Equality & Divesity – HELP

Posted on November 10, 2009 by lancashirecarelibraryblog

HELP    The Health Equality Library Portal is NHS North West’s

Click on Help above to access this library of resources

Abstract:

The Health Equality Library Portal is NHS North West’s central repository for up-to-date equality and diversity information. Its purpose is to: 

  • support the production of effective equality impact assessments of all strategies, policies, plans or activities
  • support PCTs in achieving World Class Commissioning competency five: manage knowledge and assess needs
  • identify knowledge and evidence gaps
  • share best practice and policy material and prevent unnecessary duplication of effort
  • support equality and diversity leads in their roles

 

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Clinical and cost effectiveness of services for early diagnosis and intervention in dementia

Posted on November 10, 2009 by lancashirecarelibraryblog

Clinical and cost effectiveness of services for early diagnosis and intervention in dementia,   International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2009, Volume 24 Issue 7, Pages 748 - 754

Sube Banerjee 1 *, Raphael Wittenberg 2

1Section of Mental Health and Ageing, The Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK
2Personal Social Services Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

Abstract:

Background
This paper analyses the costs and benefits of commissioning memory services for early diagnosis and intervention for dementia.
Method
A model was developed to examine potential public and private savings associated with delayed admissions to care homes in England as a result of the commissioning of memory services.
Findings
The new services would cost around £220 million extra per year nationally in England. The estimated savings if 10% of care home admissions were prevented would by year 10 be around £120 million in public expenditure (social care) and £125 million in private expenditure (service users and their families), a total of £245 million. Under a 20% reduction, the annual cost would within around 6 years be offset by the savings to public funds alone. In 10 years all people with dementia will have had the chance to be seen by the new services. A gain of between 0.01 and 0.02 QALYs per person year would be sufficient to render the service cost-effective (in terms of positive net present value). These relatively small improvements seem very likely to be achievable.
Interpretation
These analyses suggest that the service need only achieve a modest increase in average quality of life of people with dementia, plus a 10% diversion of people with dementia from residential care, to be cost-effective. The net increase in public expenditure would then, on the assumptions discussed and from a societal perspective, be justified by the expected benefits. This modelling presents for debate support for the development of nationwide services for the early identification and treatment of dementia in terms of quality of life and overall cost-effectiveness

Lancashire Care staff can request the full-text of this paper, email: susan.jennings@lancashirecare.nhs.uk

Filed under: alzheimers, dementia, early intervention | Tagged: | Comments Off

Personality disorders improve in patients treated for major depression

Posted on November 10, 2009 by lancashirecarelibraryblog

Personality disorders improve in patients treated for major depression, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2009

R. T. Mulder, P. R. Joyce, C. M. A. Frampton Abstract:

Objective: To examine the stability of personality disorders and their change in response to the treatment of major depression.

Method: 149 depressed out-patients taking part in a treatment study were systematically assessed for personality disorders at baseline and after 18 months of treatment using the SCID-II.

Results: Personality disorder diagnoses and symptoms demonstrated low-to-moderate stability (overall κ = 0.41). In general, personality disorder diagnoses and symptoms significantly reduced over the 18 months of treatment. There was a trend for the patients who had a better response to treatment to lose more personality disorder symptoms, but even those who never recovered from their depression over the 18 months of treatment lost, on average, nearly three personality disorder symptoms.

Conclusion: Personality disorders are neither particularly stable nor treatment resistant. In depressed out-patients, personality disorder symptoms in general improve significantly even in patients whose response to their treatment for depressive symptoms is modest or poor.

Lancashire Care staff can request the full-text of this paper, email: susan.jennings@lancashirecare.nhs.uk

Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand

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ADHD – Model for Diagnosis – Best practice, interdisciplinary service model

Posted on November 10, 2009 by lancashirecarelibraryblog

Doing it Right: An Interdisciplinary Model for the Diagnosis of ADHD  Journal of the Canadian Academy of  Child Adolescent Psychiatry. 2009 November; 18(4): 283–286.

McGonnell M, Corkum P, McKinnon M, Macpherson M, Williams T, Davidson C, Jones DB, Stephenson D.

Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Click on the paper title, to gain access to the full-text

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the Colchester East Hants Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Clinic (ADHD Clinic), which uses a best practice, interdisciplinary service model to provide diagnostic assessment and treatment services for children suspected of having ADHD, and presents data about perceived effectiveness of and satisfaction with the clinic’s services. METHOD: Interviews were conducted with service providers (N=31) associated with the clinic and survey data was collected from consumers, including parents/guardians (N=46), teachers (N=20), and family physicians (N=12). RESULTS: High levels of satisfaction and positive beliefs about the effectiveness of services were found. CONCLUSION: Implications for the ADHD Clinic and the general importance of interdisciplinary models of mental health service delivery are discussed.

Lancashire Care staff can request the full-text of this paper, email: susan.jennings@lancashirecare.nhs.uk

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Schizophrenia and NICE: all quiet on the community front

Posted on November 10, 2009 by lancashirecarelibraryblog

Schizophrenia and NICE: all quiet on the community front? Evidence-Based Mental Health 2009;12:97-98

Dr Mark Salter, Adult General and Community Psychiatrist, East London Foundation NHS Trust, City and Hackney Centre for Mental Health, London E9 65R, UK; mark.salter@eastlondon.nhs.uk

Abstract:

“No battle plan survives contact with the enemy” attributed to Sun Tzu  

Although the concept of psychotic illness was known to the healers of his age, Sun Tzu did not have mental illness in mind when he penned those words two and a half thousand years ago. His maxim nonetheless remains true of both our responses to war and to schizophrenia. They have much in common. Both are universally associated with images of horror and darkness. Both carry an awful cost—1% of the human population will suffer a psychotic breakdown, often in young adulthood. Both are ever changing. War has altered beyond recognition since 1911 when Bleuler first coined the term “schizophrenia” to describe a shattering of the mind. When the Captains of American psychiatry met last year to consider their future nomenclatures, they came close to dropping the S word altogether. Over here, our top brass—their chateaus .

 

Lancashire Care staff can request the full-text of this paper, email: susan.jennings@lancashirecare.nhs.uk

Filed under: community mental health, NICE Guidelines, Psychosis, Schizophrenia | Tagged: , , , | Comments Off

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