The authors of ‘Comparison of veterinary drugs and veterinary homeopathy: part 1 and 2’, respond

International audienc

The New Generation of Community Foundations

Community foundations have enjoyed considerable growth in recent years, not only in their number but also in their character. This emergence of a "new generation" of community foundations is occurring within a larger context of other emerging forms of "social solidarity" movements and institutions, including rural development philanthropy, member-based organizing and other hybrid forms of citizen-led actions. In an effort to strengthen a conceptual framework for this phenomenon, this paper identifies synergies and linkages across networks (and their respective bodies of literature) that may previously not have been well connected

Regional Working in the East of England: Using the UK National Standards for Public Involvement

Plain English summary: Involving patients and members of the public to help shape and carry out research is recommended in health research in the United Kingdom (UK). There are a number of regional networks of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) groups, which support the collaboration between researchers, patients and public members. We are a group of researchers, patients and public members who came together via a PPI regional network in the East of England to collaborate on a research study about the extent of feedback from researchers to PPI contributors.The aim of this paper is to use the recently developed UK National Standards for Public Involvement to structure our thinking about what worked well and what did not, within our recently completed study. We believe this paper is one of the first to use the National Standards to structure a retrospective reflection on PPI within a study.Our findings showed that there are benefits of regional working, including easier access to public members and bringing together researchers, public members and those who run PPI groups for research collaboration. The main challenges included involvement of people before studies are funded and working across organisations with different payment processes.The National Standards for Public Involvement has provided a useful framework to consider how best to involve patients and members of the public in research and could be a helpful structure to reflect on successes and challenges in individual projects and also regional, national or international comparisons of PPI in research. Abstract: Background Regional networks of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) organisations, including academic institutions, health and social care services, charities, patient and public groups and individuals, can play an important part in carrying out health research. In the UK, recommendations by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) encourage the use of regional, collaborative networks with shared resources and training. Methods The newly developed UK National Standards for Public Involvement were used as a framework for a retrospective reflection of PPI within a recently completed research study which focused on feedback from researchers to PPI contributors. PPI contributors, those running PPI groups (PPI leads) and researchers involved in the study have contributed to this reflection by completing evaluation forms throughout the research alongside notes of meetings and co-authors' final reflections. Results Results revealed a number of successes where the regional network was particularly useful in bringing together PPI contributors, those who lead PPI groups and researchers. The regional network helped researchers to get in touch with patients and members of the public. Challenges included involving people before funding and bureaucratic and financial barriers when working across different organisations in the region. The importance of working together in flexible, informal ways was key and on-going support for the PPI contributors was vital for continued involvement, including emotional support not just monetary. The first four National Standards of inclusive opportunities, working together, support and learning and communications were particularly useful as means of structuring our reflections. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is one of the first research studies to use the UK National Standards for Public Involvement as a framework to identify what worked well and the challenges of PPI processes. It is suggested that as more reflective papers are published and the National Standards are more widely used in the UK, many lessons can be learnt and shared on how to improve our Patient and Public Involvement within research studies. Evaluations or reflections such as these can further enhance our understanding of PPI with implications for regional, national and international comparisons.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Involving patients in decisions about preventive medication : A focus group study

Original article can be found at: http://www.pccj.eu/ Copyright Sherborne Gibbs Ltd. [reproduced here with permission of publishers]Background: Patients may have unrealistic expectations of preventive treatment and frequently do not take long-term medication. Involvement of the patient in the decision to start such medication may improve this, but enabling an informed decision is notoriously difficult. Aims: To explore patients' perceptions of preventive medication, the desire for informed choice and how this could best be achieved. Method: Purposive sampling was used to select patients registered with one of two general practices in South England. Audio recording, transcription and computer-assisted textual analysis were conducted for focus group discussions. Results: This was a small study, but the majority of focus group participants who had been prescribed a preventive medication said they received very little or no information about benefits and disadvantages when it was started. Some felt that doctors did not want to share information. Older participants thought that choice was over-rated, trusted their doctor to recommend appropriate medication and did not necessarily wish to be involved in the decision. Younger participants wanted to be more involved. However, even those who expressed little interest in involvement felt that personalised information compared with population norms comparing individuals to the 'average person' would be helpful. Written information specific to the individual and on how the medication or lifestyle changes might affect them was considered welcome. Conclusions: Doctors need to be sensitive to patients' preferences for involvement in the decision-making process and for the way information on risk is shared. Providing written information specific to the individual patient is likely to facilitate shared decisions about preventive medication.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Comparison of veterinary drugs and veterinary homeopathy: part 1

For many years after its invention around 1796, homeopathy was widely used in people and later in animals. Over the intervening period (1796-2016) pharmacology emerged as a science from Materia Medica (medicinal materials) to become the mainstay of veterinary therapeutics. There remains today a much smaller, but significant, use of homeopathy by veterinary surgeons. Homeopathic products are sometimes administered when conventional drug therapies have not succeeded, but are also used as alternatives to scientifically based therapies and licensed products. The principles underlying the veterinary use of drug-based and homeopathic products are polar opposites; this provides the basis for comparison between them. This two-part review compares and contrasts the two treatment forms in respect of history, constituents, methods of preparation, known or postulated mechanisms underlying responses, the legal basis for use and scientific credibility in the 21st century. Part 1 begins with a consideration of why therapeutic products actually work or appear to do so

The care act, personalisation and the new eligibility regulations: a discussion paper about the future of care and support services for homeless people in England

As funding for Housing Related Support (formerly Supporting People) services continues to shrink, it is timely to revisit the question as to whether ‘homeless people’ are eligible for publically funded care and support, including personal budgets, organised through the local authority. The Care Act 2014 due to be implemented from April 2015 in England, heralds some positive changes which may serve to open the door to this funding stream which has rarely been used in support of ‘homeless people’. As the law currently stands ‘homeless people’ as a service user group are not eligible for community care assessment (though people who are homeless and who fall into one of the ‘eligible groups’ by virtue of having a mental health or drug and alcohol problem may be). The Care Act 2014 removes reference to ‘eligible’ and ‘ineligible’ groups so that any adult with any level of need will have a right to an assessment. Exploring some of the ways in which homeless people have been excluded from care and support in the past, this paper outlines how homeless organisations can work with local authorities to ensure fairer and more consistent access and in so doing, potentially secure their own futures in the face of fewer ‘block contracts’ and more individualised forms of commissioning

Double-blinded randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial of individualised homeopathic treatment of hyperthyroid cats.

Feline hyperthyroidism is a common endocrine disorder in older cats for which homeopathic treatment has been advocated. A double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomised trial was performed to look for evidence of efficacy for the use of individualised homeopathy in the treatment of this disease. Using a case definition of a concentration of the thyroid hormone T4 >66 nmol/l, cats were randomised into two treatment arms. Either a placebo or a homeopathic treatment was given to each cat blindly. After 21 days, the T4 levels, weight (Wt) and heart rate (HR) were compared with pretreatment values. There were no statistically significant differences in the changes seen between the two treatment arms following placebo or homeopathic treatment (T4 P=0.96, Wt P=0.16, HR P=0.36) or between the means of each parameter for either treatment arm before and after placebo or homeopathic treatment (all P values >0.13). In a second phase of the study, patients in both treatment arms were given methimazole treatment for 21 days and T4, Wt and HR determined again. Again there were no statistically significant differences between the groups, but there were statistically significant reductions in T4 (P<0.0001) and HR (P=0.02), and a statistically significant increase in Wt (P=0.004) in both groups compared with their pre-methimazole treatment levels. The results of this study failed to provide any evidence of the efficacy of homeopathic treatment of feline hyperthyroidism

Using video tutorials as a carrot-and-stick approach to learning

Traditional teaching styles practiced at universities do not generally suit all students\u27 learning styles. For a variety of reasons, students do not always engage in learning in the courses in which they are enrolled. New methods to create and deliver educational material are available, but these do not always improve learning outcomes. Acknowledging these truths and developing and delivering educational material that provides diverse ways for students to learn is a constant challenge. This study examines the use of video tutorials within a university environment in an attempt to provide a teaching model that is valuable to all students, and in particular to those students who are not engaging in learning. The results of a three-year study have demonstrated that the use of well-designed, assessment-focused, and readily available video tutorials have the potential to improve student satisfaction and grades by enabling and encouraging students to learn how they want, when they want, and at a pace that suits their needs