NICE Excess Winter Deaths and Illnesses Guideline

[ALEO Admin]

The final version of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guideline on Excess Winter Deaths and Illnesses Associated with Cold Homes was published on 5 March 2015. This follows the consultation on the draft version of the guidance, which closed in November 2014.

The guideline makes recommendations on how to reduce the risk of death and ill health associated with living in a cold home and provides detailed information and advice based around the following 12 recommendations:

Recommendation 1: Develop a strategy
Recommendation 2: Ensure there is a single‑point‑of‑contact health and housing referral service for people living in cold homes
Recommendation 3: Provide tailored solutions via the single‑point‑of‑contact health and housing referral service for people living in cold homes
Recommendation 4: Identify people at risk of ill health from living in a cold home
Recommendation 5: Make every contact count by assessing the heating needs of people who use primary health and home care services
Recommendation 6: Non-health and social care workers who visit people at home should assess their heating needs
Recommendation 7: Discharge vulnerable people from health or social care settings to a warm home
Recommendation 8: Train health and social care practitioners to help people whose homes may be too cold
Recommendation 9: Train housing professionals and faith and voluntary sector workers to help people whose homes may be too cold for their health and wellbeing
Recommendation 10: Train heating engineers, meter installers and those providing building insulation to help vulnerable people at home
Recommendation 11: Raise awareness among practitioners and the public about how to keep warm at home
Recommendation 12: Ensure buildings meet ventilation and other building and trading standards

The guideline is for those with an interest in health and housing. They could be working in local authorities, the NHS or other organisations in the public, private, voluntary and community sectors. It is also aimed at utility companies, particularly energy suppliers and energy distribution companies others responsible for providing and maintaining heating systems and insulation in the home. In addition, it will be of relevance to families, carers and other members of the public.

The "Who should do what at a glance" section, shows who should take action on each of these recommendation:

• Department of Energy and Climate Change - 11
• Environmental health officers - 12
• Faith and voluntary sector organisations - 3, 6, 9
• Health and wellbeing boards - 1, 2, 3, 11
• Housing services - 3, 6, 12
• Installation and maintenance contractors - 6, 10
• Local authorities - 3
• NHS England - 8
• Organisations that coordinate or offer training, or that register and set
  standards for practitioners (for instance, royal colleges and universities) - 8, 9, 10
• Public Health England - 11
• Primary healthcare practitioners - 4, 5
• Secondary healthcare practitioners - 4, 7
• Social care practitioners - 4, 5, 7
• Trading standards officers - 12

To download the full NICE guideline document, please visit:
http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng6