The availability of physiotherapy services within the National Health Service--changing trends in England and Wales.
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England↗
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Perceptions of the risks and benefits of orthodontic treatment.
Recent National Health Service changes have brought about a greater involvement of the consumers of medical and dental care in decision making regarding their treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of awareness of the risks and benefits of orthodontic treatment among potential consumers and their referring dentists. Parents of patients referred for orthodontic treatment were issued with a questionnaire about the risks and benefits of treatment and the reason the child had been referred. Study models were also made of the child's teeth. The patients' dentists were issued with a similar questionnaire. The results revealed that most of the parents were aware of the benefits of treatment in general and the reason that their own child required it. This awareness was greater where the orthodontic need on aesthetic grounds was greater. There was less awareness of the risks of treatment though again this was greater among those with a greater need for treatment. When the perceptions of the dentists were evaluated, they were more aware of the risks but were not communicating this to the parents. Since for some patients the risks of treatment may outweigh the benefits, it would be helpful if dentists could provide this information for patients before referral.
Adolescent↗
Mongolia: a health system in transition.
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Child↗
[Mali: a health care system in full transformation].
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Delivery of Health Care↗
WHO commends India.
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Developing Countries↗
Health service changes in New Zealand.
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Health Care Reform↗
Home health and skilled nursing facility use: 1982-90.
In this article, analyses are made of home health and skilled nursing facility (SNF) use for the period 1982-90 using Medicare records linked to data on community and institutional residents from the National Long-Term Care Surveys (NLTCSs) of 1982, 1984, and 1989. The combined survey and administrative data analyses are performed to ascertain how the chronic health and functional characteristics of community and institutional residents using Medicare-reimbursed services changed during the period. During this period, changes had been made in the Medicare system that affected the use of services for persons with specific health and functional problems.
Activities of Daily Living↗
Methodological issues and policy implications of physician manpower forecasting.
Future physician supply is a matter of concern in most industrialized countries due to its impact on cost and quality of health care. Consequently, forecasting the number of physicians becomes an important research issue from both methodological and policy perspectives. This article presents a simple forecast model developed for the State of Wisconsin (U.S.A.), using the complex federal model of the U.S. Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee as a backdrop. In this context, the article discusses the main determinants of physician supply, such as mobility, retention, ageing and productivity. The methodological issues in the simple modelling of such phenomena are examined using the Wisconsin case as an empirical example. Finally, policy implications of planning physician supply with respect to projected demand for services, changes in reimbursement patterns and productivity are discussed along with some of the recommendations actually made to the Wisconsin Legislature.
Forecasting↗
Trends in adult visits to primary care physicians in the United States.
BACKGROUND: Although numerous changes are apparent in the US health care system, little is known about how these changes have altered the work of primary care physicians. METHODS: We analyzed a nationally representative sample of 136,233 adult office visits to general internists, general practitioners, and family physicians contained in the 1978 through 1981, 1985, and 1989 through 1994 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys. Annual sample sizes varied between 5662 and 19,977 visits. Measures included the characteristics of patients presenting to primary care physicians, physician activities during these visits, and the disposition of the visits to primary care physicians. RESULTS: Visits to primary care physicians have diminished as a proportion of all adult visits from 52% in 1978 to 41% in 1994. Dramatic trends in adult primary care included the growing racial or ethnic diversity of patients, the doubling (since 1985) of health maintenance organization coverage, increased provision of prevention services, changes in the most common medications, and an 18% increase in the duration of adult visits to primary care physicians. CONCLUSIONS: Trends in primary care practice reflect changes in society and in the US health care system, including demographic changes, an emphasis on prevention, and the growth of managed care. The increasing role of managed care, with its emphasis on increased productivity, appears at odds with primary care physicians' increasing responsibility for prevention and the associated increase in the duration of primary care visits.
Age Distribution↗
Access to cancer prevention, detection, and treatment.
The American Cancer Society Hearings on Cancer and the Poor made visible to the nation the harsh realities and consequences of lack of access to health care among the poor and uninsured in America. Access to care is more than mere availability; it is also financial accessibility, effectiveness, acceptability, appropriateness, and comprehensiveness of care. The problems and consequences of lack of health care access and its impact on the cancer problem among poor Americans are explored, and ways practitioners and public advocates can improve access are suggested. Local communities have risen to action to make health care more accessible. Successful programs have done their research to document access problems; then they have taken their findings to county governments to request additional funding and to health care institutions to request institutional policy and service changes to make health care more available and accessible.
American Cancer Society↗
Changes in the daily practice of primary care for children.
BACKGROUND: The environment in which medicine is practiced has changed in the past 2 decades, but little information has been available on how the day-to-day practice of primary care for children has changed during this period. OBJECTIVE: To identify aspects of primary care practices for children that are undergoing substantial changes. DESIGN: Analysis of National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys from 1979 to 1981, 1985, and 1989 to 1994. PARTICIPANTS: Primary care practitioners recorded data on 58,488 child visits. MAIN OUT COME MEASURES: Characteristics and insurance status of children, physician activities during visits, and disposition after visit. RESULTS: Child visits to primary care physicians increased by 22% between 1979 and 1994. The mean age of children visiting primary care physicians decreased from 6.7 years in 1979 to 5.7 years in 1994 (P for trend, < .001). The ethnic diversity of child visits increased primarily as a result of an increasing proportion of visits by Hispanic (6.0% in 1979 to 12.6% in 1994, P for trend, < .001) and Asian patients (1.6% in 1979 to 4.1% in 1994, P for trend, < .001). Medicaid and managed care increased dramatically as sources of payment. Changes in physician activities included an increase in some preventive services, changes in the most commonly encountered medications, and an increased mean duration of patient visits (11.8 minutes in 1979 to 14.2 minutes in 1994, P for trend, < .001). CONCLUSIONS: These data may assist in the development of educational and research initiatives for physicians caring for children. The declining proportion of adolescent visits may present physicians with challenges in the care of adolescents. Physician prescribing practices showed changes without evidence of a benefit to child health. The increased ethnic diversity and provision of preventive services were associated with an increased mean duration of primary care visits. The increased duration of child visits may conflict with the managed care emphasis on physician productivity.
Asian↗
The impact of a quasi-market on sexually transmitted disease services in the UK.
This article reports the results of a study of the impact of quasi-market reforms on sexually transmitted disease (STD) services in one UK health region. An internal or quasi-market was introduced into UK health care in the 1991 reforms of the National Health Service (NHS). Health authorities (HAs) and general practitioner fundholders were given major new responsibilities for purchasing (later called commissioning) health services. The NHS quasi-market was designed to address recurrent difficulties in acute health services by promoting efficiency and consumer choice. The arrangements for commissioning STD services are important because these diseases are major threats to public health and HAs face a number of constraints in bringing about service changes through market mechanisms. In the UK, STD services are provided on a self-referral and confidential basis; patients experience STDs as stigmatizing and often have low expectations of service and little desire for involvement in commissioning decisions. HAs have only limited routine intelligence about STD services and little or no choice of local providers. This study adopted a qualitative case-study approach to examine HA commissioning of STD services. The study found that the introduction of the NHS quasi-market did not equip HAs with mechanisms for bringing about change in STD service provision or STD-related health outcomes. The findings are consistent with other recent studies of HA commissioning and provide further cumulative evidence of the limits to HA leverage in the NHS quasi-market. The study concludes that the commissioning of STD services is likely to remain a low priority in the new NHS structures based on primary care groups.
Communicable Disease Control↗
Organizational correlates of access to primary care and mental health services in drug abuse treatment units.
Primary care and mental health services improve drug abuse treatment clients' health and treatment outcomes. To examine the association between clients' access to these services and the characteristics of drug treatment organizations, we analyze data from a national survey of the unit directors and clinical supervisors of 618 outpatient drug abuse treatment programs in 1995 (88% response rate). In multivariate models controlling for client characteristics and urban location, public units, units with more human resources, and methadone programs delivered more primary care services. Public units, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations-accredited units, nonmethadone units, and units with more staff psychiatrists or psychologists delivered more mental health services. We conclude that organizational factors may influence drug abuse treatment clients' access to primary care and mental health services. Changes in the treatment system that weaken or eliminate public programs, over-burden staff, de-emphasize quality standards or lessen methadone availability may erode recovering clients' tenuous access to these services.
Cross-Sectional Studies↗
Minority ethnic community participation in needs assessment and service development in primary care: perceptions of Pakistani and Bangladeshi people about psychological distress.
OBJECTIVES: To promote community participation in exploring perceptions of psychological distress amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi people, in order to develop appropriate services. DESIGN: Training and facilitation of resident community members (as community project workers), to define and conduct qualitative research involving semistructured interviews in their own communities, informing primary care led commissioning and service decision making. Setting A socio-economically disadvantaged inner-city locality in the UK. Participants One-hundred and four South Asian people (49 of Pakistani and 55 of Bangladeshi origin), interviewed by 13 resident community members. RESULTS: All community project workers completed training leading to a National Vocational Qualification, and successfully executed the research. Most study respondents located their main sources of stress within pervasive experience of racism and socio-economic disadvantage. They were positive about 'talking' and neutral listening as helpful, but sought strategies beyond non-directive counselling services that embraced practical welfare advice and social support. The roles of primary health care professionals were believed to be restricted to physical ill health rather than personal distress. The importance of professionals' sex, age, ethnicity and social status were emphasized as affecting open communication. Practical recommendations for the re-orientation and provision of services were generated and implemented in response to the findings, through dialogue with a primary care commissioning group, Health and Local Authority, and voluntary agencies. CONCLUSIONS: The work illustrates the feasibility and value of a community participation approach to research and service development in addressing a challenging and neglected area of minority ethnic health need. It offers one model for generating responsive service change in the context of current health policy in the UK, whilst also imparting skills and empowering community members. The study findings emphasize the need to recognize the social contexts in which distress is experienced and have implications for effective responses.
Journal Article↗
Decreased morbidity and use of hospital services in English HIV-infected individuals with increased uptake of anti-retroviral therapy 1996-1997. National Prospective Monitoring System Steering Group.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between changing morbidity patterns, the use of hospital services by HIV-infected patients and the uptake of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in England. DESIGN: Prospective serial cross-sectional analyses based on data collected through the National Prospective Monitoring System (NPMS), a multi-centre prospective monitoring system. SETTING: HIV-infected patients seen in 10 clinics, five London and five non-London, during the three semesters, 1 January 1996 to 30 June 1997. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The mean use of hospital services per patient-year, mean new HIV-related opportunistic illnesses per 1000 patient-years and percentage uptake of ART. RESULTS: The use of inpatient services changed particularly among AIDS patients. The mean number of inpatient days for AIDS patients decreased from 19.7 [95% confidence interval (CI) 13.7-25.7] in 1996 to 11.2 (95% CI 6.1-15.6) per patient-year in 1997. Concurrently the number of new AIDS-defining events decreased significantly from 567 (95% CI 529-607) to 203 (95% CI 183-225) per 1000 patient-years. The overall uptake of ART increased significantly from 33% (95% CI 31-35%) to 50% (95% CI 48-52%), and a switch from mono or dual to triple therapy or quadruple or more therapy was observed. However, by mid-1997 only 29% (95% CI 26-32%) of asymptomatic patients and 51% (95% CI 49-54%) of patients with symptomatic non-AIDS were on ART, compared with 69% (95% CI 66-71%) of AIDS patients. CONCLUSION: The observed reduction in new AIDS-defining events has led to a reduction in the need for inpatient hospital care and has been associated with an increased uptake of ART, including a switch to triple therapy. All of these factors are likely to have contributed to the observed reduction in mortality among English AIDS patients. As the overall uptake of ART remained relatively low in English centres further improvements can be anticipated. However, the medium to long-term effects of these treatment regimens will need to be closely monitored.
Anti-HIV Agents↗
Planning for alternative futures in the NHS.
'The NHS needs the ability to move much more quickly' (The Griffiths Report, 1983, p13) This paper grew out of preliminary research undertaken for the research project on which we both work, entitled the Management of Change in the NHS. The project is based in the Centre for Corporate Strategy and Change at the University of Warwick, and is directed by Professor Andrew Pettigrew, who has previously undertaken a longitudinal study of strategic change in ICI (Pettigrew, 1985), and also a pilot study within the NHS which identified the implementation of strategic intent as the jugular problem confronting NHS managers. But a central research problem is why it is that some Health Districts manage to achieve a faster rate of change than others. Hence there was a need to trace the evolution of local systems through time, with the result that the historical analysis of changing is a key aspect of this research. The project is financed jointly by the NHSTA and a consortium of eight of the English Regions and ten case study districts are included. The research design focusses on strategic service changes in both the acute and priority group sectors and incorporates developments and contractions. The choice of strategic changes was informed by a detailed review of the most recent regional strategic plans and the review itself prompted this paper. It led us to a number of observations about the content of the change agenda. First, there is a high rate of change projected in the current strategic round and earlier studies of incrementalist approaches to change may have to be revised (Hunter, 1980; Ham, 1981). Secondly, these regional change agendas to a great extent reflect national/central policy and the pattern is one of uniformity. These standard agendas include RAWP; the construction of a DGH network; the run-down of long-stay mental illness/handicap hospitals; cost improvements and an increase in health promotion activity. Thirdly, alongside the top-down mechanisms to secure implementation of national objectives, another mode of planning emerges which more closely approaches the concept of 'local learning' (Glennester et al, 1983) where organisations seek to explore possible forces for change and how they might respond. Planning here is seen as a means of 'problem-sensing' and awareness building (Quinn, 1980) and getting new issues onto the agenda (Pettigrew, 1985). The paper will explore the content of the change agenda in detail and the nature of the planning process.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Forecasting↗
Probable future funding priorities in maternal and child health: a modified Delphi National Survey.
Recent enactment of program consolidation block grants proposed by the Reagan administration has left many observers of public health services wondering about the impact of such a change on categorical programs in maternal and child health (MCH). This study first presents predictions about the future of 23 specific MCH services, derived from a modified Delphi Survey of MCH experts, and then examines the implications of these predictions for future public health.
Adult↗
Changes in utilization and cost sharing within the Danish National Health Insurance dental program, 1975-90.
The aims of the analysis were 1) to examine the development in utilization of dental care provided for adults in Denmark under the National Health Insurance during the period 1975-90; 2) to assess the appropriateness of available dental care statistics for studies of oral health trends; and 3) to analyze the price development of dental services during 1975-90 and its impact on patient and Insurance expenses, respectively. Utilization and economic data were retrieved from available registers and analyzed. Three trends were found. First, the utilization has increased more than what could be explained by the population increase; secondly, the panorama of dental services changed from predominantly restorative/extraction services to predominantly diagnostic/preventive services. Thirdly, the price paid by Danish adults for dental care increased disproportionately to other price developments in society. On the basis of traditional health economic theory this development could be expected to affect demand for dental services negatively.
Adult↗