General practitioners’ perceptions on their role in light of the NHS five year forward view: a qualitative study

Background: The NHS is undergoing unprecedented change, central to which is policy aimed at integrating health and social care services, resulting in the implementation of new care models. GPs are at the forefront of this change. However, there is lack of academic literature on General Practitioners’ perceptions on their role in light of the new models of care proposed by the NHS Five Year Forward View which this small-scale study begins to address. Objectives: This study aims to produce a description of how GP’s construct their current and future general practice, professional status and identify within the context of the current NHS transformation agenda. Methods: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and one focus group to gather the perspective of GPs (n = 10) working across three clinical commissioning groups in South East England. Results: While the GPs embraced the principles underpinning the new care models, they were both willing and reluctant to adopt their new roles, struggled with inter-organisational and cultural barriers and their changing professional identity. Conclusion: Multi-professional education in primary and community care could be an effective model to offer support and resources to the development of the clinical and leadership skills GPs will require to respond effectively to the transformation agenda. The emergence of community education provider networks, innovative network organisations designed to support workforce transformation through education and training, can provide the vehicle through which clinical and leadership skills training are sourced and coordinated

Management by geographical area or management specialised by disorder? A mixed-methods evaluation of the effects of an organisational intervention on secondary mental health care for common mental disorder

In 2010, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) established a programme replacing the borough directorates responsible for adult mental health services with three Clinical Academic Groups (CAGs), each of which took on a subset of adult services straddling all four boroughs. Care pathways were also introduced. We studied the Mood Anxiety and Personality CAG, which took on assessment and treatment teams and psychotherapy services. Objectives We aimed (1) to understand the CAG programme using realistic evaluation and (2) to assess whether or not it led to changes in activity and health-care quality. Methods Qualitative analysis was based on interviews and project documents. Quantitative analyses were based on electronic patient records and compared care in community mental health teams (CMHTs) and psychotherapy teams before and after CAG implementation. Analyses of activity covered caseload, counts of new episodes, episode length and number of contacts per episode. We also looked at CMHT costs. Analyses of effectiveness covered processes (pharmacological and psychological treatment of depression in CMHTs) and outcomes (effect on the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales total score or the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation 10-item version total score). Analyses of safety examined the rates of self-harm among current or recent CMHT patients. Patient centredness was represented by waiting time. Results The first core component of SLaM’s CAG programme was the CAG restructuring itself. The second was the promotion of care pathways; interpreted as ‘high level pathways’, these schematised processes of referral, assessment, treatment, reassessment and discharge, but abstracted from the details of treatment. The three mechanisms of the CAG restructuring were increasing oversight, making teams fit the template of team types defined for each CAG (‘CAG compliance’) and changing financial accounts by grouping services in new ways; these mechanisms resulted in further reconfigurations. The use of high-level pathways supported service redesign and performance management. In CMHTs and psychotherapy teams activity tended to decrease, but this was probably not because of the CAG programme. CMHT costs were largely unchanged. There was no evidence that the CAG programme altered effectiveness or safety. Effects on waiting times varied but these were reduced in some cases. Overall, therefore, the CAG programme appeared to have had few effects on quality. We attributed this to the limited effect of the programme on individual treatment. Conclusions SLaM’s CAG programme had clear effects on service reconfiguration at team level, with high-level pathways changing the ways that managers conceptualised their work. However, our quantitative work indicated no clear effects on quality. Thinking about how to use care pathways in ways that complement ‘high-level’ pathways by supporting the delivery of evidence-based treatments is a strategy that could help SLaM and other providers. Future research should look at the genesis of organisational change and how this is altered through implementation; it should also look at the effectiveness of care pathways in mental health services

Integrated Care to Address the Physical Health Needs of People with Severe Mental Illness : A Mapping Review of the Recent Evidence on Barriers, Facilitators and Evaluations

People with mental health conditions have a lower life expectancy and poorer physical health outcomes than the general population. Evidence suggests this is due to a combination of clinical risk factors, socioeconomic factors, and health system factors, notably a lack of integration when care is required across service settings. Several recent reports have looked at ways to better integrate physical and mental health care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). We built on these by conducting a mapping review that looked for the most recent evidence and service models in this area. This involved searching the published literature and speaking to people involved in providing or using current services. Few of the identified service models were described adequately and fewer still were evaluated, raising questions about the replicability and generalisability of much of the existing evidence. However, some common themes did emerge. Efforts to improve the physical health care of people with SMI should empower staff and service users and help remove everyday barriers to delivering and accessing integrated care. In particular, there is a need for improved communication among professionals and better information technology to support them, greater clarity about who is responsible and accountable for physical health care, and greater awareness of the effects of stigmatisation on the wider culture and environment in which services are delivered

Integrated care to address the physical health needs of people with severe mental illness : a rapid review

Background People with mental health conditions have a lower life expectancy and poorer physical health outcomes than the general population. Evidence suggests that this discrepancy is driven by a combination of clinical risk factors, socioeconomic factors and health system factors. Objective(s) To explore current service provision and map the recent evidence on models of integrated care addressing the physical health needs of people with severe mental illness (SMI) primarily within the mental health service setting. The research was designed as a rapid review of published evidence from 2013–15, including an update of a comprehensive 2013 review, together with further grey literature and insights from an expert advisory group. Synthesis We conducted a narrative synthesis, using a guiding framework based on nine previously identified factors considered to be facilitators of good integrated care for people with mental health problems, supplemented by additional issues emerging from the evidence. Descriptive data were used to identify existing models, perceived facilitators and barriers to their implementation, and any areas for further research. Findings and discussion The synthesis incorporated 45 publications describing 36 separate approaches to integrated care, along with further information from the advisory group. Most service models were multicomponent programmes incorporating two or more of the nine factors: (1) information sharing systems; (2) shared protocols; (3) joint funding/commissioning; (4) colocated services; (5) multidisciplinary teams; (6) liaison services; (7) navigators; (8) research; and (9) reduction of stigma. Few of the identified examples were described in detail and fewer still were evaluated, raising questions about the replicability and generalisability of much of the existing evidence. However, some common themes did emerge from the evidence. Efforts to improve the physical health care of people with SMI should empower people (staff and service users) and help remove everyday barriers to delivering and accessing integrated care. In particular, there is a need for improved communication between professionals and better information technology to support them, greater clarity about who is responsible and accountable for physical health care, and awareness of the effects of stigmatisation on the wider culture and environment in which services are delivered. Limitations and future work The literature identified in the rapid review was limited in volume and often lacked the depth of description necessary to acquire new insights. All members of our advisory group were based in England, so this report has limited information on the NHS contexts specific to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A conventional systematic review of this topic would not appear to be appropriate in the immediate future, although a more interpretivist approach to exploring this literature might be feasible. Wherever possible, future evaluations should involve service users and be clear about which outcomes, facilitators and barriers are likely to be context-specific and which might be generalisable

Quitting patient care and career break intentions among general practitioners in South West England: findings of a census survey of general practitioners

Objective: Given recent concerns regarding general practitioner (GP) workforce capacity, we aimed to describe GPs’ career intentions, especially those which might impact on GP workforce availability over the next 5 years. Design: Census survey, conducted between April and June 2016 using postal and online responses , of all GPs on the National Health Service performers list and eligible to practise in primary care. Two reminders were used as necessary. Setting: South West England (population 3.5  million), a region with low overall socioeconomic deprivation. Participants: Eligible GPs were 2248 out of 3370 (67 % response rate). Main outcome measures: Reported likelihood of permanently leaving or reducing hours spent in direct patient care or of taking a career break within the next 5 years and present morale weighted for non-response. Results: Responders included 217 7 GPs engaged in patient care. Of these, 863 (37% weighted, 95%  CI 35 % to 39 %) reported a high likelihood of quitting direct patient care within the next 5 years. Overall, 1535 (70% weighted, 95%  CI 68 % to 72 %) respondents reported a career intention that would negatively impact GP workforce capacity over the next 5 years, through permanently leaving or reducing hours spent in direct patient care, or through taking a career break. GP age was an important predictor of career intentions; sharp increases in the proportion of GPs intending to quit patient care were evident from 52 years. Only 305 (14% weighted, 95%  CI 13 % to 16 %) reported high morale, while 1195 ( 54 % weighted, 95%  CI 52 % to 56 %) reported low morale. Low morale was particularly common among GP partners. Current morale strongly predicted GPs’ career intentions; those with very low morale were particularly likely to report intentions to quit patient care or to take a career break. Conclusions: A substantial majority of GPs in South West England report low morale. Many are considering career intentions which, if implemented, would adversely impact GP workforce capacity within a short time period. Study registration: NIHR HS&DR - 14/196/02, UKCRN ID 20700

Bangladeshi women's experiences of infant feeding in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

This study examined the main factors that influence Bangladeshi women living in London's decisions to partially breastfeed their children, including the influence of older women within the community. Fifty-seven women of Bangladeshi origin living in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets took part in seven discussion groups between April and June 2013. Five groups were held with women of child-bearing age and two groups with older women in the community. A further eight younger women and three older women took part in one-on-one interviews. Interviews were also carried out with eight local health care workers, including public health specialists, peer support workers, breastfeeding coordinators and a health visitor. The influences on women's infant feeding choices can be understood through a 'socio-ecological model', including public health policy; diverse cultural influences from Bangladesh, London and the Bangladeshi community in London; and the impacts of migration and religious and family beliefs. The women's commitment to breastfeeding was mediated through the complexity of their everyday lives. The tension between what was 'best' and what was 'possible' leads them not only to partially breastfeed but also to sustain partial breastfeeding in a way not seen in other socio-cultural groups in the United Kingdom

New Horizons in the use of routine data for ageing research

The past three decades have seen a steady increase in the availability of routinely collected health and social care data and the processing power to analyse it. These developments represent a major opportunity for ageing research, especially with the integration of different datasets across traditional boundaries of health and social care, for prognostic research and novel evaluations of interventions with representative populations of older people. However, there are considerable challenges in using routine data at the level of coding, data analysis and in the application of findings to everyday care. New Horizons in applying routine data to investigate novel questions in ageing research require a collaborative approach between clinicians, data scientists, biostatisticians, epidemiologists and trial methodologists. This requires building capacity for the next generation of research leaders in this important area. There is a need to develop consensus code lists and standardised, validated algorithms for common conditions and outcomes that are relevant for older people to maximise the potential of routine data research in this group. Lastly, we must help drive the application of routine data to improve the care of older people, through the development of novel methods for evaluation of interventions using routine data infrastructure. We believe that harnessing routine data can help address knowledge gaps for older people living with multiple conditions and frailty, and design interventions and pathways of care to address the complex health issues we face in caring for older people

Dissimilarity of the gut-lung axis and dysbiosis of the lower airways in ventilated preterm infants

Background: Chronic lung disease of prematurity (CLD), also called bronchopulmonary dysplasia, is a major consequence of preterm birth but the role of the microbiome in its development remains unclear. We, therefore, assessed the progression of the bacterial community in ventilated preterm infants over time in the upper and lower airways, and assessed the gut-lung axis by comparing the upper and lower airways bacterial communities with the stool findings. Finally, we assessed if the bacterial communities were associated with lung inflammation to suggest dysbiosis. Methods: We serially sampled multiple anatomical sites including the upper airway (nasopharyngeal aspirates, NPA), lower airways (tracheal aspirate fluid, TAF, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, BAL) and the gut (stool) of ventilated preterm-born infants. Bacterial DNA load was measured in all samples and sequenced using the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene Results: From 1,102 (539 NPA, 276 TAF, 89 BAL, 198 stool) samples from 55 preterm infants, 352 (32%) amplified suitably for 16s RNA gene sequencing. Bacterial load was low at birth, quickly increased with time but was associated with predominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in all sample types. There was dissimilarity in bacterial communities between the upper and lower airways and the gut with a separate dysbiotic inflammatory process occurring in the lower airways of infants. Individual OTUs were associated with increased inflammatory markers. Conclusions: Taken together, these findings suggest that targeted treatment of the predominant organisms, including those not routinely treated such as Ureaplasma spp., may decrease the development of CLD in preterm-born infants