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Easing restrictions amid rising infections raises the risk of new variants emerging and risks the health of those who are not vaccinated, say researchers around the world. Easing restrictions amid rising infections raises the risk of new variants emerging and risks the health of those who are not vaccinated, say researchers around the world., Author(s): Philip Ball Author Affiliations: Why England's COVID 'freedom day' alarms researchers A crowded train on the London Underground in June. Credit: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Commuters, some wearing face coverings due [...]

Abstract In the UK, the use and misuse of restrictive practices with people who have intellectual disabilities are common. There is a lack of regulation to ensure that non-statutory standards [...]

Facilities | Events | Policy | http://poly-admin1.nature.com/polopoly/CM#funding | http://poly-admin1.nature.com/polopoly/CM#awards | Research | Pharmaceuticals | Trend watch | Coming up FACILITIES Integrity office On 15 March, Taiwan's ministry of science and [...]

The centrality of patient choice in the recent political rhetoric of both New Labour and the Conservative Party has prompted a renewed interest in the shift towards a more consumerist conception of health care in the UK. Accordingly, this article reports on early findings from a project in the ESRC/AHRB Cultures of Consumption Programme, exploring how the 'consumer' is constituted in narratives of health reform, and the ways in which policy documents present a particular image of the consumer as a rationale for institutional and cultural change. The article then goes on to look at the ways in which service delivery organisations have responded to New Labour's consumerist imperative. Drawing upon a series of interviews with senior health care managers in two case study locations, the article highlights ways in which choice, responsibility and empowerment have become critical points at which a consumerist orientation is articulated with established professional cultures, and how health organisations have experienced--and attempted to resolve--the tensions that result.

Special studies and isolated initiatives over the past several decades in low-, middle- and high-income countries have consistently shown inequalities in health among socioeconomic groups and by gender, race or ethnicity, geographical area and other measures associated with social advantage. Significant health inequalities linked to social (dis)advantage rather than to inherent biological differences are generally considered unfair or inequitable. Such health inequities are the main object of health development efforts, including global targets such as the Millennium Development Goals, which require monitoring to evaluate progress. However, most national health information systems (HIS) lack key information needed to assess and address health inequities, namely, reliable, longitudinal and representative data linking measures of health with measures of social status or advantage at the individual or small-area level. Without empirical documentation and monitoring of such inequities, as well as country-level capacity to use this information for effective planning and monitoring of progress in response to interventions, movement towards equity is unlikely to occur. This paper reviews core information requirements and potential databases and proposes short-term and longer term strategies for strengthening the capabilities of HIS for the analysis of health equity and discusses HIS-related entry points for supporting a culture of equity-oriented decision-making and policy development. Keywords Information systems/organization and administration/standards; Delivery of healthcare; Social justice; Health status indicators; Socioeconomic factors; Demography; Data collection; Databases, Factual; Policy making; Developing countries (source: MeSH, NLM). Mots cles Systeme information/organisation et administration/normes; Delivrance soins; Justice sociale; Indicateur etat sanitaire; Facteur socioeconomique; Demographie; Collecte donnees; Choix d'une politique; Pays en developpement (source: MeSH, INSERM). Palabras clave Sistemas de informacion/organizacion y administracion/normas; Prestacion de atencion de salud; Justicia social; Indicadores de salud; Factores socioeconomicos; Demografia; Recoleccion de datos; Bases de datos factuales; Formulacion de politicas; Paises en desarrollo (fuente: DeCS, BIREME)., Introduction: why measure health equity? Health equity is the absence of health differences between more and less socially advantaged groups (1). Sen (2) and others have argued that health equity [...]

The closure of urban graveyards and burials in churches during the eighteenth-century in Britain is discussed. The plague epidemic of 1720-22 in the French city of Marseilles convinced the public of Britain to implement public health policy.

In the UK a new and refreshing literature is emerging that addresses the need for socially inclusive models and strategies for people with mental health problems (e.g. Bates 2002a, Repper [...]

Plymouth Health Action Zone (HAZ) structures are valued in the form of horizontal, vertical, and downward models. The study finds basic weakness in the regime and thus offers an explanation and suggests that Plymouth HAZ has influenced sales orientation.

The government's drive for greater public involvement includes complaints advocacy. Here, Jon Hyslop and Elizabeth Winder discuss the success of one of the independent complaints advocacy schemes that have been [...]

Benton D (2004) Pay modernization and healthcare governance. Nursing Standard. 18, 52, 33-38. Date of acceptance: July 9 2004. Summary Policies interact and have direct and indirect consequences resulting in [...]

The arguments presented in the interim Wanless report concerning the advantages and disadvantages of alternative means of financing the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is reviewed. It is observed that the increases in expenditure on health care announced in the budget are a little higher than Wanless report.