Biomedical subjects

B Leese

Publications and source records attributed to B Leese.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Immunization in the UK: policy review and future economic options.

Vaccination is one of the most effective health promotion activities, but specific targets have been difficult and costly to achieve, and have frequently fallen short of the desired aims, leaving some vulnerable groups unprotected. Policy in the UK has differed for the childhood diseases and in some cases, for example diphtheria and poliomyelitis, has been successful in almost eliminating the disease. In other cases, such as that of pertussis, there has been public opposition, and for other diseases, for example, measles, sufficient numbers of the susceptible population have only recently been reached. Although the World Health Organization target of 90% uptake for the childhood diseases has been reached for all except pertussis, the figures conceal lower uptake rates in some areas, particularly the inner cities. The introduction of target payments to general practitioners appears to have had some effect in increasing uptake rates, particularly in some inner city areas, although the change in immunization schedules may also have had an impact. Target payments fail to take account of the difficulties faced by inner city GPs and, in effect, favour those who need to make least effort, since, in some areas, high uptake rates may already have been achieved before targets were introduced. It is suggested that there is a case for special local development programmes in inner city areas which will provide help with improving record keeping and recall systems for immunization. An alternative policy, which might be more difficult to implement, would be to have targets which could be set at different levels in different areas so that uptake rates could be progressively improved.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Family Practice↗

PubMed1992

The costs of diabetes and its complications.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease with major long-term implications, not only for the health and well-being of affected individuals, but also for costs to the National Health Service. Treatment of the disease and its complications takes up 4-5% of total health care expenditure in the U.K. These costs are dominated by in-patient care for the complications arising from diabetes. This paper presents a review of studies which have been carried out on the costs of diabetes and its complications. For such a chronic and potentially disabling disease with numerous complications it is surprising that costs have not been more extensively researched. A large amount of data are available about the implications of diabetes in terms of incidence and prevalence, but few costs have been collected, particularly indirect and marginal costs. Both insulin dependent (IDDM) and non-insulin dependent (NIDDM) diabetic patients exhibit similar complications so that the cost of treatment may be comparable, but further studies are needed to establish this. In addition, few studies have included diabetes as a secondary diagnosis. The studies which are available have tended to focus on direct costs, for example, the costs of hospital care, consultations and drugs, because they are the easiest to measure. Fewer studies have included indirect costs, such as the effect of time lost from work, early retirement and premature death, because of the difficulties in assigning monetary values to these factors. The most important contributors to the costs of diabetes are those of treating complications such as eye and limb disease, heart disease, neuropathy and nephropathy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Desk top analysers in general medical practice: how useful are they?

In this paper we summarise the results of a study of the use by two general practices of the Reflotron dry chemistry analyser, and discuss the findings in the light of recent literature on the use of desk top analysers in general medical practice. We conclude that, in the present economic environment there is little incentive for general practitioners to carry out their own diagnostic tests. The accuracy and precision of desk top analysers operated by unskilled personnel are problematical, but with adequate back-up from the centralised hospital laboratory such equipment could be useful for the diagnosis and control of such problems as diabetes and anaemia. However, the most important factors necessary for the spread of desk top analysers are the availability of more tests, guarantees of reliability, and competitive prices. Desk top analysers could fulfil a role in practices which control their own budgets, but this would depend on the costs of hospital laboratory tests compared with those performed in the surgery.

Blood Chemical Analysis↗

PubMed1989

High and low incomes in general practice.

The Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration deals with average incomes and costs, and little evidence is available on local variability. In a study on general practice the distribution of high and low incomes was assessed. High income practices (defined as those with net incomes per partner of more than 35,000 pounds a year) were more likely to be larger, to have younger partners, and to be located in affluent areas. Low income practices (with a net income of less than 20,000 pounds per partner) were smaller, located in more urban areas, and more likely to have Asian partners. High income practices had higher costs per patient and more staff resources. Low income practices had fewer practice resources and faced great disincentives to investment. These practices were concentrated in less affluent areas, where the need for improved organisation of practices is greatest. General practice is becoming increasingly divided between high income, high cost practices and those with low incomes and few resources.

England↗

PubMed1988

Uptake of immunisation in district health authorities in England.

The uptakes of immunisation in the district health authorities in England were studied for the years 1983-5. Multiple regression analysis showed that the factors significantly associated with a low uptake of immunisation were mainly related to social conditions, particularly overcrowding of households and population density. Of the service factors, high proportions of elderly and singlehanded general practitioners and high average list sizes were also associated with a low uptake of immunisation in some of the analyses. The results suggest that the measures outlined in the government's white paper on improving primary health care services are likely to lead to improved uptakes of immunisation. If, however, the uptakes of immunisation are used as a measure of standards of the services provided they should first be adjusted to control for variations in social conditions, and the quality of vaccination data would have to be improved.

Child↗

PubMed1988

Family doctors and innovation in general practice.

Family doctors have been presented with changes in government policies and incentives in a recent white paper on primary care. Little work has been done, however, to find out how general practitioners respond to such measures. The response of general practitioners to professional and economic incentives was examined in relation to the location of the practice and the characteristics of the practitioners in seven different areas of England. The areas represented urban, rural, affluent, and deprived communities. The overall response rate was 74%, but the response varied among the areas, being poorest (64%) in an inner city area. Practices were subdivided as innovative, traditional, or intermediate, according to whether they employed a nurse and participated in the cost rent scheme and the vocational training scheme. Innovative practices were defined as fulfilling two of these criteria and traditional practices as fulfilling none; the remainder were classed as intermediate. The results showed that these three types of practice had distinct strategies that were related to financial constraints and the local population. Innovative practices had more partners and were often located in rural or affluent suburban areas; traditional practices had fewer partners and were more common in urban and working class areas. Innovative practices seemed to be in the best position to increase their services, and hence their incomes, in response to the recent proposals in the white paper. Practices in areas of developmental difficulty (predominantly urban but not necessarily inner city areas) had been less able to respond to existing incentives and had a smaller margin available for developing their services. In view of the effect of local constraints of economics and population on the strategy of practices, concentrating resources for primary care in local budgets for working class and urban areas may be preferable to extending the system of charging fees for services provided by family doctors.

Family Practice↗

PubMed1986

Family doctors: their choice of practice strategy.

The economic decisions taken by family doctors in one family practitioner area in the north of England were examined. There was evidence of a differential response to professional and economic incentives by a group of "high investing" practices. On five indicators of improvement in practice 32% of the practices accounted for 71% of the positive scores. Nearly all the high investing practices were in affluent areas; they were on average larger and had younger partners than the other practices. The high investing practices also faced more financial problems. There was evidence that older doctors with long lists of patients had a different strategy of income maximization. Innovation in primary care is not determined by attitude alone but also by objective factors such as age, location, and size of the practice.

England↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Too many tests?

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Clinical Laboratory Techniques↗