Bad science concerning NHS competition is being used to support the controversial Health and Social Care Bill

A recent report by LSE academics extolling the benefits of competition between NHS hospitals claims causality where there is none. Allyson Pollock, Alison Macfarlane and Ian Greener argue that the authors engage in data dredging and faulty empirical analysis. In so doing, they sweep aside decades of evidence showing why markets do not work in health services and lend support to an HSC Bill that is inherently dangerous

Mortality among contraceptive pill users: cohort evidence from Royal College of General Practitioners’ Oral Contraception Study

Objective To see if the mortality risk among women who have used oral contraceptives differs from that of never users

The economic costs of intrapartum care in Tower Hamlets: a comparison between the cost of birth in a freestanding midwifery unit and hospital for women at low risk of obstetric complications

Objective To compare the economic costs of intrapartum maternity care in an inner city area for ‘low risk’ women opting to give birth in a freestanding midwifery unit compared with those who chose birth in hospital. Design Micro-costing of health service resources used in the intrapartum care of mothers and their babies during the period between admission and discharge, data extracted from clinical notes Setting The Barkantine Birth Centre, a freestanding midwifery unit and the Royal London Hospital’s consultant-led obstetric unit, both run by the former Barts and the London NHS Trust in Tower Hamlets, a deprived inner city borough in east London, England, 2007-2010. Participants Maternity records of 333 women who were resident in Tower Hamlets and who satisfied the Trust’s eligibility criteria for using the Birth Centre. Of these, 167 women started their intrapartum care at the Birth Centre and 166 started care at the Royal London Hospital. Measurements and findings Women who planned their birth at the Birth Centre experienced continuous intrapartum midwifery care, higher rates of spontaneous vaginal delivery, greater use of a birth pool, lower rates of epidural use, higher rates of established breastfeeding and a longer post-natal stay, compared with those who planned for care in the hospital. The total average cost per mother-baby dyad for care where mothers started their intrapartum care at the Birth Centre was £1296.23, approximately £850 per patient less than the average cost per mother and baby who received all their care at the Royal London Hospital. These costs reflect intrapartum throughput using bottom up costing per patient, from admission to discharge, including transfer, but excluding occupancy rates and the related running costs of the units. Key conclusions and implications for practice The study showed that intrapartum throughput in the Birth Centre could be considered cost-minimising when compared to hospital. Modelling the financial viability of midwifery units at a local level is important because it can inform the appropriate provision of these services. This finding from this study contribute a local perspective and thus further weight to the evidence from the Birthplace Programme in support of freestanding midwifery unit care for women without obstetric complications

‘They’re more like ordinary stroppy British women’: Attitudes and expectations of maternity care professionals to UK-born ethnic minority women

Objective To explore the attitudes and expectations of maternity care professionals to UK-born ethnic minority mothers. Methods Qualitative in-depth interviews with 30 professionals from eight NHS maternity units in England that provide services for large proportions of women of black Caribbean, black African, Indian, Pakistani and Irish descent. Results All the professionals reported providing care to both UK-born and migrant mothers from ethnic minorities. Most of them felt that they could differentiate between UK-born and migrant mothers based mainly on language fluency and accent. ‘Westernized dress’ and ‘freedom’ were also cited as indicators. Overall, professionals found it easier to provide services to UK-born mothers and felt that their needs were more like those of white English mothers than those of migrant mothers. UK-born mothers were generally thought to be assertive and expressive, and in control of care-related decision-making whereas some South Asian Muslim women were thought to be constrained by family influences. Preconceived ideas about ethnic minority mothers' tolerance of pain in labour, use of pharmacological pain relief measures and mode of delivery were recurring themes. Women's education and social class were felt to be major influences on the uptake of maternity care, regardless of ethnicity. Conclusions Professionals appeared to equate the needs of UK-born ethnic minority women with those of white English women. Overall, this has positive implications for care provision. Despite this, specific behavioural expectations and unconscious stereotypical views were evident and have the potential to affect clinical practice

SARS-CoV-2 tests, confirmed infections and COVID-19 related hospital admissions in children and young people:birth cohort study

Background There have been no population-based studies of SARS-CoV-2 testing, PCR-confirmed infections and COVID-19-related hospital admissions across the full paediatric age range. We examine the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in children and young people (CYP) aged <23 years. Methods We used a birth cohort of all children born in Scotland since 1997, constructed via linkage between vital statistics, hospital records and SARS-CoV-2 surveillance data. We calculated risks of tests and PCR-confirmed infections per 1000 CYP-years between August and December 2020, and COVID-19-related hospital admissions per 100 000 CYP-years between February and December 2020. We used Poisson and Cox proportional hazards regression models to determine risk factors. Results Among the 1 226 855 CYP in the cohort, there were 378 402 tests (a rate of 770.8/1000 CYP-years (95% CI 768.4 to 773.3)), 19 005 PCR-confirmed infections (179.4/1000 CYP-years (176.9 to 182.0)) and 346 admissions (29.4/100 000 CYP-years (26.3 to 32.8)). Infants had the highest COVID-19-related admission rates. The presence of chronic conditions, particularly multiple types of conditions, was strongly associated with COVID-19-related admissions across all ages. Overall, 49% of admitted CYP had at least one chronic condition recorded. Conclusions Infants and CYP with chronic conditions are at highest risk of admission with COVID-19. Half of admitted CYP had chronic conditions. Studies examining COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness among children with chronic conditions and whether maternal vaccine during pregnancy prevents COVID-19 admissions in infants are urgently needed

Timing of singleton births by onset of labour and mode of birth in NHS maternity units in England, 2005-2014: A study of linked birth registration, birth notification, and hospital episode data

BACKGROUND: Maternity care has to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is known that obstetric intervention can influence the time of birth, but no previous analysis at a national level in England has yet investigated in detail the ways in which the day and time of birth varies by onset of labour and mode of giving birth. METHOD: We linked data from birth registration, birth notification, and Maternity Hospital Episode Statistics and analysed 5,093,615 singleton births in NHS maternity units in England from 2005 to 2014. We used descriptive statistics and negative binomial regression models with harmonic terms to establish how patterns of timing of birth vary by onset of labour, mode of giving birth and gestational age. RESULTS: The timing of birth by time of day and day of the week varies considerably by onset of labour and mode of birth. Spontaneous births after spontaneous onset are more likely to occur between midnight and 6am than at other times of day, and are also slightly more likely on weekdays than at weekends and on public holidays. Elective caesarean births are concentrated onto weekday mornings. Births after induced labours are more likely to occur at hours around midnight on Tuesdays to Saturdays and on days before a public holiday period, than on Sundays, Mondays and during or just after a public holiday. CONCLUSION: The timing of births varies by onset of labour and mode of birth and these patterns have implications for midwifery and medical staffing. Further research is needed to understand the processes behind these findings

Survey of women׳s experiences of care in a new freestanding midwifery unit in an inner city area of London, England: 2. Specific aspects of care

Objective to describe and compare women׳s experiences of specific aspects of maternity care before and after the opening of the Barkantine Birth Centre, a new freestanding midwifery unit in an inner city area. Design telephone surveys undertaken in late pregnancy and about six weeks after birth. Two separate waves of interviews were conducted, Phase 1 before the birth centre opened and Phase 2 after it had opened. Setting Tower Hamlets, a deprived inner city borough in east London, 2007–2010. Participants 620 women who were resident in Tower Hamlets and who satisfied the Barts and the London Trust’s eligibility criteria for using the birth centre. Of these, 259 women were recruited to Phase 1 and 361 to Phase 2. Measurements and findings the replies women gave show marked differences between the model of care in the birth centre and that at the obstetric unit at the Royal London Hospital with respect to experiences of care and specific practices. Women who initially booked for birth centre care were more likely to attend antenatal classes and find them useful and were less likely to be induced. Women who started labour care at the birth centre in spontaneous labour were more likely to use non-pharmacological methods of pain relief, most notably water and less likely to use pethidine than women who started care at the hospital. They were more likely to be able to move around in labour and less likely to have their membranes ruptured or have continuous CTG. They were more likely to be told to push spontaneously when they needed to rather than under directed pushing and more likely to report that they had been able to choose their position for birth and deliver in places other than the bed, in contrast to the situation at the hospital. The majority of women who had a spontaneous onset of labour delivered vaginally, with 28.6 per cent of women at the birth centre but no one at the hospital delivering in water. Primiparous women who delivered at the birth centre were less likely to have an episiotomy. Most women who delivered at the birth centre reported that they had chosen whether or not to have a physiological third stage, whereas a worrying proportion at the hospital reported that they had not had a choice. A higher proportion of women at the birth centre reported skin to skin contact with their baby in the first two hours after birth. Key conclusions and implications for practice significant differences were reported between the hospital and the birth centre in practices and information given to the women, with lower rates of intervention, more choice and significant differences in women’s experiences. This case study of a single inner-city freestanding midwifery unit, linked to the Birthplace in England Research Programme, indicates that this model of care also leads to greater choice and a better experience for women who opted for it

Therapists’ experiences of remotely delivering cognitive-behavioural or graded-exercise interventions for fatigue: a qualitative evaluation

Objectives: Fatigue is a challenging feature of all inflammatory rheumatic diseases. LIFT (Lessening the Impact of Fatigue in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a randomised Trial) included remotely delivered personalised exercise programme (PEP) or cognitive-behavioural approach (CBA) interventions. The aim of this nested qualitative evaluation was to understand rheumatology health professionals (therapists’) perspectives of delivering the interventions in the LIFT trial. Methods: A subgroup of therapists who had delivered the PEP and CBA interventions took part in semi-structured telephone interviews. Results: Seventeen therapists (13 women, 4 men) who delivered PEP (n = 8) or CBA (n = 9) interventions participated. Five themes were identified: In ‘The benefits of informative, structured training’, therapists described how they were able to practice their skills, and the convenience of having the LIFT manual to refer to. When ‘Getting into the swing of it’, supporting patients gave therapists the confidence to tailor the content of the manual to each patient. Clinical supervision supported therapists to gain feedback and request assistance when required. In ‘Delivering the intervention’ therapists reported that patients valued the opportunity to address their fatigue and challenge their own beliefs. ‘Challenges in delivering the LIFT intervention’ therapists struggled to work collaboratively with patients who lacked motivation or stopped engaging. Finally, ‘Lift developing clinical skills’ therapists gained confidence and professional satisfaction seeing patients’ fatigue improve. Conclusion: Findings support the value of skills training for rheumatology health professionals to deliver a remote fatigue management intervention tested in the LIFT trial. These insights can inform service provision and clinical practice Lay summary What does this mean for patients ? Fatigue can be a challenge in inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRDs). The LIFT study (Lessening the Impact of Fatigue in inflammatory rheumatic diseases: a randomized Trial) explored interventions to support people with fatigue. These were: a cognitive-behavioural approach (CBA), a personalized exercise programme (PEP), or usual care. People with IRDs were chosen randomly to take part in seven sessions of CBA, seven sessions of PEP or usual care. All sessions (aside from the first PEP session) were delivered over the phone. The aim of this study was to explore therapists' experiences of delivering the intervention. Seventeen therapists (13 women and 4 men) took part; eight had delivered the PEP intervention, and 9 delivered the CBA intervention. Therapists who delivered LIFT told us they enjoyed the chance to practice their skills, and that the LIFT manual gave them the confidence to tailor the intervention to each patient. Clinical supervision was valued. Therapists also shared that LIFT improved their skills and they were happy to see patients' fatigue improve over time. These new results can inform clinical practice, and how services are provided

Argon behaviour in an inverted Barrovian sequence, Sikkim Himalaya: the consequences of temperature and timescale on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar mica geochronology

40Ar/39Ar dating of metamorphic rocks sometimes yields complicated datasets which are difficult to interpret in terms of timescales of the metamorphic cycle. Single-grain fusion and step-heating data were obtained for rocks sampled through a major thrust-sense shear zone (the Main Central Thrust) and the associated inverted metamorphic zone in the Sikkim region of the eastern Himalaya. This transect provides a natural laboratory to explore factors influencing apparent 40Ar/39Ar ages in similar lithologies at a variety of metamorphic pressure and temperature (P–T) conditions. The 40Ar/39Ar dataset records progressively younger apparent age populations and a decrease in within-sample dispersion with increasing temperature through the sequence. The white mica populations span ~ 2–9 Ma within each sample in the structurally lower levels (garnet grade) but only ~ 0–3 Ma at structurally higher levels (kyanite-sillimanite grade). Mean white mica single-grain fusion population ages vary from 16.2 ± 3.9 Ma (2σ) to 13.2 ± 1.3 Ma (2σ) from lowest to highest levels. White mica step-heating data from the same samples yields plateau ages from 14.27 ± 0.13 Ma to 12.96 ± 0.05 Ma. Biotite yield older apparent age populations with mean single-grain fusion dates varying from 74.7 ± 11.8 Ma (2σ) at the lowest structural levels to 18.6 ± 4.7 Ma (2σ) at the highest structural levels; the step-heating plateaux are commonly disturbed. Temperatures > 600 °C at pressures of 0.4–0.8 GPa sustained over > 5 Ma, appear to be required for white mica and biotite ages to be consistent with diffusive, open-system cooling. At lower temperatures, and/or over shorter metamorphic timescales, more 40Ar is retained than results from simple diffusion models suggest. Diffusion modelling of Ar in white mica from the highest structural levels suggests that the high-temperature rocks cooled at a rate of ~ 50–80 °C Ma− 1, consistent with rapid thrusting, extrusion and exhumation along the Main Central Thrust during the mid-Miocene