Have you tried Oxford Medicine Online?

This online book collection contains well known and highly regarded titles from Oxford University Press covering medical specialties, nursing topics, and community work.

Titles includes the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, the Oxford Medical Handbooks and Oxford Specialist Handbooks, all in online formats.

The collection is available to all trust staff and students.

E books provide the convenience of being able to use them wherever you are working, onsite or off site. You can log in online here using your personal East Cheshire NHS Trust Athens account. More details can be found on the library e resources web page

Acute Care Collaboration Vanguards announced

A new group, comprising 13 hospital Vanguards, was announced on 25^th September.  These Vanguards are designed to facilitate the spread of excellent hospital services and management across the country by the  formation of chains at district level. The focus is on key trusts developing their reach, forming collaborations and sharing clinical and management knowledge with others. More details can be found here.

There is also a press release from the NHS Confederation supporting the move and a more information in BMJ News (note an NHS Athens Account is required to access BMJ)

CCGs in eight English cities describe their innovations in tackling health challenges

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NHS clinical commissioners in eight English cities are calling for more support from national NHS bodies to speed up efforts to transform people’s healthcare and wellbeing. They want greater flexibility when it comes to contracting services and sharing data so they can be better informed.

The call came in a report launched this week by the NHS Clinical Commissioners’ Core Cities Network at a conference in London.

Genetics affect lung disease and smoking behaviour, study finds

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Researchers from the United Kingdom have identified genetic differences that affect the likelihood of whether a person will smoke and the predisposition of heavy smokers and non-smokers to poor lung health

Mentoring now available from the Library and Knowledge Service

Amanda Gardner, our E-resources Librarian, is now able to provide mentoring for people, giving support for learning and development wherever you are in your career. These come in the form of 1-1 guidance and provide the mentee with help around professional development and career goals.

Click here for the difference between mentoring and coaching.

Click here to register as a mentee and search for a mentor. This is available to everyone in the trust.

Home care visits should be at least 30 minutes long, NICE says

Most home care visits should be at least half an hour long to enable carers to provide the personalised and dignified care that elderly patients need when being supported to stay in their own home, says a guideline on social care services from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

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Shorter visits would be appropriate only rarely, said the finalised guideline on home care, published on 23 September. This might be when the visit is part of a wider package of support, made by a carer who is known to the patient, or made to complete a specific time limited task, such as checking that a medicine has been taken or that a person is safe and well.

Spotlight On…. Oxford Medicine Online

Each month the Library and Knowledge Service will be highlighting a particular e-resource, providing details about how to gain access and also explaining its uses.

This month we are focusing on Oxford Medicine Online, a resource from Oxford University Press, providing access to their prestigious medical collection and bringing together authoritative texts by world-renowned authors. These e books can be accessed both on and off site, you can search for topics or browse to titles of interest.

By logging in with your NHS Athens account you can access:

• Oxford Textbook of Medicine, covering the scientific aspects and clinical practice of internal medicine and its sub-specialties
• The Oxford Medical Handbooks: The renowned pocket handbooks designed for broad medical readership.
• The Oxford Specialist Handbooks: A collection of comprehensive pocket guides for challenging areas of medical and surgical practice. They provide an overview of clearly defined procedures, skills, guidelines and technologies along with practical tips and case studies,

Further details about this resource can be found on our e Resources  web pages, you can also contact us to find out more.

Combination drug shows promise for treating agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

A combination drug treatment can reduce agitation in patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease and is generally well tolerated, preliminary research published in JAMA has shown.

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The phase II double blind randomised clinical trial showed that patients who received the combination dextromethorphan hydrobromide and quinidine sulphate had lower occurrence and severity of agitation than patients who received placebo. This combination is approved in the United States and the European Union for treating pseudobulbar affect, a neurological disorder characterised by uncontrollable episodes of crying.

Patient safety incident reporting continues to improve

 

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NHS England has today (23 September 2015) published a six-monthly data report on patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) between 1 October 2014 and 31 March 2015.

Acute hospitals, mental health services, community trusts, ambulance services and primary care organisations report incidents to the NRLS where any patient could have been harmed or has suffered any level of harm. The reporting of incidents to a national central system helps protect patients from avoidable harm by increasing opportunities to learn from mistakes and where things go wrong.

Initial drug treatment in Parkinson’s disease

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Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterised by tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and a wide spectrum of non-motor symptoms including sleep disorders, hyposmia, bladder and bowel dysfunction, fatigue, dementia, and other neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Although the disease has no cure, available treatments effectively control motor symptoms and improve quality of life. Several drug classes are licensed for use as monotherapy in early Parkinson’s disease and adjuvant therapy in later disease

The 2015 NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare – published

 The latest NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare has just been published, with 102 maps detailing widespread variation in the quality, cost, activity and health outcome of healthcare in the English NHS. The indicators focus on a variety of services.

The Atlas is a collaboration with NHS England, Public Health England and NHS Right Care and can be accessed here
(Previous versions of the atlas are also available online.)

Recently highlighted in the media, information about the Atlas and its themes can be found here

You can read the recent Public Health England Press Release about the atlas here
The NHS Confederation also commented (see link)  on the usefulness of the Atlas which provides intelligence and highlights variations in care across regions.

T’ai chi benefits some patients with chronic conditions, review concludes

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T’ai chi can improve physical performance of patients with certain chronic conditions without exacerbating their pain or making them breathless, concludes a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The Chinese martial art t’ai chi consists of slow, gentle, and flowing movements that involve strengthening, balance, postural alignment, mind concentration, relaxation, and breath control.

Patient Safety Alert – Supporting the introduction of the National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures

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A Patient Safety Alert has been issued by NHS England to launch an NHS-wide programme of work based around the National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPs) that were published on 7 September 2015.

The alert asks NHS providers to review current clinical practice and ensure the NatSSIPs are embedded into local processes by developing their own local safety standards for invasive procedures (LocSSIPs) in collaboration with staff, patients and the public.

Understanding the legislative landscape in mental health

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The Mental Health Network (MHN) have produced a briefing Horizon scanning: The legislative landscape in mental health aimed at bringing members up to speed on some of the legal developments relevant to mental health which have taken place in the last twelve months as well as some of the legislative proposals currently under consideration.

Is this a new era for dementia?

A blog article  by Professors Alistair Burns and Martin Rossor:

“The current national and international focus on dementia has been widely welcomed as a vehicle to raise the profile of, and attract attention to, what has been a hitherto relatively neglected area of scientific interest and clinical practice…

…The news a few weeks ago of the putative efficacy of a disease modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease has ignited widespread public, professional and political interest and enthusiasm…”

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Peptides that form amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s may be transmissible, study finds

Amyloid β, the peptide that forms amyloid plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, may be transmissible through medical treatments such as blood products and surgical instruments, a small UK study published in Nature has shown.

Researchers working on iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (iCJD) unexpectedly found four autopsy cases with moderate to severe deposition of amyloid β in the grey matter of the brain typical of that seen in Alzheimer’s disease. They also found the peptide in the blood vessel walls deposited in a way that was characteristic of cerebral amyloid angiopathy.

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Which app should I use?

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There are well over 150 000 health apps available in Europe—from those designed to improve general wellness to apps that monitor medical conditions, apps for clinicians, and apps that function as medical devices. There have been more than 102 billion downloads of health apps worldwide yet there is little regulation or guidance available for doctors or patients on quality, safety, or efficacy.

Young adults using e-cigarettes are more likely to progress to smoking, study shows

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Adolescents and young adults who use electronic cigarettes are more likely to progress to smoking tobacco cigarettes than those who do not, shows a small US study that researchers say supports regulations to limit sales and reduce the appeal of e-cigarettes to young people.

The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, followed up a nationally representative sample of 694 teenagers and young adults aged 16 to 26 who had never smoked. Their attitudes showed that they were not susceptible to smoking cigarettes because they had responded “definitely no” when asked whether they would try a cigarette offered by a friend or whether they believed that they would smoke a cigarette within the next year.

Reducing sugary drink intake is linked to raised HDL cholesterol levels

Children who reduce their consumption of sugar sweetened drinks by just one serving a week see improvements in their high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition has found.

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The US study used data from a multiethnic sample of 613 children aged 8 to 15 who were enrolled in a randomised double blind vitamin D supplementation trial. They self reported their intake of sugar sweetened beverages and had their fasting blood lipid concentrations measured at baseline.

Two thirds of the children were from low socioeconomic status households, almost half were overweight or obese, and 59% were from non-white or Caucasian ethnic groups. The researchers followed 380 of the children for 12 months.

Review of Cancer Drugs Funds list leads to changes

The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) has today completed a further review of the effectiveness of treatments it funds to ensure it delivers the best outcomes for patients. The fund will no longer pay for 16 medicines used to treat a variety of cancers, including breast prostate and pancreatic cancer.

An update on the list can be found here

BBC Health News also recently reported the changes, read the news item here

The decision summaries can be found on NHS England website 

Top priorities for reshaping mental health services

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More than 20,000 people have given their views on the top priorities for reshaping mental health services as part of a drive to develop a five year national NHS strategy for people of all ages.

Better access to high quality services, a wider choice of treatments, more focus on prevention, more funding and less stigma were the top five calls for change by 2020.

£5million plan to improve the health of NHS staff

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Simon Stevens today announced a major drive to improve and support the health and wellbeing of 1.3million health service staff.

Speaking to a packed hall at the at the Health and Innovation Expo 2015 conference in Manchester, the NHS England Chief Executive set out how NHS organisations will be supported to help their staff stay well.

Recognition, assessment, and management of coeliac disease: summary of updated NICE guidance

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Coeliac disease is a common autoimmune condition, in which the ingestion of gluten (present in wheat, barley, and rye) activates an abnormal immune response, leading to chronic inflammation of the small intestine and malabsorption of nutrients. It affects about 1% of the UK population.

NICE recommendations are based on systematic reviews of the best available evidence and explicit consideration of cost effectiveness.

Breast Surgery Bulletin August 2015

The latest edition of the Breast Surgery Bulletin, containing articles and research published in August, is now available. View it on the Breast Surgery blog.

Critical Care Bulletin August 2015

The latest edition of the Critical Care Bulletin, containing articles and research published in August, is now available. View it on the blog.