By The Royal College of General Practitioners (September 2012)
The RCGP is encouraging as many people as possible to contribute to its vision for the future of general practice – with GPs at the heart of a transformation of health services to deliver the best possible patient care over the next ten years.
By National Obesity Observatory ( September 2012)
These SEFs aim to describe and explain the information that should be collected in any evaluation of an intervention that aims to increase participation in physical activity. It is aimed at interventions that work at individual or group level, not at population level.
By Stonewall ( September 2012)
The CQC are working with Stonewall as part of their Health Champions Scheme (which supports NHS organisations to improve services for LGB people) to develop the way services’ compliance with equality standards are monitored. This guide provides information on: the law, supporting older LGB people, tips and case studies for care homes, domiciliary services, health care services, housing providers and councils, and involving LGB people in service provision.
By Monitor ( September 2012)
This independent report analyses the costs and benefits of each of the proposed licence conditions which set out various obligations on providers of NHS services. The conditions fall into six broad groups: general, pricing, choice and competition, integrated care, continuity of services, and NHS foundation trusts.
By The King’s Fund (September 2012)
The UK has the second highest rate of mortality amenable to health care among 16 high-income countries, and evidence shows that variations in health outcomes between social groups are widening. This paper (the first in a series on the future of health and social care in England) explores how the current health and social care delivery system has failed to keep pace with the population’s needs and expectations. It argues that incremental changes to existing models of care will not be sufficient in addressing these challenges and that a much bolder approach is needed to bring about innovative models that are appropriate to the needs of the population and are high quality, sustainable and offer value for money.
Beckett V. et al. Archives of Diseases in Childhood, 2012; 97: 838-841
Parents administer oral medications with various measuring devices including metal teaspoons, calibrated spoons and oral syringes. We aimed to determine which was the most accurate. The calibrated spoon was the most accurate producing a mean volume of 5 ml, while the oral syringe had the smallest variance. The increased variability of calibrated or metal spoons may result in under or overdosing especially when administering drugs with a narrow therapeutic window. Health care professionals must make a case-by-case decision regarding which device is preferable depending on the medication in question. Parental education could improve measuring accuracy.
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Alsulami Z. et al. Archives of Diseases in Childhood, 2012; 97: 833-837
The objective of this article is to evaluate the evidence for double checking the administration of medicines. There is insufficient evidence to either support or refute the practice of double checking the administration of medicines. Clinical trials are needed to establish whether double checking medicines are effective in reducing medication errors.
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Quadri-Sheriff, M. et al. Pediatrics, 2012; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2012-0140
Herd immunity is an important benefit of childhood immunization, but it is unknown if the concept of benefit to others influences parents’ decisions to immunize their children. Our objective was to determine if the concept of “benefit to others” has been found in the literature to influence parents’ motivation for childhood immunization.
By Community Care Online (2012)
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to risk assessing parents who misuse drugs and alcohol. Each case is different, depending on the circumstances. Community Care asked three experts what children’s social workers should look out for.
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By the Public Health Observatory (2012)
Looking only at the numbers of patients currently being treated for a disease does not show the true prevalence and impact on the population’s health. At any given time there are many people who have a disease but are not aware of it because they have not yet been diagnosed. A robust and well-researched disease prevalence model can help commissioners to assess the true needs of their community, calculate the level of services needed and invest the appropriate level of resources for prevention, early detection, treatment and care. Prevalence models provide estimates of underlying prevalence derived from population statistics and scientific research on the risk factors for each disease. The models can also be used to support case-finding by identifying those areas where detection rates are low and targeting enhanced diagnostic activity on them.