Addressing environmental health concerns near Trecatti landfill site, United Kingdom

Residents near the Trecatti landfill site located in South Wales, United Kingdom, expressed concern about odors and health effects they attributed to site emissions. The authors compared routinely collected, population-based, health data from potentially exposed electoral wards (i.e., United Kingdom electoral tracts) with data from both wards nearby, matched for socioeconomic deprivation scores, and with wards where residents were likely to attend the same hospital. Mortality rates were higher for all causes and neoplastic diseases (but not respiratory disease) in the exposed wards, but there was no change in rates after the site opened. Hospital data revealed a transient increase in admissions for asthma during the 3 yr that preceded the peak in odor complaints. The birth prevalence of congenital malformations was raised in the exposed wards, but the authors could not exclude a possible artifact resulting from differences in reporting practices between hospitals. The absence of environmental monitoring in the community during the period of public concern was a significant weakness of this study.     

Solidarity, Society and the Welfare State in the United Kingdom

Political argument and institutions in the UnitedKingdom have frequently been represented as the products of ablend of nationalistic conservatism, liberal individualism andsocialism, in which consensus has been prized over ideology. This situation changed, as the standard story has it, with therise of Thatcherism in the late 1970s, and again with the arrivalof Tony Blair's ``New Labour' pragmatism in the late 1990s. Solidarity as an element of political discourse makes itsappearance in the UK late in the day. It has been most stronglylinked to the Third Way debate, as framed most influentially inthe work of Prof. Anthony Giddens.In this paper we review the history and pre-history of the debateon solidarity in the UK, focussing mostly on its implications forwelfare state reform. In particular we discuss the proposals forthe long-term care of the Elderly issued by the Royal Commissionon long-term care in 1999. In this context we critically examinethe idea that solidarity is a new concept in British politicalculture, and that it is a concept which has real political ``bite'in the project of welfare reform. We examine this through aconsideration of Giddens's attempted synthesis of politicalargument and social theory.     

Readability of Ebola Information on Websites of Public Health Agencies,United States,United Kingdom,Canada, Australia,and Europe

Public involvement in efforts to control the current Ebola virus disease epidemic requires understandable information. We reviewed the readability of Ebola information from public health agencies in non–Ebola-affected areas. A substantial proportion of citizens would have difficulty understanding existing information, which would potentially hinder effective health-seeking behaviors.     

Young people, gender and smoking in the United Kingdom

Over the last decade, gender has emerged as a significant differentiatorof smoking prevalence among young people in developed countries.Some attention has also been given to gender difference.s inmotives for taking up smoking. Compared to recent work on adultsmoking, the literature on smoking among young people has failedto take up the challenge of the analysis of gender differencesto highlight an interpretation of young people's smoking asa rational response to material and social pressures. This paperdraws mainly on questionnaire data from an ongoing UK studyof Adolescent Health and Parenting to outline an alternativeto the usual health education approach to young people's smoking.in this alternative model, the main factors associated withyoung people's smoking are material circumstances, life satisfactionand stress, including dissatisfaction with parental relationships,and peer sociability. Smoking is associated with poor reportedhealth status. The relationship between social factors and smokingin young men and women shows some significant differences, withyoung women being significantly more likely to smoke for stress-relatedreasons. Qualitative materialfrom a follow-up interview studyis indicative of the processes underlying the statistical associationsfound in the questionnaire     

Epidemiological surveillance of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United Kingdom

Systematic epidemiological surveillance of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was carried out in England and Wales covering the years 1970–1984. The results of this work provide a basis from which to assess any change in the pattern of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease following the occurrence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. The methodology, early results and problems of the current systematic national survey of CJD, initiated in May 1990, are discussed.     

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampin resistance, United Kingdom

The United Kingdom Health Protection Agency Mycobacterium Reference Unit offers a national "Fastrack" molecular service for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and rifampin resistance by using the INNO-LiPA Rif.TB assay. We analyzed the service in a routine, nontrial context of 1,997 primary clinical specimens, including 658 nonrespiratory specimens. The overall adjusted concordance, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for detecting MTBC were 91.2%, 85.2%, 96.2%, 95.7%, and 86.7%, respectively (unadjusted, 86.7%, 85.2%, 88.2%, 86.9%, and 86.7%), when false-positive samples from patients (n = 83) with a known microbiologic diagnosis of MTBC or patients receiving current or recent antituberculous treatment were excluded. The parameters for detecting rifampin resistance were 99.1%, 95.0%, 99.6%, 92.7%, and 99.7%, respectively. The assay enabled earlier diagnosis of MTBC and rifampin resistance (15.2 days) compared with culture-based techniques (30.7 days).     

Potential arbovirus emergence and implications for the United Kingdom

Arboviruses have evolved a number of strategies to survive environmental challenges. This review examines the factors that may determine arbovirus emergence, provides examples of arboviruses that have emerged into new habitats, reviews the arbovirus situation in western Europe in detail, discusses potential arthropod vectors, and attempts to predict the risk for arbovirus emergence in the United Kingdom. We conclude that climate change is probably the most important requirement for the emergence of arthropodborne diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, Japanese encephalitis, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, bluetongue, and African horse sickness in the United Kingdom. While other arboviruses, such as West Nile virus, Sindbis virus, Tahyna virus, and Louping ill virus, apparently circulate in the United Kingdom, they do not appear to present an imminent threat to humans or animals.     

International Recruitment of Nurses: Policy and Practice in the United Kingdom

Objective. To synthesize information about nurse migration into and out of the United Kingdom in the period to 2005, and to assess policy implications.
Principal Findings. There has been rapid growth in inflow of nurses to the United Kingdom from other countries. In recent years, 40–50 percent of new nurse registrants in the United Kingdom have come from other countries, principally the Philippines, Australia, India, and South Africa. Outflow has been at a lower level, mainly to other English-speaking developed countries—Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Ireland, and Canada. The United Kingdom is a net importer of nurses. The principal policy instrument in the United Kingdom, the Code of Practice on International Recruitment, has not ended the inflow of nurses to the United Kingdom from sub-Saharan Africa.
Conclusions. Given the increasing globalization of labor markets, it is likely that the historically high levels of inflow of internationally recruited nurses to the United Kingdom will continue over the next few years; however the "peak" number reached in 2002/2003 may not be repeated, particularly as large-scale active international recruitment has now been ended, for the short term at least. New English language tests and other revised requirements for international applicants being introduced by the Nurses and Midwives Council from September 2005 may restrict successful applications from some countries and will also probably add to the "bottleneck" of international nurse applicants. Demographic-driven demand for health care, combined with a potential reduction in supply of U.K. nurses as many more reach potential retirement age means that international recruitment is likely to remain on the policy agenda in the longer term, even with further growth in the number of home-based nurses being trained.     

Effectiveness of herpes zoster vaccination in an older United Kingdom population

BackgroundVaccination against herpes zoster was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2013 for individuals aged 70 years, with a phased catch-up campaign for 71–79 year olds. Vaccine introduction has resulted in a marked fall in incident herpes zoster and in post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), but formal evaluation of vaccine effectiveness is needed.MethodsIn a population-based cohort study of older individuals born between 1933 and 1946, we used linked UK anonymised primary care health records for the first three years of the vaccination programme (01/09/2013–31/08/2016) and multivariable Poisson regression to obtain incidence rates and vaccine effectiveness (VE) against zoster and PHN.ResultsAmong 516,547 individuals, 21% were vaccinated. Incidence of zoster was 3.15/1000 person-years in vaccinees and 8.80/1000 person-years in unvaccinated individuals. After adjustment, VE was 64% (95%CI = 60–68%) against incident zoster and 81% (95%CI = 61–91%) against PHN, with very similar VE estimates in the routine and catch-up cohorts. VE against zoster was lower in those with a previous history of zoster: 47% (95%CI = 31–58%) versus 64% (95%CI = 60–68%) in those without previous zoster. There was evidence of waning VE over time, from 69% (95%CI = 65–74%) in the first year after vaccination to 45% (95%CI = 29–57%) by the third year.ConclusionThis first formal assessment of VE in the UK zoster vaccination programme demonstrates good effectiveness of zoster vaccine, and very good protection against PHN. The findings provide evidence that VE is similar across the age groups targeted for vaccination in the UK, and on duration of protection of the vaccine in public health use. The study provides key information for decision-makers about the future direction of UK zoster vaccination programme, indicating that the live zoster vaccine may be more cost-effective than estimated previously. It also supports efforts to communicate the benefits of zoster vaccination to address the declining coverage observed across the UK.     

Migrating to electronic health record systems: A comparative study between the United States and the United Kingdom

The goal of this research is to compare the healthcare information technology (HIT)-related policies and infrastructures of two very differently-run countries: The United States (US) that owns the largest private healthcare system in the world, and the United Kingdom (UK) that has the largest public healthcare system worldwide. The paper specifically focuses on the differences between the two countries’ adoption of electronic healthcare record (EHR) systems, and their efforts toward interoperability, healthcare information security and privacy, and patient safety. Both authors on the paper are professionals in the HIT field and have firsthand experience designing and implementing electronic health record (EHR) systems. As a result, they both have a real-world grasp of HIT economics and the pressure of regulatory compliance. To complement their combined expertise and insight, the authors thoroughly reviewed the peer-reviewed and grey literature on healthcare policy. The paper’s findings suggest that although EHR implementation and adoption are on the rise in the US and the UK alike, both countries are facing considerable hurdles in executing their vision of establishing their respective nationwide EHR systems. To improve patient health and ensure patient safety, interoperability standards that enable seamless communication amongst differing healthcare systems and proper security and privacy regulations for data collection, data handling, and data sharing are paramount.     

Marital status and bed occupancy in health and social care facilities in the United Kingdom

The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that marriage and physical health are positively related.A secondary analysis was performed of census data on all individuals aged 15 y and over occupying beds in general health and social care facilities (excluding mental health) in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland in 1971, 1981 and 1991.Using bed occupancy in health and social care facilities as a proxy for ill health, this paper investigates the relationship between marital status and physical health in the United Kingdom. The findings, expressed as the proportion of individuals (excluding staff and visitors) aged 15 y and over within these facilities, suggest that: a) Whether considered separately or together, married men and women are healthier than non-married men and women, as reflected in their much lower use of health and social care beds; b) This positive relationship between marriage and health has increased steadily since the 1970s; c) Within the non-married population, whereas the single are most at risk among men, the widowed are most at risk among women; d) In contrast to the married and widowed, there are some consistent age-specific gender differences among the divorced and single, with men of working age at much higher risk than women of working age.This study confirms research findings elsewhere that marriage and physical health are positively related. Throughout the United Kingdom, not only are married people healthier than non-married people, as reflected in their much lower use of health and social care beds, but this relationship holds irrespective of gender.     

Severe Streptococcus pyogenes infections, United Kingdom, 2003-2004

As part of a Europe-wide initiative to explore current epidemiologic patterns of severe disease caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, the United Kingdom undertook enhanced population-based surveillance during 2003-2004. A total of 3,775 confirmed cases of severe S. pyogenes infection were identified over 2 years, 3.33/100,000 population, substantially more than previously estimated. Skin/soft tissue infections were the most common manifestation (42%), followed by respiratory tract infections (17%). Injection drug use was identified as a risk factor for 20% of case-patients. One in 5 infected case-patients died within 7 days of diagnosis; the highest mortality rate was for cases of necrotizing fasciitis (34%). Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, alcoholism, young age, and infection with emm/M3 types were independently associated with increased risk for streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Understanding the pattern of these diseases and predictors of poor patient outcome will help with identification and assessment of the potential effect of targeted interventions.     

英国购买式社区照顾服务模式的发展、改革及启示

英国是当前福利国家中社区照顾历史最悠久的国家,迄今已逾六十年。英国社区照顾服务供给模式的建构深受新自由主义和新管理主义影响,这些意识形态主导了英国历届政府关于购买社区照顾服务的改革与完善。当前,我国正积极推进医养结合、长期照护政策,并确定社区为主的发展模式。本文在借鉴英国购买式社区照顾服务经验并结合中国国情的基础上,提出政府角色重新定位、积极扶持民间服务组织发展及完善购买式照顾服务法律体系等建议,以期减轻政府负担、增强照顾服务效率和提高照顾服务质量。     

Depressive symptoms in people with disabilities; secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the United Kingdom and Greece

Background

Evidence suggests there is an association between depressive symptoms and disability.

Cutaneous Legionella longbeachae Infection in Immunosuppressed Woman,United Kingdom

We report a rare case of cutaneous Legionella longbeachae infection in a patient receiving long-term corticosteroids for immune thrombocytopenia. Such infections cannot be identified by using Legionella urinary antigen testing but are commonly seen after exposure to commercial potting compost, particularly in immunocompromised patients.