanent preservation of these records with an option for people to opt out in the case of their own records.

These recommendations are made because many care-experienced or adopted people reconstruct their personal histories by turning to the records created about them by social workers and care providers. Thousands of requests to view records for this purpose are made each year in England and Wales. The records – a “paper self” - have significant impacts on a care-experienced person throughout their life. However, accessing records is often difficult, both practically and emotionally, and can be traumatic and dehumanizing. Records have been kept inconsistently across the public, private, and voluntary care sectors, affecting outcomes for individuals. Across England and Wales the records of adopted and care-experienced people who are formally classified as ‘looked-after people’ should be kept for 100 and 75 years respectively, but there are no permanent preservation protections for records in law. Moreover, some care-experienced people are omitted from the requirement for records to be retained. In addition, there are now many records sitting in digital systems which do not have a proper data migration/preservation strategy.

My Source: To view the list archives go to: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=RECORDS-MANAGEMENT-UK 

"In HIFA - let's save a space to make sense of mountains of data"

Dear All, (HIFA mail list)

While rather expansive in scope not just reaching to the arts but also referencing nature and mountains, the following blog post may be of interest:

"Health & Care results in mountains of data: c/o Burke & Cao 2024"

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2024/08/nan-shepherd-.html

While the focus and purposes for HIFA are clear, in practice 'information' (data, facts, knowledge, wisdom) must always be contextualised, situated, and (potentially) justified.

In addition to relying on the sciences, medicine, nursing and healing practices are also characterised as arts.

See also, the digital humanities and more specifically - 'Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine' https://www.theintima.org/

There have been many posts about records recently, but of course it what goes into the record that is critical.

Salience, what we pay attention to is key.*

The record is critical if something goes wrong and a professional finds themselves in a Coroner's court, and/or disciplinary hearing. The previous posts also discuss the patient's access to their medical record.

I'm not sure if the point has been made but even before 'health literacy' is taken into account, given access a patient may identify many mistakes/errors within the record on many details including demographics and procedures, treatments, diagnoses applied. (There are studies confirming the same - a benefit of IT systems.)

In mental health service - England the care programme approach (CPA) has ended - been retired. Some argue this has been done 'quietly'.

While the emphasis on documentation since 1990s has been onerous for some practitioners in the need for a 'comprehensive' record, the principles of CPA are well-based in practice: Patients (families) are entitled to - 1. A care assessment 2. A care plan 3. A named care-coordinator - keyworker 4. A review 6 monthly; annually as a minimum

For more than a year 1995.., I worked full and p/t as CPA co-ordinator for Chorley and South Ribble Health Authority; and produced a report highlighting the potential benefits of information technology in data gathering and processing and information reporting. (A conference was also organised with 60+ delegates, and 10 software vendors demonstrating their wares.)

The news drove the development and introduction of CPA during the late 1980s, with often stigmatising headlines for many people affected with mental illness - including psychosis it must be added. Recent events are troubling for society and services now, and in terms of history repeating itself:

"On average over a hundred people in Britain a year are killed by someone with serious mental illness. On the day the NHS is Nottingham is found to have missed opportunities to stop Valdo Calocane killing 3 people we ask why lessons aren’t being learned." 'X' https://x.com/BeckyJohnsonSky/status/1823459379846271002

"Between May 2020 and February 2022, eight risk assessments were completed for Calocane by the trust, which the CQC said appear to have been carried out for each of his admissions to hospital and updated at other times during his care. The regulator said that while some risks were highlighted, other assessments “minimised or omitted key details”. https://careappointments.com/care-news/england/211213/cqc-review-of-nottingham-killers-care-finds-key-risk-details-minimised-or-omitted/

The state of mental health services in the UK is much debated and here too 'information' is critical, especially 'seeing' the person and the nuances of interpersonal communication skills. These are often encountered through non-verbal communication and 'clinical intuition' which must be related to professional experience.

So information must simultaneously be recognised as a mechanistic and humanistic melange of processes, purposes, practices and policies (4P's in Hodges' model).

As highlighted before we can also contrast HIFA's and practitioners efforts to combat the severe implications and risks of 'information disorder'. And yet, also recognise how the arts, innovation and creativity also contribute to interpersonal engagement, therapeutic goals, case formulation, health and other literacies using *metaphor* and *analogies* - as per Nan Shepherd's musings explored in the blog post by -

Burke, R., Cao, E. To Care for a Mountain - What medical practitioners can learn from Nan Shepherd. Oxford Review of Books, Summer 2024, Volume 8, Issue 2. p.14. In association with Stanford. (open access)

Patient, public and practitioner safety is always the aim & objective.

Further reading & notes: https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/nottinghamshire-healthcare-nhsft-special-review-part2/risk-assessment

Whiting, D., Gulati, G., Geddes, J.R., Dean, K. and Fazel, S. (2024), Violence in schizophrenia: triangulating the evidence on perpetration risk. World Psychiatry, 23: 158-160. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21171

*I hope to contribute to a 'philosophy of attention' research project, my contribution will draw on clinical experience above and apply Hodges' model to explore and debate ... 'attention', starting in 2025 to c.2030.

Regards to all, Peter Jones

"How did you get that answer? Show your working out!"

As students of - math, maths, mathematics (pick one!) or arithmetic, algebra - know only too well: Learning, no doubt, through a series of prompts, especially if numerically challenged:

The way you derived your answer is an important - the most important part of the exercise. It is the exercise in most cases.

As may be apparent here on W2tQ, in addition to visual methods, mind-mapping, diagrams and computers, the professional basis for the study and the draw of Hodges' model was models of care and nursing theory. I've blogged previously about if we stress the theoretical, this variously invites yawns, and critique (always welcome), if not ridicule from outside.

In practice we seem struggle to do the ideal. This is one aspect of the theory-practice gap; bridging this gap was one reason for the creation of Hodges' model. What the student health professional learns in the  class/lecture theatre/online, may not be reflected and realised 100% in practice. 

On clinical placements the real-world intervenes, upsetting the academic comforts. Suddenly the armchair hypotheses do not sit so comfortably. Reality bites. Are there enough staff, is the skill-mix 'ideal'. Patients present their own variables. Which are also often at least binary (and invariably more), to include carers, family, with prior experiences. There are specific life experiences and situations of the patient; and yes, in plural.

Competence with paperwork, the electronic health record (EHR) is key to a student's progress:

From communication skills, establishing a therapeutic relationship (yes, so 'old school'?), enabling and concurrent with care assessment, care planning, intervention and evaluation. Plus, the 'writing' of the same including all the processes, messages received, clinical team meetings, allocations, supervision. All the while being mindful of ethics, professionalism and accountability.

Regarding theory: I do wonder; are we missing something? Something that artificial intelligence may (will) pick-up eventually (quite quickly in-fact!). With the legacy of largely abandoned nursing theories, models of care, health frameworks … do we need to look at theory in a more literal (yes, idealised) form? To have any chance of success do we need to leave behind what we have thus far? In addition to science, nursing, medicine are often described as an art. Even if this theoretical treatment is impressionistic surely it is worth trying - to be creative, innovative, to hypothesise and speculate on the edge?

Can we use Hodges' model, or another 'tool' you might care to propose even more suited to the purpose? 

Throwing caution to the wind: this is a theoretical exercise. It may be based upon sand? Then so be it! If there is a practical, pragmatic and practice-based application that would be marvellous. Why does this matter? The rationale here is driven by the fact that health has its feet, or draws every-other-breath in the humanities. Yes, evidence is grounded in science, anatomy, physiology, life sciences and the rest. The humanistic care - knowledge domains need, demand their own unique theoretical space. A sandpit to play with a theoretical language. And make no mistake, the sand is already hurting these eyes.

There are malign agents who would deny any practical benefits of such an effort, and yet this should be in prospect. This should be an outcome to follow in the near future (although delayed by COVID). In fact it is a necessity, a requirement even, given attention and prioritisation of the SDGs, and the determinants of health,. Add to this the politics of health, and health in politics and the world🌍🌎🌏🌐today; full implementation, achievement and ongoing development will costs billions (trillions of dollars) and once-and-for-all a long-term perspective. 

There is a now, a holistic need to show your working out. How you have arrived at your answer. 

Curation of posts on W2tQ

     Curation: Quote(s) to follow?

Several years ago I reviewed the blog's posts starting from post #1 in April 2006. Some posts, such as, journal calls for papers, conference announcements ... were clearly of time-limited value, even as to the degree they may document the history of ideas. The exercise also highlighted my adopted role of curator, which had not occurred to me before. 

Previously, tentatively, I tried to weigh the value of content. The value to scholarship of Hodges' model, and not wishing to sound grandiose - nursing theory (someone should - given the vacuum over the past 20-30 years?). There are person-centred items, with some that make me cringe (the personal ones, the ones premature and not quite 'fully-formed'), while others stand the test of time (I think). 

Eighteen years is not long and yet the change in several dynamic histories is very obvious, across society, politics, ecosystems, policy, education, nursing and of course technology. Many posts were deleted, others with:

• too many links (for which you can be penalised?)
• broken links;
• missing images / videos;
• typos ...

- where updated accordingly.

Revision #2 beckons in the near future, an effort to rationalise the wheat from the chaff.

It is - same old, same old regards the elephant in the room: that is, the missing new 'platform' - as it keeps reminding me.

W2tQ - "Welcome the the QUAD" - this blog.
Book image: Waterstones.

Learning Health Systems: Volume 8, Issue 1 - January 2024

Learning Health Systems is an Open Access journal.

Volume 8, Issue 1 (January 2024)

All articles shown below are freely available and downloadable.

COMMENTARY

Socio‐technical infrastructure for a learning health system

 

Charles P. Friedman, Edwin A. Lomotan, Joshua E. Richardson, Jennifer L. Ridgeway

LEARNING FROM DATA

Privacy‐preserving record linkage across disparate institutions and datasets to enable a learning health system: The national COVID cohort collaborative (N3C) experience

 

Umberto Tachinardi, Shaun J. Grannis, Sam G. Michael, Leonie Misquitta, Jayme Dahlin, Usman Sheikh, Abel Kho, Jasmin Phua, Sara S. Rogovin, Benjamin Amor, Maya Choudhury, Philip Sparks, Amin Mannaa, Saad Ljazouli, Joel Saltz, Fred Prior, Ahmen Baghal, Kenneth Gersing, Peter J. Embi

RESEARCH REPORTS

Analysis of FRAME data (A‐FRAME): An analytic approach to assess the impact of adaptations on health services interventions and evaluations

 

Heather Z. Mui, Cati G. Brown-Johnson, Erika A. Saliba-Gustafsson, Anna Sophia Lessios, Mae Verano, Rachel Siden, Laura M. Holdsworth

 

Automated generation of comparator patients in the electronic medical record

 

Joseph Rigdon, Brian Ostasiewski, Kamah Woelfel, Kimberly D. Wiseman, Tim Hetherington, Stephen Downs, Marc Kowalkowski

 

Stakeholder perspectives on data sharing from pragmatic clinical trials: Unanticipated challenges for meeting emerging requirements

 

Stephanie R. Morain, Juli Bollinger, Kevin Weinfurt, Jeremy Sugarman

 

Learning healthcare systems in cardiology: A qualitative interview study on ethical dilemmas of a learning healthcare system

 

Sara Laurijssen, Rieke van der Graaf, Ewoud Schuit, Melina den Haan, Wouter van Dijk, Rolf Groenwold, Saskia le Sessie, Diederick Grobbee, Martine de Vries

 

Frameworks, guidelines, and tools to develop a learning health system for Indigenous health: An environmental scan for Canada

 

Emma Rice, Angela Mashford-Pringle, Jinfan Qiang, Lynn Henderson, Tammy MacLean, Justin Rhoden, Abigail Simms, Sterling Stutz

 

Predictive modeling for infectious diarrheal disease in pediatric populations: A systematic review

 

Billy Ogwel, Vincent Mzazi, Bryan O. Nyawanda, Gabriel Otieno, Richard Omore

TECHNICAL REPORT

Learning health system benefits: Development and initial validation of a framework

 

Lisa C. Welch, Sarah K. Brewer, Titus Schleyer, Denise Daudelin, Rechelle Paranal, Joe D. Hunt, Ann M. Dozier, Anna Perry, Alyssa B. Cabrera, Cheryl L. Gatto

BRIEF REPORTS

Exploring nationwide policy interventions to control COVID‐19 from the perspective of the rapid learning health system approach

 

Ayat Ahmadi, Leila Doshmangir, Reza Majdzadeh

 

Developing LHS scholars’ competency around reducing burnout and moral injury

 

Sirin Yilmaz, Michele LeClaire, Abbie Begnaud, Warren McKinney, Kasey R. Boehmer, Cory Schaffhausen, Mark Linzer

 

Assessment of learning health system science competency in the equity and justice domain

 

Patricia D. Franklin, Denise Drane

EXPERIENCE REPORTS

Training the next generation of delivery science researchers: 10‐year experience of a post‐doctoral research fellowship program within an integrated care system

 

Richard W Grant, Julie A Schmittdiel, Vincent X Liu, Karen R Estacio, Yi-Fen Irene Chen, Tracy A Lieu

 

Implementing the learning health system paradigm within academic health centers

 

Douglas Easterling, Anna Perry, David Miller

 

Learning from an equitable, data‐informed response to COVID‐19: Translating knowledge into future action and preparation

 

Morgen Stanzler, Johanna Figueroa, Andrew F. Beck, Marianne E. McPherson, Steve Miff, Heidi Penix, Jessica Little, Bhargavi Sampath, Pierre Barker, David M. Hartley

 

Conceptualizing and redefining successful patient engagement in patient advisory councils in learning health networks

 

Madeleine Huwe, Becky Woolf, Jennie David, Michael Seid, Shehzad Saeed, Peter Margolis, ImproveCareNow Pediatric IBD Learning Health System 

COMMENTARIES

Toward a common standard for data and specimen provenance in life sciences

 

Rudolf Wittner, Petr Holub, Cecilia Mascia, Francesca Frexia, Heimo Müller, Markus Plass, Clare Allocca, Fay Betsou, Tony Burdett, Ibon Cancio, Adriane Chapman, Martin Chapman, Mélanie Courtot, Vasa Curcin, Johann Eder, Mark Elliot, Katrina Exter, Carole Goble, Martin Golebiewski, Bron Kisler, Andreas Kremer, Simone Leo, Sheng Lin-Gibson, Anna Marsano, Marco Mattavelli, Josh Moore, Hiroki Nakae, Isabelle Perseil, Ayat Salman, James Sluka, Stian Soiland-Reyes, Caterina Strambio-De-Castillia, Michael Sussman, Jason R. Swedlow, Kurt Zatloukal, Jörg Geiger

 

Can we identify the prevalence of perinatal mental health using routinely collected health data?: A review of publicly available perinatal mental health data sources in England

 

Sarah Masefield, Kathryn Willan, Zoe Darwin, Sarah Blower, Chandani Nekitsing, Josie Dickerson

 

My source: Email request by -

Kathleen Young
Editorial Assistant, Learning Health Systems journal
Victor Vaughan
1111 East Catherine Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109