cold weather warning from Public Health England – average temperatures to drop to 2 degrees or below. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-issues-cold-weather-alert Boiler on Prescription Report – The story so far (1) EvaluationofWarmFrontScheme Local action on fuel inequalities – cold home related fuel problems    Papers of note http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935102000099 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24602854 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21764645 “There was a fundamental belief that residents in […]

Tamiflu letter   Here is a letter from the directors of Thames Valley NHS England. Note the use of language regarding prescribing. Here is my response.

Who is counting the harms from changes to the benefits system?   Why I love #parkrun    

Forecasting with google flu trends – doesn’t work http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0056176 http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/12016836/The%20Parable%20of%20Google%20Flu%20(WP-Final).pdf?sequence=1 wikipedia was a bit better; correlation of page views and CDC data http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003581 or there’s twitter, which fits on historical data modelling http://currents.plos.org/outbreaks/article/twitter-improves-influenza-forecasting/ Several models incorporated additional data besides clinical or laboratory-based surveillance data to generate forecasts, including internet search queries and meteorological data. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0094130 […]

  Nalmfelene http://www.uptodate.com/contents/pharmacotherapy-for-alcohol-use-disorder/abstract/60-62 Click to access nalmefene_Selincro_FINAL_September_2013_website.pdf COIs in researchers http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g2017/rr/692223 http://www.europeanneuropsychopharmacology.com/article/S0924-977X(13)00075-8/abstract NICE guidance http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta325 http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/EPAR_-_Public_assessment_report/human/002583/WC500140326.pdf         Statins and diabetes http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3244 http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61183-1/abstract http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/keyfacts/teenage-and-young-adult-cancer/   Cancer diagnosis in primary care Click to access CDS-evaluation-report-Executive-summary.pdf   Click to access c478823affb31a36bb141d494008f175.pdf   GP access in primary care http://www.rcgp.org.uk/news/2014/february/34m-patients-will-fail-to-get-appointment-with-a-gp-in-2014.aspx http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/blog/wicked-problem-access-telephone-solution http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61058-8/abstract?rss=yes http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/talks/slideshows/jon-nicoll-induced-demand-and-use-emergency-care   http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7228

http://www.plactest.com/healthcare/ -PLA2 testing is well-studied and published in peer-reviewed scientific literature and is recognized in the guidelines of the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association7,8 About 10% to 20% of persons with coronary heart disease (CHD) have no identifiable risk factor,1 and 35% of CHD deaths occur in patients who have total serum […]

Closes on 16/1/15   http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-administration-select-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/nhs-complaints-and-clinical-failure/commons-written-submission-form/   1.       The effectiveness of the NHS’s current approach to investigating and addressing untoward medical incidents.   Currently there is a blame culture, a culture of fear, and a culture of litigation in clinical practice. This is partially driven by the way the NHS has chosen to investigate clinical incidents […]

doctors not leading by example BMJ column on this http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g6464notes on what food chains are on NHS premises http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11006903/NHS-hospital-cafes-are-helping-to-fuel-the-obesity-crisis.html RCP audit of workplaces Click to access organisational-audit-of-implementation-of-nice-public-health-guidance-for-the-workplace-full-report_0_0.pdf advice to stop smoking from doctors http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28587/ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD000165.pub4/abstract smoking vs non smoking doctor advice http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738399108003935 overweight vs non overweight doctors advice http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/oby.2011.402/abstract http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743513001503

are all available online here 

Here is my response to PHE consultation on Healthchecks. It has to be submitted by the 19th Dec.     Overall comments The tone of the document is disappointing. The Healthchecks programme has been mandated for some time, in the ‘absence of direct randomised controlled trials to guide it’ – in the words of PHE.  […]