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Helen Kirk reports from Newcastle on the Association of Optometrists' 28th annual conference for hospital optometrists Once again the Hospital Optometrists' Annual Conference was deemed a great success. This year [...]

The author explores the possible inclusion of community orchards and forest gardens in urban landscape design as a solution for the food production problems in Great Britain. She describes how community orchards work and how one gets support for such a venture. She discusses the Horsley Orchard Project, the Melbourne Grove Urban Orchard in Dulwich, and the Ebley Linear Community Orchard near Stroud. Community participation, tree selection, and the problems of orchard projects are also noted.

The effect of picolinic acid (pyridine-2-carboxylic acid) on the efflux of divalent metal ions from multilamellar liposomes was examined to determine the possible specificity and mechanism for its reported beneficial effects on the intestinal absorption and systemic metabolism of zinc. Extraliposomal picolinic acid increased the efflux of Zn, Cu, Co, Mn, Ni, Cd, Pb, Fe(II) and Ca from the vesicles. However, when picolinic acid was trapped with Co, Cu and Zn within the liposomes, the loss of metals was reduced. In a partition study, picolinic acid increased the aqueous solubility of Zn, Cu, Co and Cd at alkaline pH, but did not transfer the metal to an organic bulk phase of chloroform. It is proposed that picolinic acid does not act as an ionophore and that any effect it may have on zinc metabolism is dependent upon its unselective chelating properties, which may also lead to altered dietary and systemic compartmentation of other divalent cations.

The article discusses the reasons behind the ineffectiveness of specialist occupational health (OH) training programmes in providing OH nurses in Great Britain with skills they need in the practice in 2009. It outlines the challenges being faced by nurses who aspire to enter into OH practice. It is said that the dissatisfaction with the system is shown by the absence of requirement for occupational health nursing (OHN) courses to lead to specialist registration. Also cited are the measures that could be taken to enhance the flow of trained students.

This article focuses on the implementation of clinical governance in occupational health (OH) as monitored by the British Healthcare Commission. In essence, clinical governance provides an umbrella under which aspects of quality can be monitored. Patients in the workplace should be offered care with the same assurance of quality that they would get in any other setting. The implementation of clinical governance in OH is not straightforward, but useful resources are available to facilitate it. INSET: IMPLEMENTATION IN A COMMERCIAL HEALTHCARE SETTING: ATOSORIGIN.

An interview with occupational health (OH) nurse Helen Kirk is presented. She talks about how she got involved in the OH nursing profession. She claims that her mother, who is also a nurse, influenced her in entering the nursing profession. She cites her priorities and goals in her current work at Public Health England (PHE) as of April 2015.

The article discusses Great Britain's National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) workplace guidelines on mental health at work. The first guidance project was Promoting Mental Wellbeing, developed by its Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee. The recommendations under the guidance included the management of mental wellbeing, management of risks and supportive management of people. A checklist of occupational health (OH) practitioners and suggestions for professional development of OH professionals are also presented.

The author reflects on the small number of occupational health (OH) nurses holding nurse executive director (NED) posts in Great Britain. The author asserts that the absence of a hospital track record is not a barrier to joining the board of National Health Service (NHS) hospital trusts. She muses that the most ambitious nurses probably do not see OH as the best career development move, possibly because some managers may not see it as core NHS business.