NHS Bolton Library Presents… Primary Care news, opinions & research for week ending 1st January 2012

NHS Bolton Library Blog is 1 year old this week! In that time we have published almost 1750 stories, covering 166 topics that have been 7650 accessed times (at the time of writing). The blog’s most popular day was August 22^nd 2011. The most popular search term has been “national, regional, and global trends in body-mass index since 1980″ which is also the most accessed story.

We want to hear about what YOU think about this blog. How do you use it? What is your favourite aspect? What would you change? Email any feedback to nhsbolton.library@bolton.nhs.uk

Please find below a selection of the most relevant and interesting news stories of the past week. Including:

Primary Care

• A comparison of the effectiveness of three parenting programmes in improving parenting skills, parent mental well-being and children’s behaviour when implemented on a large scale in community settings in 18 English local authorities: the Parenting Early Intervention Pathfinder (PEIP)
• Patients to choose GP practices under NHS plans
• Sexual health teams ‘should offer alcohol advice’
• The impact of injuries study. Multicentre study assessing physical, psychological, social and occupational functioning post injury – a protocol
• Use of community treatment orders for mental health patients rises 29% in a year

Public Health

• Academic performance at school linked to exercise
• Detoxing in January is futile, says liver charity
• Families encouraged to eat healthily on the cheap
• New public health system takes shape as more details published

Families encouraged to eat healthily on the cheap

An effort to convince families in England that they can eat healthily on a budget is being launched.

via BBC News – Families encouraged to eat healthily on the cheap.

£150m home care boost for elderly patients

Ministers have allocated an extra £150m for patients to get care at home after warnings that local authority cuts were creating a “crisis” in social care.

via BBC News – £150m home care boost for elderly patients.

Academic performance at school linked to exercise

BBC News – Academic performance at school linked to exercise.

How well children perform in the classroom could be linked to how physically active they are, suggests a Dutch review of previous studies

The abstract can be viewed below. if you would like a full text copy of the article – please contact the library

Physical Activity and Performance at School

A Systematic Review of the Literature Including a Methodological Quality Assessment

Amika Singh, PhD; Léonie Uijtdewilligen, MSc; Jos W. R. Twisk, PhD; Willem van Mechelen, PhD, MD; Mai J. M. Chinapaw, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012;166(1):49-55. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2011.716

Objective To describe the prospective relationship between physical activity and academic performance.

Data Sources Prospective studies were identified from searches in PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central, and Sportdiscus from 1990 through 2010.

Study Selection We screened the titles and abstracts for eligibility, rated the methodological quality of the studies, and extracted data.

Main Exposure Studies had to report at least 1 physical activity or physical fitness measurement during childhood or adolescence.

Main Outcome Measures Studies had to report at least 1 academic performance or cognition measure during childhood or adolescence.

Results We identified 10 observational and 4 intervention studies. The quality score of the studies ranged from 22% to 75%. Two studies were scored as high quality. Methodological quality scores were particularly low for the reliability and validity of the measurement instruments. Based on the results of the best-evidence synthesis, we found evidence of a significant longitudinal positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance.

Conclusions  Participation in physical activity is positively related to academic performance in children. Because we found only 2 high-quality studies, future high-quality studies are needed to confirm our findings. These studies should thoroughly examine the dose-response relationship between physical activity and academic performance as well as explanatory mechanisms for this relationship.

Politicians urged to seize chance to change social care

BBC News – Politicians urged to seize chance to change social care.

Politicians from all parties have been urged to work together to find a way to overhaul the “failing” social care system in England.

The impact of injuries study. Multicentre study assessing physical, psychological, social and occupational functioning post injury – a protocol

BMC Public Health | Abstract | The impact of injuries study. Multicentre study assessing physical, psychological, social and occupational functioning post injury – a protocol.

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Large numbers of people are killed or severely injured following injuries each year and these injuries place a large burden on health care resources. The majority of the severely injured are not fully recovered 12-18 months later. Psychological disorders are common post injury and are associated with poorer functional and occupational outcomes. Much of this evidence comes from countries other than the UK, with differing health care and compensation systems. Early interventions can be effective in treating psychological morbidity, hence the scale and nature of the problem and its impact of functioning in the UK must be known before services can be designed to identify and manage psychological morbidity post injury.

Methods

A longitudinal multi-centre study of 680 injured patients admitted to hospital in four areas across the UK: Nottingham, Leicester/Loughborough, Bristol and Surrey. A stratified sample of injuries will ensure a range of common and less common injuries will be included. Participants will complete a baseline questionnaire about their injury and pre-injury quality of life, and follow-up questionnaires 1, 2, 4, and 12 months post injury. Measures will include health and social care utilisation, perceptions of recovery, physical, psychological, social and occupational functioning and health-related quality of life. A nested qualitative study will explore the experiences of a sample of participants, their carers and service providers to inform service design.

Discussion

This study will quantify physical, psychological, social and occupational functioning and health and social care utilisation following a range of different types of injury and will assess the impact of psychological disorders on function and health service use. The findings will be used to guide the development of interventions to maximise recovery post injury.

Breast implants: Adviser calls for ‘staged removal’

A surgeon advising the government has called for the removal of all faulty breast implants, following a health scare in France

via BBC News – Breast implants: Adviser calls for ‘staged removal’.

Detoxing in January is futile, says liver charity

via BBC News – Detoxing in January is futile, says liver charity.

Giving up alcohol or going on a detox for one month is pointless, especially after the excesses of the festive season, says a liver charity.

 

New public health system takes shape as more details published

New public health system takes shape as more details published | Modernisation of health and care.

More details on the design of the new public health system, including the role and responsibilities of local government in public health, the operating model for the new executive agency Public Health England and an overview of how the whole system will work.