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This article brings together the literatures on policy learning and lesson drawing with the intra-crisis learning literature in order to assess “learning lessons” in the COVID-19 pandemic.

It carries out a structured review of articles that seek to provide lessons for the pandemic. It examines these articles using interpretative content analysis to apply the criteria of prospective policy transfer to the material.

Application of the criteria of prospective policy transfer suggests that lesson drawing was fairly limited. It is often not fully clear why nations were selected. Many articles were brief and provided limited detail, meaning that there was little depth on issues such as problems and goals and on policy performance or policy success or failure. There was limited discussion of transferability of lessons, and few clear lessons could be drawn. Finally, the extent to which it was possible to learn lessons in a “non-routine” or “less routine” crisis, under conditions of threat, uncertainty and urgency was generally not discussed.

The criteria within the framework of prospective policy transfer provide a template for policy makers to assess lessons.

This article indicates the problems of attempting to draw lessons from the past or from other nations to an unprecedented crisis, where decision-making is characterized by elements of threat, urgency and uncertainty.

Through all the villains that James Bond has encountered on his globe-trotting adventures – from Dr No to Auric Goldfinger, Drax to Le Chiffre and Rosa Klebb to Xenia Onatopp – one villain has remained a constant threat to both Bond and world security. Whether hiding behind a corrugated screen, living on a mountain top lair, working from a hollowed-out volcanic rocket site, or sitting in a wheelchair, Ernst Stavro Blofeld has proved time and time again to be a thorn in Bond’s side.

This chapter will investigate the changing appearances of Blofeld across the Eon Productions’ film franchise. It will consider the concept of Blofeld as Bond’s alter-ego, whilst offering in-depth analysis of just how – and why – this master-nemesis remains firmly rooted in Bond’s filmic adventures, whilst cementing his position as the villain most associated with the series.

In 1999, the national health service (NHS) was made responsible for the commissioning of prison health care. Mental health inreach teams (MHIT) were set up to mirror community mental health teams and provide secondary care to prisoners diagnosed with severe and enduring mental illnesses (SEMI). Since then, the provision of mental health care to prisoners without a diagnosis of a SEMI has been variable. A rapid review of NHS health care in prisons conducted by Public Health England (PHE) (2016) highlighted the need for provision to be more integrated and meet the needs of prisoners without a diagnosis of a SEMI. In response, an integrated mental health and substance misuse service was implemented within her majesty’s prison/young offenders institution Pentonville. This study aims to evaluate its impact and share lessons learned.

Routinely collected and anonymised data were reviewed for prisoners referred between 1 May 2018 and 31 December 2019. Data are presented on the quantity of referrals over time, and the type of support offered. Chi-square goodness of fit tests was conducted to determine whether the prisoners referred to the service were representative of the wider prison population in terms of age and ethnicity.

Referrals showed a general pattern of increase over time and were representative of the wider prison population in terms of age and ethnicity, indicating equitable access. Lessons learned are discussed. Demand for therapeutic and substance misuse services was higher than that for SEMIs. Notable was the high quantity of referrals which provides further evidence for the disparity between high need and limited provision within prison settings, particularly for therapeutic interventions.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first service evaluation of a recently implemented integrated and holistic model of prison mental health care in line with recommendations from PHE (2016).

The purpose of this paper is to describe the delivery of the first clinically led, inter-professional Pathway Homeless team in a mental health trust, within the King’s Health Partners hospitals in South London. The Kings Health Partners Pathway Homeless teams have been operating since January 2014 at Guy’s and St Thomas’ (GStT) and Kings College Hospital and expanded to the South London and Maudsley in 2015 as a charitable pilot, now continuing with short-term funding.

This paper outlines how the team delivered its key aim of improving health and housing outcomes for inpatients. It details the service development and integration within a mental health trust incorporating the experience of its sister teams at Kings and GStT. It goes on to show how the service works across multiple hospital sites and is embedded within the Trust’s management structures.

Innovations including the transitional arrangements for patients’ post-discharge are described. In the first three years of operation the team saw 237 patients. Improved housing status was achieved in 74 per cent of patients with reduced use of unscheduled care after discharge. Early analysis suggests a statistically significant reduction in bed days and reduced use of unscheduled care.

The paper suggests that this model serves as an example of person centred, value-based health that is focused on improving care and outcomes for homeless inpatients in mental health settings, with the potential to be rolled-out nationally to other mental health Trusts.

Prisons are uniquely challenging working environments. Staff are often exposed to direct and indirect trauma, impacting negatively on their mental well-being. Due to the limited research into prison staff experience, this paper aims to explore what staff find most challenging, how they cope, what support they would like and rewarding aspects of their work.

This service development project was facilitated through a staff well-being event. A qualitative approach was used and 74 staff members provided anonymised responses. An inductive and data-driven approach was used to analyse the data, and the trustworthiness of the analysis was considered using criteria established by Lincoln and Guba (1985).

Thematic analysis identified six themes, namely, the challenging nature of the work, interactions with prisoners, staff interactions, inadequate resources, staff support and development and coping strategies. Key findings include managing distress, self-harm and violence and limited resources presenting challenges. Role variety and opportunities to support prisoners were reported as positive. A variety of coping strategies were identified. Wider availability of supervision and reflective practice was suggested by staff.

Recommendations for increased staff support are made. Suggestions for future research investigating methods to increase rewarding aspects of work within prisons are given.

This analysis adds to the limited body of qualitative research investigating prison staff experiences; in particular, aspects of the work that they find rewarding such as the role variety and opportunities to make positive changes to prisoners’ lives. Novel coping strategies were identified, including cognitive reframing and behavioural strategies for managing stress, which could be encouraged to increase resilience.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the wider context in which the national evaluation of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) was delivered and raise concerns about the sustainability of the early outcomes.

The paper briefly summarises the outcomes of a two-year mixed-methods evaluation. This included a two-wave postal survey (n=792) and follow-up (n=481), an online survey of adopters (n=586) and professionals (providers n=50, local authority staff n=124) and in-depth family interviews. The focus of the discussion on sustainability is drawn from the qualitative research of 10 local authority case studies based on 86 interviews with adoption teams and 33 providers and the perspectives of parents.

Whilst the ASF showed modest early outcomes for families in terms of improved mental health and wellbeing without the scaffolding of wider support of services able to understand the complex lifelong needs of adoptive children and their families, the sustainability of the benefits of therapeutic support is questioned. Adoption teams struggled with the increased burden of administration of the fund, their knowledge of therapeutic interventions, an evidence base and quality of provision from a market that is difficult to regulate. In a society that is failing to meet the mental health and wellbeing needs of children generally, how can a single intervention meet the needs of a very vulnerable group?

Research and evaluation on interventions in children’s social care could be more systems aware and instead of narrowly focusing on outcomes pay attention to the complex network of services that interlink to support vulnerable children and their families and the restraints on resources that they are working with.

To prevent adoption breakdown and increase recruitment of adopters, support for adoptive families needs to be improved beyond the current scope of the ASF. A wide range of services are required to support adopted children particularly as they grow into adolescence. While families have the right to live independently of social services, the awareness of their needs throughout public organisations should be raised particularly in schools.

This paper represents the views of the evaluators at TIHR of the ASF beyond the scope of the original evaluation. It reflects on the wider context of the role out of the Fund and raises important questions about the failure to support the mental health and wellbeing needs of the most vulnerable children in society. It is an organisation reflection drawing on early research in children’s social care from its archive.

When a company simultaneously manages several distribution channels, there are important issues regarding the sharing of marketing and logistical resources. This paper aims to discuss the integration of sales staff, communication and logistical operations to improve service delivery to multi-channel consumers.

The paper is based on a literature review regarding multi-channel strategy to build a conceptual framework. This framework is discussed using three illustrations from the French multi-channel distribution field (King Jouet, Fnac and Darty).

The exploratory research underlines the importance of information about how consumers order in different channels. This makes the global management of different channels difficult and threatens marketing and logistical sharing.

The integration process is becoming increasingly important in service recovery. Companies must therefore facilitate total access to logistical information. This requires an organisational interaction between marketing and the supply chain activities.

The paper underlines the importance of the integration process in service recovery management, particularly when a defective product must be replaced and a new product be made available to consumers.

People experiencing homelessness are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of a pandemic, such as COVID-19. Therefore, governments across Canada have been implementing a patchwork of responses to address the needs of those who are homeless at this time. The purpose of this study is to both compile and assess the varying responses by exploring the breadth of actions presented in print and social media.

Rapid review methodology is a means of compiling a breadth of information to compare and contrast policy implementations. Herein, the authors provide a comprehensive rapid review of responses to homelessness considered through a health equity lens.

Based on policy implementations to date, the authors offer eight recommendations of potentially promising practices among these responses. Situated within a capabilities approach, the authors call upon governments to provide a full breadth of responses to ensure that both health and housing are better protected and obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper presents the first comprehensive review of local government responses to homelessness in the context of COVID-19.