LHC Public Policy Committee

Mobile & Outreach Unit Outfitting

Equipping a Mobile Health Outreach Van: What the Vehicle Itself Needs to Deliver Care

Before a mobile unit can run a clinic, the vehicle itself needs power, cold chain, layout and access...

The 2014 Report Explained

Inside Better Health for London: The 2014 Report’s Core Recommendations

What did Better Health for London actually propose? A plain-language guide to the 2014 report’s ten...

Accessible & Inclusive Clinic Design

Bariatric Seating and Wheelchair Access: What BS 8300 Requires

What BS 8300, HBN 11-01 and the Equality Act actually require for bariatric chairs, adjustable furni...

Smoking, Air & Lung Health

London’s Stop Smoking Services: Why Support Depends on Your Postcode

London’s stop-smoking support varies sharply by borough. Here is what the funding gap means and how...

Methodology & Editorial Standards

Funding Transparency and Conflicts of Interest: The Disclosure Standards Behind Trustworthy Health Publishing

Why credible health information sites disclose who funds them, and the frameworks – PIF TICK, ICMJE...

Who Sat on the London Health Commission? The Panel Behind the 2014 Report

A look at who made up the London Health Commission’s panel in 2013-14, and why its cross-sector comp...

Cardiovascular & Hypertension Screening

What Counts as High Blood Pressure? NICE’s Diagnostic Thresholds Explained

NICE guideline NG136 sets the exact readings that turn a raised blood-pressure result into a hyperte...

Community Mental-Health Provision

NHS Talking Therapies Self-Referral: How to Access Support Without a GP

How NHS Talking Therapies self-referral works, what it treats, and why waiting times for this route...

Community Nursing Equipment

How the NHS Community Equipment Service Works: Getting Nursing Equipment Into the Home

Commodes, hoists and pressure mattresses do not arrive at a home by accident. Here is how referral,...

Triage & Assessment Kit

The Manchester Triage System: How Five Colours Decide Who’s Seen First

How the Manchester Triage System’s five colour categories and the vital-signs kit behind them decide...

Remote Patient-Monitoring Kit

Connectivity Without Broadband: How Virtual Ward Kits Reach Every Patient

How remote monitoring kits use built-in 4G hubs and phone-based check-ins to reach patients without...

Mobile & Outreach Unit Outfitting

Inside a Mobile Breast Screening Unit: The Equipment, Power and Standards Behind Each Scan

What’s inside an NHS mobile breast screening unit — from digital mammography and power systems to th...

Assistive & Independence Technology

Telecare Alarms and London’s Digital Switchover: What Residents Need to Know

How telecare pendant alarms support independent living in London, and what the 2027 analogue-to-digi...

Wider Determinants

Fuel Poverty and Health: Why Cold Homes Widen London’s Health Gap

Cold, damp homes are a wider determinant of health. Here’s what fuel poverty is, how it harms health...

Remote Patient-Monitoring Kit

Virtual Ward Eligibility: How Acuity Scoring Decides Who Gets Hospital-at-Home Care

How NHS virtual wards use NEWS2 acuity scoring to decide which patients qualify for hospital-at-home...

Methodology & Editorial Standards

The Hierarchy of Evidence: How This Review Ranks and Cites Public-Health Research

How the London Health Infrastructure Review weighs studies, sources claims, and issues corrections w...

Defibrillators & AEDs Explained

How Does a Defibrillator Work? AEDs and The Circuit Explained

How an AED reads a heart rhythm, decides whether to shock, and why The Circuit registry now links th...

Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Deploying Point-of-Care Diagnostics: What the Regulations Actually Require

What UK regulation, ISO accreditation and local governance actually require before a GP practice can...

Access & Provision Gaps

Pharmacy First in London: Why Access to the Scheme Still Depends on Your Postcode

Nearly every London pharmacy signed up to Pharmacy First. Claims data shows delivery of the scheme s...

Access & Provision Gaps

Personal Wheelchair Budgets: Why NHS Wheelchair Provision Varies Across London’s ICBs

NHS wheelchair services are commissioned locally, so eligibility, voucher value and waiting times di...

Accessible & Inclusive Clinic Design

Induction Loops at Reception: The Hearing Accessibility Fix Most Clinic Fit-Outs Skip

Why hearing loop systems at glazed reception counters are a legal requirement, not an optional extra...

First-Response & Community Resuscitation

Event First Aid Cover in London: What the Purple Guide Actually Requires

What London event organisers must actually provide for first aid cover, from the Purple Guide’s risk...

Defibrillator Readiness & Upkeep

Defibrillator Pad Replacement: Why Even Unused AEDs Need New Parts

Defibrillator pads and batteries expire even when a public AED is never used. Here is why, and how e...

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Explained

Agonal Breathing: The Cardiac Arrest Sign That Looks Like Normal Breathing

Agonal breathing is a gasping reflex after cardiac arrest that bystanders often mistake for normal b...

Parity of Esteem

The Mental Health Investment Standard: How London’s ICBs Report on Funding Parity

Parity of esteem became a legal duty in 2012. The Mental Health Investment Standard is how NHS bodie...

Cold Chain Breach Response: What Happens When Vaccine Storage Fails

What community immunisation teams must do in the hours after a fridge or cool box strays outside 2 t...

Borough Health Briefings

Childhood Obesity in London: What the NCMP Data Reveals Borough by Borough

NCMP data shows London’s childhood obesity rate exceeds the England average, but the gap between bor...

Cardiovascular & Hypertension Screening

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring: Why One Clinic Reading Isn’t a Diagnosis

Why a single clinic blood pressure reading isn’t a diagnosis, and what NICE’s ambulatory monitoring...

Choosing Screening & Monitoring Equipment

Blood Pressure Monitor Calibration: The Standards Behind Accurate Screening

A device that reads wrong is worse than no device at all. How UK standards govern calibration for BP...

Ten Years On

Stroke and Trauma Centralisation: What Ten Years of Data Show

A decade after Better Health for London, the case for centralising stroke and trauma care is one of...

Borough Health Briefings

The London Life Expectancy Gap: What the Borough Data Actually Shows

Life expectancy varies by up to seven years between London boroughs. Here is what the borough-level...

Parity of Esteem

What Does Parity of Esteem Mean? The Legal Duty Behind Mental Health Equality

Parity of esteem is a legal duty, not a slogan. Here is where it comes from, what it requires, and w...

How Independent Was the London Health Commission? Governance and What Came After

The London Health Commission was independent in practice, not just name. How it was set up, how it r...

Relieving A&E Pressure

Same Day Emergency Care: How SDEC Pathways Keep Patients Out of A&E

Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) lets hospitals assess and treat patients on the same day, avoiding ad...

Cardiovascular & Hypertension Screening

NHS Health Checks and Pharmacy Screening: London’s Two Routes to Catching Hypertension Early

How London’s GP-based NHS Health Check and community pharmacy blood pressure service work together t...

The 2014 Report Explained

How Better Health for London Built Its Evidence Base

Before Better Health for London made 60 recommendations, its inquiry ran a year-long evidence exerci...

Air Quality & Respiratory Health

Indoor Air Pollution in London Homes: The Respiratory Risk Outdoor Monitoring Misses

London tracks outdoor air with one of the world’s densest monitoring networks. Indoor air, where res...

Triage & Assessment Kit

Eyewash Stations in Minor Injuries Units: What BS EN 15154 Requires

What BS EN 15154 actually requires of an eyewash station, and why the standard matters for same-day...

Mobile & Outreach Unit Outfitting

Lone Worker Safety Devices: Equipping London’s Outreach and Home-Visiting Teams

Panic alarms, GPS check-in apps and fall detectors sit alongside dressings and diagnostics on a mode...

Integration of Health & Social Care

NHS Continuing Healthcare: The Checklist That Decides Who Pays for Care

How the NHS Continuing Healthcare Checklist decides whether the NHS or a means-tested council budget...

Vaccine Fridge Temperature Monitoring: Data Loggers vs Min/Max Thermometers

How UKHSA’s daily recording standard works, and how min/max thermometers compare with continuous dat...

Economic Inactivity and Ill Health: Why More Londoners Are Leaving Work Sick

Long-term sickness has overtaken every other cause of economic inactivity in the UK. Here’s what the...

Defibrillators & AEDs Explained

AED or ICD? The Two Devices Both Called a ‘Defibrillator’

ICD or AED? One device lives inside a chest, the other hangs on a wall. Here’s the real difference,...

First-Response & Community Resuscitation

First Aid at Work Regulations: What London Employers Must Actually Provide

The 1981 Regulations require every workplace to assess its own risk, not follow a fixed checklist. H...

Assistive & Independence Technology

The Disabled Facilities Grant: Funding Home Adaptations for Independent Living in London

How the Disabled Facilities Grant funds ramps, stairlifts and level-access showers for London reside...

Equipping the Modern GP Surgery

Diagnostic Instrument Sets: The Compliance Standards Behind Every GP Consulting Room

Otoscopes, ophthalmoscopes and the calibration rules behind them: what CQC and MHRA actually expect...

Urgent Treatment Centre vs Walk-In Centre: What’s Actually Different in London

Walk-in centres are being replaced by standardised Urgent Treatment Centres. Here’s what changed for...

Accessible & Inclusive Clinic Design

Changing Places Toilets: The Accessible Facility Most Clinic Fit-Outs Still Miss

Changing Places toilets serve patients standard accessible loos exclude. What the space, hoist and b...

Point-of-Care Diagnostics

CRP Point-of-Care Testing: How a Fingerstick Result Changes an Antibiotic Decision

How CRP point-of-care testing helps GPs decide whether a chest infection needs antibiotics, backed b...

Defibrillator Readiness & Upkeep

The Defibrillator Checklist: What a Weekly AED Visual Check Should Cover

A working defibrillator checklist covers more than a green light. Here is what a weekly visual check...