NHS Bolton Library Presents… Primary Care News, Research and Opinion: Week Ending 12th February 2012

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

Commissioning

• CCG funding gulf could ‘destablise services’
• New evidence of worse outcomes for weekend patients reignites call for seven day hospital services | BMJ
• Seize the chance to agree a lasting settlement on how to fund social care, says Dilnot | BMJ

Primary care

• Integrate treatment for mental and physical conditions, NHS told
• New NHS Confederation forum to bid for policy influence
• Susceptibility of people with long term illness to depression and anxiety is not recognised, report says | BMJ
• BBC News – Assisted suicide cases guidelines issued by GMC

Public Health

• Clustering of substance use and sexual risk behaviour in adolescence: analysis of two cohort studies
• Do great local minds think alike? Comparing perceptions of the social determinants of health between non-profit and governmental actors in two Canadian cities
• Baby knows best? The impact of weaning style on food preferences and body mass index in early childhood in a case–controlled sample — Townsend and Pitchford 2 (1) — BMJ Open
• Pureed foods ‘bigger obesity risk than finger foods’

Health and Social Care Bill

• BBC News – Fear of NHS bill damage to Tories
• Faculty of Public Health calls for the health bill to be withdrawn | BMJ
• Institute of Healthcare Management joins ‘drop the bill’ calls
• Lord Owen: Lords have failed to alter the Health Bill
• Nearly 2000 amendments are not enough to save health bill, says BMA | BMJ
• Royal College of GPs joins calls for Health Bill to be scrapped
• Conservative ministers ‘ring alarm bell’ over NHS reforms
• PM backing for NHS reform has ‘drifted’

Evidence is still not informing policy on obesity, conference hears

via Evidence is still not informing policy on obesity, conference hears | BMJ.

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

The government is still not making the best use of evidence in efforts to tackle the UK’s grave obesity problem, a conference of experts heard.

 

Seize the chance to agree a lasting settlement on how to fund social care, says Dilnot | BMJ

via Seize the chance to agree a lasting settlement on how to fund social care, says Dilnot | BMJ.

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

Politicians will be “cowardly” if they fail to seize the chance to transform the system of funding social care in England, according to the economist leading the case for change.

 

Conservative ministers ‘ring alarm bell’ over NHS reforms

via Conservative ministers ‘ring alarm bell’ over NHS reforms | News | Health Service Journal.

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

Conservative Cabinet ministers have “rung the alarm bell” about the government’s NHS reforms with one comparing it to the poll tax, it was claimed today.

 

Lifetime history of indoor tanning in young people: a retrospective assessment of initiation, persistence, and correlates

BMC Public Health | Abstract | Lifetime history of indoor tanning in young people: a retrospective assessment of initiation, persistence, and correlates.

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

 

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Despite educational and public health campaigns to convey the risks of indoor tanning, many individuals around the world continue to engage in this behavior. Few descriptive studies of indoor tanning have collected information pertaining to the lifetime history of indoor tanning, thereby limiting our ability to understand indoor tanning patterns and potentially target interventions for individuals who not only initiate, but continue to persistently engage in indoor tanning.

Evaluation of a novel nutrition education intervention for medical students from across England

Evaluation of a novel nutrition education intervention for medical students from across England — Ray et al. 2 (1) — BMJ Open.

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

Abstract

Objectives Problems such as hospital malnutrition (~40% prevalence in the UK) may be managed better by improving the nutrition education of ‘tomorrow’s doctors’. The Need for Nutrition Education Programme aimed to measure the effectiveness and acceptability of an educational intervention on nutrition for medical students in the clinical phase of their training.

Pureed foods ‘bigger obesity risk than finger foods’

Pureed foods ‘bigger obesity risk than finger foods’ – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Conclusion

While it was widely reported, this small cross-sectional study proves very little about the possible impact of different weaning methods on children’s food preferences, BMI or other health outcomes. Instead, because of its cross-sectional design, it can provide only a snapshot of all these factors (as reported by parents) at one point in time. It cannot show, for example, that babies who prefer carbohydrates do so because they were weaned on finger foods, as some news sources have reported.

Calls to reduce 1.6m unnecessary prescriptions

via Calls to reduce 1.6m unnecessary prescriptions | News | Health Service Journal.

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

Unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics could be slashed by 1.6 million a year and save the NHS vital funds, researchers have said.

 

Health-related behavior as a mechanism behind the relationship between neighborhood social capital and individual health – a multilevel analysis

BMC Public Health | Abstract | Health-related behavior as a mechanism behind the relationship between neighborhood social capital and individual health – a multilevel analysis.

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

Background

Although various studies have found a positive association between neighborhood social capital and individual health, the mechanism explaining this direct effect is still unclear. Neighborhood social capital is the access to resources that are generated by relationships between people in a friendly, well-connected and tightly knit neighborhood community. We expect that the resources generated by cohesive neighborhoods support and influence health -improving behaviors in daily life. We identify five different health-related behaviors that are likely to be affected by neighborhood social capital and test these behaviors separately as mediators.

C. diff transfer risk baffles boffins

C. diff transfer risk baffles boffins – Health News – NHS Choices.

NHS Choices examines the science behind the newspaper headlines.

Conclusion

This research is important because it suggests that the previous assumption that all C.difficile is spread on wards through contact with infected patients may not be entirely correct. As the authors point out, this means that transmission may not be adequately controlled by current strategies, which focus on preventing person-to-person spread. Further study is required to look at how the infection is transmitted.

PM backing for NHS reform has ‘drifted’

via PM backing for NHS reform has ‘drifted’ | 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 prime minister and other senior ministers have been criticised for backing away from public sector reforms amid heavy political pressure.

 

BBC News – Retire later to stop loneliness, says No 10 adviser

BBC News – Retire later to stop loneliness, says No 10 adviser.

People who carry on working in some capacity beyond their retirement could live longer, because they are not so lonely, a No 10 adviser has suggested.