DS Daily - 22nd February 2011 |
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Dr Linda Harris Discusses Payment by Results
Providing some historical background, discussing the economic principles behind the model and debating where and how this fits with the wider healthcare reforms affecting patients and the way care is delivered [SMMGP, UK]
Drinks companies spread liver disease as surely as mosquitoes do malaria
Food and alcohol firms are obliged to maximise profit. To include them in health policy planning is a recipe for disaster [Guardian, UK]
The alcohol and the ecstasy: prejudice drowns out sense
The government's rank relationship with the drinks industry contributes to a twisted logic that contorts policy on intoxicants [Guardian, UK]
Minimum alcohol pricing in England
A start, but not enough [British Medical Journal]
Video - Prof Ian Gilmore: UK faces rising alcohol related deaths
Prof Ian Gilmore says the number of alcohol related deaths in the UK will increase unless the government acts [Telegraph, UK]
BBPA chief rubbishes medics 'cosy' claims
British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) chief executive Brigid Simmonds has hit back at claims by doctors that tough measures are needed to crackdown on alcohol consumption [The Publican, UK]
Support for those with alcohol or substance use concerns
The BMA estimates that one in fifteen doctors has a problem with drugs or alcohol at some point in his or her life ... In response to this, the PCSS now offers the following direct access support to help you self-manage your situation whilst maintaining your anonymity [Primary Care Support Service, UK]
Scandal of tots aged 5 in A&E after boozing
They are among hundreds who are admitted to hospital every year, often after their parents have bought the alcohol for them [Daily Express, UK]
Young Swiss binge drinkers cut back after just 16 minutes alcohol advice
Binge drinkers among young Swiss men being conscripted in to the army responded to around 16 minutes of alcohol counselling by on average cutting their intake 20% more than recruits whose drinking was simply assessed, a rare demonstration of the impact of a brief intervention in an unselected population [Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK]
Husband of jailed Kent wife talks of drug 'devastation'
A husband whose wife was jailed for trying to stop their daughter buying heroin has described the devastation drug addiction has caused his family [BBC, UK]
How spending cuts are eroding good work in our communities
This blog draws attention to the possible impact on the community or neighbourhood sector that supports many thousands of volunteers [Joseph Rowntree Foundation, UK]
Coffee, cigarettes and alcohol; what comes first?
Why do so many alcoholics smoke cigarettes and drink coffee? Less than a quarter of the general population smoke, but around 90% of alcoholics do. What’s the chicken and what’s the egg here? [Binge Inking]
Nicotine exposure during adolescence
Lasting synaptic changes underlie attention deficits caused by nicotine exposure during adolescence [Nature Neuroscience]
“Sterilising junkies may seem harsh.”
Reply from the Irish Needle Exchange Forum to the article [INEF, Ireland]
Warning over cuts to drug clinics
Treatment services for heroin addicts face "assassination" under planned HSE cuts, specialist doctors have claimed [Irish Examiner]
18-month delay to Elton John-funded needle exchange
A nationwide needle exchange service for drug addicts - funded by an Elton John charity - has still not been set up, a year and a half after it was announced [Irish Examiner]
Illinois slashes all state funding for drug and alcohol abuse treatment in massive cuts programme
Tens of thousands of Illinois residents are expected to be affected when drug and alcohol treatment and prevention centres across the state have their budgets cut from March 15 [Daily Mail, UK]
Emergency Department Visits for Misuse or Abuse of Pharmaceuticals
Estimated Number of Emergency Department Visits for Misuse or Abuse of Pharmaceuticals Nearly Doubles from 2004 to 2009 [CESAR Fax, USA]
Depression symptoms increase over time for addiction-prone women
Unlike alcohol problems and antisocial behavior, depression doesn’t decline with age in addiction-prone women in their 30s and 40s – it continues to increase [University of Michigan Health System, USA]
Handlers' beliefs influence drug-sniffing dogs' performance
Detection-dog teams erroneously "alerted," or identified a scent, when there was no scent present more than 200 times - particularly when the handler believed that there was scent present. Original source [SF Gate, USA]
Should Parents Let Kids Drink at Home?
New Data Show Many Do [TIME, USA]
A First in Sub-Saharan Africa: Methadone Maintenance Program
With the help of the American government, the first methadone maintenance program in sub-Saharan Africa opened this month in a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania [New York Times, USA]
Measuring the effectiveness of drug law enforcement
Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no.406 Download paper [Australian Institute of Criminology]
Human Rights NGOs to Thai government – Do not repeat history!
A coalition of international and Thai health and human rights organisations have voiced their fears that the Thai government’s planned round up of people it suspects are using drugs will trample on human rights and potentially rekindle widespread abuses of vulnerable people [IHRA]