DH ‘top leader’ list excludes GP commissioners | News | Health Service Journal

via Exclusive: DH ‘top leader’ list excludes GP commissioners | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

Only 4 per cent of people on the Department of Health’s list of the 918 NHS most talented leaders deemed capable of senior roles are GPs, HSJ can reveal.

 

Exclusive: government funding changes ‘will transfer £700m from poor to rich areas’

via Exclusive: government funding changes ‘will transfer £700m from poor to rich areas’ | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

The government’s decision to give less weight to health inequalities when allocating NHS funds will ultimately lead to £718m a year being transferred from areas with poor health to those with good health, research suggests

 

Emergency surgery patients’ lives at risk, say surgeons

The lives of thousands of non-cardiac NHS emergency surgery patients are being risked by poor care and delays in treatment, leading surgeons say.

via BBC News – Emergency surgery patients’ lives at risk, say surgeons.

Targeted back pain care ‘cheaper and better for patients’

More targeted treatment for back pain improves care and “substantially” reduces healthcare costs, say scientists.

via BBC News – Targeted back pain care ‘cheaper and better for patients’.

Exclusive: data security regulation ‘should not increase’

Source: Exclusive: data security regulation ‘should not increase’ | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

The Health Bill is likely to be amended to clarify responsibility for data security, the chair of the national information governance board has told HSJ

 

Monitor could suspend competition to encourage integration models

Source: Monitor could suspend competition to encourage integration models | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

Monitor’s chief executive has set out a range of measures the future regulator will consider as it works to reconcile competition and service integration.

 

‘Accelerated’ demise of IT scheme needs clarity for involved businesses

Source: ‘Accelerated’ demise of IT scheme needs clarity for involved businesses | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

IT professionals have called for clarity after the government announced an “acceleration” in the dismantling of the national IT scheme.

 

Study suggests that ‘man flu’ could be real

For women pouring scorn on their male counterparts’ susceptibility to “man ‘flu”, be kind on them – it may simply be due to genetic inferiority.

via Study suggests that ‘man flu’ could be real – Health News, Health & Families – The Independent.

Trusts are told to prioritise high risk general surgical patients

Source: Trusts are told to prioritise high risk general surgical patients — Wise 343 — bmj.com.

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The high rate of complications and deaths after major abdominal surgery could be radically cut if hospitals prioritised high risk emergency cases over elective cases, says a new report from the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

 

Funding grant proposals for scientific research: retrospective analysis of scores by members of grant review panel

Source:Funding grant proposals for scientific research: retrospective analysis of scores by members of grant review panel — Graves et al. 343 — bmj.com.

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully.

Abstract

Objective To quantify randomness and cost when choosing health and medical research projects for funding.

Design Retrospective analysis.

Setting Grant review panels of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Participants Panel members’ scores for grant proposals submitted in 2009.

Main outcome measures The proportion of grant proposals that were always, sometimes, and never funded after accounting for random variability arising from differences in panel members’ scores, and the cost effectiveness of different size assessment panels.

Results 59% of 620 funded grants were sometimes not funded when random variability was taken into account. Only 9% (n=255) of grant proposals were always funded, 61% (n=1662) never funded, and 29% (n=788) sometimes funded. The extra cost per grant effectively funded from the most effective system was $A18 541 (£11 848; €13 482; $19 343).

Conclusions Allocating funding for scientific research in health and medicine is costly and somewhat random. There are many useful research questions to be addressed that could improve current processes.

 

Comparing bivalent and quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccines: economic evaluation based on transmission model

Comparing bivalent and quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccines: economic evaluation based on transmission model — Jit et al. 343 — bmj.com.

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully.

 

Abstract

Objectives To compare the effect and cost effectiveness of bivalent and quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, taking into account differences in licensure indications, protection against non-vaccine type disease, protection against disease related to HPV types 6 and 11, and reported long term immunogenicity.

Design A model of HPV transmission and disease previously used to inform UK vaccination policy, updated with recent evidence and expanded to include scenarios where the two vaccines differ in duration of protection, cross protection, and end points prevented.

Setting United Kingdom.

Population Males and females aged 12–75 years.

Main outcome measure Incremental cost effectiveness ratios for both vaccines and additional cost per dose for the quadrivalent vaccine to be equally cost effective as the bivalent vaccine.

Results The bivalent vaccine needs to be cheaper than the quadrivalent vaccine to be equally cost effective, mainly because of its lack of protection against anogenital warts. The price difference per dose ranges from a median of £19 (interquartile range £12–£27) to £35 (£27–£44) across scenarios about vaccine duration, cross protection, and end points prevented (assuming one quality adjusted life year (QALY) is valued at £30 000 and both vaccines can prevent all types of HPV related cancers).

Conclusions The quadrivalent vaccine may have an advantage over the bivalent vaccine in reducing healthcare costs and QALYs lost. The bivalent vaccine may have an advantage in preventing death due to cancer. However, considerable uncertainty remains about the differential benefit of the two vaccines.

 

 

Use of cancer drugs questioned

Use of cancer drugs questioned – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Dying cancer patients should not be given ‘futile’ drugs. The Daily Telegraph, September 27 2011

Don’t give out cancer drugs if it’s just to extend life: Treatment costs can’t be justified, say experts. Daily Mail, September 27 2011

Cancer cost ‘crisis’ warning from oncologists. BBC News, September 27 2011

Links to the science

Sullivan R, Peppercorn J, Sikora K et al. Delivering affordable cancer care in high-income countries. The Lancet Oncology, Volume 12, Issue 10, Pages 933 – 980, September 2011

Coffee and risk of depression in women

Coffee and risk of depression in women – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Coffee may prevent depression, scientists say. BBC News, September 27 2011

Women who drink 4 or more cups of coffee a day are less likely to be depressed. Daily Mail, September 27 2011

Coffee ‘lowers depression risk’. The Daily Telegraph, September 27 2011

Four cups of coffee a day help women beat depression, study claims. Daily Mirror, September 27 2011

Links to the science

Lucas M, Mirzaei F, Pan A, et al. Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Depression Among Women. Archives of Internal Medicine 2011; 171: 1571-1578

Financial challenge facing NHS is ‘unprecedented’

Source:Financial challenge facing NHS is ‘unprecedented’ – Farrar | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

The “unprecedented financial challenge” facing the NHS that may force service cuts and reductions in the numbers of hospital beds, the NHS Confederation chief executive has said.

 

Healthcare accreditation systems: further perspectives on performance measures

Source:Healthcare accreditation systems: further perspectives on performance measures.

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Abstract

Objective The purpose of this paper is to identify and suggest a number of performance measures to facilitate the evaluation of accreditation programs in healthcare.

Methods The paper is based on an exploratory research which has used qualitative methods, including snowball sampling technique, email interview and thematic content analysis.

Participants Respondents (experts and professionals) were selected from a diverse spectrum ranging from healthcare organizations, universities and accreditation-associated institutions.

Results The analysis of the data provided key measures to be considered in the evaluation of accreditation programs’ impact at macro and micro levels as well as their nature and operations. The measures can be used to, for example, assess the degree of stakeholders’ reliance on accreditation results, measure the cost of accreditation for participating organizations and serve as a formal mechanism for accredited organizations to appeal accreditation decisions.

Conclusions This paper has brought together a number of generic, yet influential and workable, measures which could be utilized for assessing the overall performance of an accreditation program in healthcare. The application of these measures depends on the features of given accreditation program and the context in which the program operates. Therefore, the next step/steps in the assessment of an accreditation program might be choosing the measures suiting that program.

 

Brain chemical linked to mental decline

Brain chemical linked to mental decline – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Secret of restoring dementia victims’ memory. Daily Express, September 25 2011

Links to the science

Zovoilis A, Agbemenyah HY, Agis-Balboa RC, et al. microRNA-34c is a novel target to treat dementias. The EMBO Journal 2011, September 23 2011

A multilevel analysis on the relationship between neighbourhood poverty and public hospital utilization: is the high Indigenous morbidity avoidable?

Source: Abstract | A multilevel analysis on the relationship between neighbourhood poverty and public hospital utilization: is the high Indigenous morbidity avoidable?.

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Abstract (provisional)

 

Background

The estimated life expectancy at birth for Indigenous Australians is 10-11 years less than the general Australian population. The mean family income for Indigenous people is also significantly lower than for non-Indigenous people. In this paper we examine poverty or socioeconomic disadvantage as an explanation for the Indigenous health gap in hospital morbidity in Australia.

Methods

We utilised a cross-sectional and ecological design using the Northern Territory public hospitalisation data from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2008 and socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA) from the 2006 census. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and confidence intervals. Both total and potentially avoidable hospitalisations were investigated.

Results

This study indicated that lifting SEIFA scores for family income and education/occupation by two quintile categories for low socio-economic Indigenous groups was sufficient to overcome the excess hospital utilisation among the Indigenous population compared with the non-Indigenous population. The results support a reframing of the Indigenous health gap as being a consequence of poverty and not simplistically of ethnicity.

Conclusions

Socio-economic disadvantage is a likely explanation for a substantial proportion of the hospital morbidity gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Efforts to improve Indigenous health outcomes should recognise poverty as an underlying determinant of the health gap.

 

Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Depression Among Women, September 26, 2011, Lucas et al. 171 (17): 1571

Source: Arch Intern Med — Abstract: Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Depression Among Women, September 26, 2011, Lucas et al. 171 (17): 1571

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully.

 

ABSTRACT

 

Background  Caffeine is the world’s most widely used central nervous system stimulant, with approximately 80% consumed in the form of coffee. However, studies that analyze prospectively the relationship between coffee or caffeine consumption and depression risk are scarce.

Methods A total of 50 739 US women (mean age, 63 years) free of depressive symptoms at baseline (in 1996) were prospectively followed up through June 1, 2006. Consumption of caffeine was measured from validated questionnaires completed from May 1, 1980, through April 1, 2004, and computed as cumulative mean consumption with a 2-year latency period applied. Clinical depression was defined as self-reported physician-diagnosed depression and antidepressant use. Relative risks of clinical depression were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models.

Results  During 10 years of follow-up (1996-2006), 2607 incident cases of depression were identified. Compared with women consuming 1 or less cup of caffeinated coffee per week, the multivariate relative risk of depression was 0.85 (95% confidence interval, 0.75-0.95) for those consuming 2 to 3 cups per day and 0.80 (0.64-0.99; P for trend <.001) for those consuming 4 cups per day or more. Multivariate relative risk of depression was 0.80 (95% confidence interval, 0.68-0.95; P for trend = .02) for women in the highest (550 mg/d) vs lowest (<100 mg/d) of the 5 caffeine consumption categories. Decaffeinated coffee was not associated with depression risk.

Conclusions  In this large longitudinal study, we found that depression risk decreases with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption. Further investigations are needed to confirm this finding and to determine whether usual caffeinated coffee consumption can contribute to depression prevention

 

Government announces end of NHS IT programme—for second time

Source: Government announces end of NHS IT programme—for second time — Cross 343 — bmj.com.

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For the second time in a year the UK government has announced the end of the £12bn (€13.7bn; $18.5bn) programme to computerise the NHS in England

 

Size restrictions on commissioning groups are eroding GPs’ engagement

Source: Size restrictions on commissioning groups are eroding GPs’ engagement — Jaques 343 — bmj.com.

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Clinical commissioning groups in England are being forced to adopt certain sizes and forms to meet Department of Health viability rules, a new survey has shown. Professional organisations believe that this restriction is eroding GPs’ confidence that they will have the freedom to commission services as they see fit.

 

Trusts deny health secretary’s claims that private finance initiatives have caused major financial problems

Source:Trusts deny health secretary’s claims that private finance initiatives have caused major financial problems — O’Dowd 343 — bmj.com.

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Several NHS trusts have denied claims by England’s health secretary, Andrew Lansley, that they are facing serious financial problems caused by private finance initiative (PFI) schemes

 

Smoking in movies and adolescent smoking: cross-cultural study in six European countries

Source:Smoking in movies and adolescent smoking: cross-cultural study in six European countries — Morgenstern et al. — Thorax.

An NHS Athens account may be required to view this in full.

Abstract

Aim To investigate whether the association between exposure to smoking in movies and smoking among youth is independent of cultural context.

Method Cross-sectional survey of 16 551 pupils recruited in Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Scotland with a mean age of 13.4 years (SD=1.18) and an equal gender distribution. School-based surveys were conducted between November 2009 and June 2010. Using previously validated methods, exposure to movie smoking was estimated from the 250 top-grossing movies of each country (years 2004–2009) and related to ever smoking.

Results Overall, 29% of the sample had tried smoking. The sample quartile (Q) of movie smoking exposure was significantly associated with the prevalence of ever smoking: 14% of adolescents in Q1 had tried smoking, 21% in Q2, 29% in Q3 and 36% in Q4. After controlling for age, gender, family affluence, school performance, television screen time, number of movies seen, sensation seeking and rebelliousness and smoking within the social environment (peers, parents and siblings), the adjusted ORs for having tried smoking in the entire sample were 1.3 (95% CI 1.1 to 1.5) for adolescents in Q2, 1.6 (95% CI 1.4 to 1.9) for Q3 and 1.7 (95% CI 1.4 to 2.0) for Q4 compared with Q1. The adjusted relationship between ever smoking and higher movie smoking exposure levels was significant in all countries with a non-linear association in Italy and Poland.

Conclusions The link between smoking in movies and adolescent smoking is robust and transcends different cultural contexts. Limiting young people’s exposure to movie smoking could have important public health implications.

New radiation drug for cancer tested

New radiation drug for cancer tested – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Links to the headlines

Early success in cancer drug trial gives patients ‘promising’ future. The Daily Telegraph, September 26 2011

Hope for prostate cancer patients as pioneering drug proves so successful they have already stopped the trials. Daily Mail, September 26 2011

Alpha radiation treats prostate cancers. BBC News, September 26 2011

Further reading

Press release
Algeta to Host Investor Meeting, Webcast and Conference Call to Discuss Positive Phase III Trial Results for Alpharadin. Reuters, September 26 2011

Better commissioning is needed to deal with combined effects of physical and mental illnesses

Source: Better commissioning is needed to deal with combined effects of physical and mental illnesses — Limb 343 — bmj.com.

An NHS Athens account may be required to view this in full.

Making mental health services more efficient will improve the care of people with long term conditions and save the NHS money, a conference has heard.

 

Impact of CONSORT extenion for cluster randomised trials on quality of reporting and study methodology: review of random sample of 300 trials, 2000-8

Source: Impact of CONSORT extension for cluster randomised trials on quality of reporting and study methodology: review of random sample of 300 trials, 2000-8 — Ivers et al. 343 — bmj.com.

This article is available freely via Open Access. Please click on the above link to view it fully

Abstract

Objective To assess the impact of the 2004 extension of the CONSORT guidelines on the reporting and methodological quality of cluster randomised trials.

Design Methodological review of 300 randomly sampled cluster randomised trials. Two reviewers independently abstracted 14 criteria related to quality of reporting and four methodological criteria specific to cluster randomised trials. We compared manuscripts published before CONSORT (2000-4) with those published after CONSORT (2005-8). We also investigated differences by journal impact factor, type of journal, and trial setting.

Data sources A validated Medline search strategy.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Cluster randomised trials published in English language journals, 2000-8.

Results There were significant improvements in five of 14 reporting criteria: identification as cluster randomised; justification for cluster randomisation; reporting whether outcome assessments were blind; reporting the number of clusters randomised; and reporting the number of clusters lost to follow-up. No significant improvements were found in adherence to methodological criteria. Trials conducted in clinical rather than non-clinical settings and studies published in medical journals with higher impact factor or general medical journals were more likely to adhere to recommended reporting and methodological criteria overall, but there was no evidence that improvements after publication of the CONSORT extension for cluster trials were more likely in trials conducted in clinical settings nor in trials published in either general medical journals or in higher impact factor journals.

Conclusion The quality of reporting of cluster randomised trials improved in only a few aspects since the publication of the extension of CONSORT for cluster randomised trials, and no improvements at all were observed in essential methodological features. Overall, the adherence to reporting and methodological guidelines for cluster randomised trials remains suboptimal, and further efforts are needed to improve both reporting and methodology.

Flexible hospital visits claim defended by Carter

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

A nurses’ leader who suggested relatives of the elderly should be encouraged to help care for loved ones while in hospital has moved to defend his comments

Source: Flexible hospital visits claim defended by Carter | News | Health Service Journal.

 

 

Cancer cost ‘crisis’ warning from oncologists

The cost of treating cancer in the developed world is spiralling and is “heading towards a crisis”, an international team of researchers says.

via BBC News – Cancer cost ‘crisis’ warning from oncologists.

The abstract of the original report can be read by clicking here

Onus is on doctors to encourage patients to have the flu jab

Source: Onus is on doctors to encourage patients to have the flu jab — Gulland 343 — bmj.com.

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The government is eschewing a major public information campaign and is instead urging doctors, other health professionals, and charities in England to encourage people in high risk groups to be vaccinated against influenza.

 

Study linking chronic fatigue syndrome with retrovirus is partially retracted

Source:  Study linking chronic fatigue syndrome with retrovirus is partially retracted — Sayburn 343 — bmj.com.

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The authors of a controversial paper published in Science that linked chronic fatigue syndrome to a mouse retrovirus have partially retracted their findings, admitting that some of their samples were contaminated. At the same time new research casts further doubt on the original findings

 

Doctors ‘failing’ cancer patients on side effects

Source: Doctors ‘failing’ cancer patients on side effects | News | Health Service Journal.

This article is solely the work of the HSJ. For a full copy of the article please contact the library.

Cancer patients are being let down “far too often” by doctors failing to spot other medical problems caused by their treatment, according to a leading expert on the disease