The extent that health professionals suspect and address addiction to medicines in primary care: Findings from a survey in Northwest England.

Addiction to medicines available over the counter or via prescription is of growing international concern. The authors of the current article ran an online survey of health professionals in general medical practice and community pharmacy settings in Northwest England to explore the frequency of suspecting and responding to addiction to medicines. Health professionals reported frequently identifying addiction to medicines among patients including those with long-term pain, mental health problems, sleep disorders, and other substance use disorders, but that these addictions often go unchallenged. This adds to the evidence indicating the under-diagnosis of addiction to medicines in the United Kingdom. Strategies to improve diagnosis and treatment should recognize the diversity of individuals with addiction to medicines

Needle exchange services in Knowsley: An investigation into the needs and experiences of staff and service users

This work was commissioned by Knowsley Council to inform the development of needle exchange (NEX) services in Knowsley and to ensure that they meet the needs of people who inject drugs (PWID) locally. The views and experiences of both service users and staff from drug services and pharmacies offering needle exchange services in Knowsley were sought regarding the extent to which NEX are meeting the needs of PWID including their perceptions regarding the support available, NEX accessibility and service delivery. Findings are considered in the context of NICE guidelines on the optimal provision of needle and syringe programmes in England

Evaluation of Four Recovery Communities across England: Interim report for the Give it Up project

The Comic Relief: Give it Up Fund is a programme that aims to develop and build abstinence based recovery communities and learn more about their value. The Give it Up Fund supports the development of recovery communities in four geographical locations in England. It is expected that the recovery communities will be sustainable and continue to operate after the two years of funding is complete. The aim of this research is to evaluate the operational processes of the pilot programmes and better understand how they might contribute to ambitions of improved and sustained recovery. Abstinence-based recovery communities aim to ensure that people with addictions are supported to meet their personal, social and economic needs in order to enable long-term recovery and reintegration back into society. Abstinence-based recovery complements the UK Drug Strategy (2010) objective of supporting people to live abstinence-based, ‘drug-free’ lives. The large grants programme element of the Give it Up Fund is supporting the development of recovery communities in Durham, Birmingham, Gloucester and London by creating partnerships offering collaborative working with approaches that aim to sustain recovery. This work explores how each of the projects contribute to recovery outcomes over time, and aims to embed processes to ensure that projects are able to measure and evidence their outcomes once the commissioned evaluation has finished

Experiences of Sustainable Abstinence-Based Recovery: an Exploratory Study of Three Recovery Communities (RC) in England

Contemporary recovery-models of treatment for substance misuse prioritise community-based support systems that focus on developing individuals’ strengths and quality of life. The research project aimed to explore the perceived mechanisms and processes that underpinned support in three abstinence-based recovery communities (RCs) across England. Focus groups and telephone interviews were conducted with 44 individuals. This was to identify self-prioritised outcomes for members and other key factors contributing to the delivery of an effective recovery community. Data were thematically analysed. Along with a number of other key outcomes, the achievement and maintenance of abstinence by participants was considered to be a key indicator of an effective RC. RC processes were also viewed as underpinning the development of recovery capital. The study provides an insight into the processes of RCs and highlights that development and support of recovery capital is an important aspect of service provision and delivery for those in abstinence-based recovery. © 2018, The Author(s)

Systematic review of the methods used in economic evaluations of targeted physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions

The burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) on health systems worldwide is substantial. Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour are major risk factors for NCD. Previous attempts to understand the value for money of preventative interventions targeting physically inactive individuals have proved to be challenging due to key methodological challenges associated with the conduct of economic evaluations in public health. A systematic review was carried out across six databases (Medline, SPORTSDiscus, EconLit, PsychINFO, NHS EED, HTA) along with supplementary searches. The review examines how economic evaluations published between 2009-March 2017 have addressed methodological challenges with the aim of bringing to light examples of good practice for future studies. Fifteen economic evaluations from four high-income countries were retrieved; there is a dearth of studies targeting sedentary behaviour as an independent risk factor from physical activity. Comparability of studies from the healthcare and societal perspectives were limited due to analysts’ choice in cost categories, valuation technique and time horizon differing substantially. The scarcity of and inconsistencies across economic evaluations for these two behaviours have exposed a mismatch between calls for more preventative action to tackle NCD and the lack of information available on how resources may be optimally allocated in practice. Consequently, this paper offers a table of recommendations on how future studies can be improved

Systematic review of antiepileptic drugs’ safety and effectiveness in feline epilepsy

Understanding the efficacy and safety profile of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in feline epilepsy is a crucial consideration for managing this important brain disease. However, there is a lack of information about the treatment of feline epilepsy and therefore a systematic review was constructed to assess current evidence for the AEDs’ efficacy and tolerability in cats. The methods and materials of our former systematic reviews in canine epilepsy were mostly mirrored for the current systematic review in cats. Databases of PubMed, CAB Direct and Google scholar were searched to detect peer-reviewed studies reporting efficacy and/or adverse effects of AEDs in cats. The studies were assessed with regards to their quality of evidence, i.e. study design, study population, diagnostic criteria and overall risk of bias and the outcome measures reported, i.e. prevalence and 95% confidence interval of the successful and affected population in each study and in total