Publications

NHS England have given patients access to their electronic medical records.

The intention behind online access is to give patients greater control of their health, while making care more efficient and helping reduce general practice workload.

We wanted to understand the consequences of patient online access to their health records in primary care, especially as some of these consequences may have been unintended.

Premature birth is the main cause of brain injury and cerebral palsy in babies. Evidence shows that babies can be protected from brain injury by giving magnesium sulfate to women who are at risk of premature birth.

In 2014 University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW), in collaboration with the West of England Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), developed a programme to increase the use of magnesium sulfate. The programme, called PReCePT (Prevention of cerebral palsy in pre-term labour) was piloted in other NHS trusts after its initial success at UHBW.

We evaluated the implementation of the PReCePT programme in maternity units across the West of England.

In England, patients who attend emergency departments (A&E) five or more times a year represent 2 per cent of attendees but account for 11 per cent of attendances. These patients are known as ‘high impact users’.

The West of England Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) programme ‘Supporting high impact users in emergency departments’ (SHarED) supported six emergency departments in the region to introduce personalised care plans for high impact users.

We analysed whether patients enrolled in SHarED changed their use of emergency department attendance compared to other high impact users.

In this edition: Improving management of high impact users in ED; Understanding mechanisms to manage air quality; Mike Bell’s retirement blog; Black Maternity Matters pilot evaluation; Plus much more

Online consultation tools allowing patients to contact their GP have unintended consequences that put some patients at a disadvantage and create additional work for general practice staff.

NHS England has required all GP practices to provide online consultations – where patients submit their symptoms via an online form – since April 2020.

We wanted to understand the consequences of using online consultation tools in primary care, especially as some of them may have been unintended or unforeseen.

Vital work from across the ARCs in response to the pandemic is showcased in NIHR ARCs: Supporting the fight against COVID-19, including ARC West projects.

The publication brings together case studies demonstrating how ARCs pivoted their research programmes in response to the pandemic. It showcases work across a range of themes including children and young people, care homes, equality and diversity, end of life care and workforce planning.

In this edition: John Macleod gets cosmic in his latest blog; New publication shows how ARCs rose to the challenge of COVID; New impact and implementation training; New PPI impact log; Plus much more

Balancing demand for beds and other resources is a challenge for many hospitals. Hospitals can plan care more effectively if forecasting is improved. To forecast both long and short-term demand North Bristol Trust, which runs Southmead Hospital, looks at demand in previous years to forecast for the future. We wanted to compare the forecasting tool already used by the Trust with a new, more accurate forecasting model.

In this edition: Evaluating PReCePT to prevent cerebral palsy; Rapid STI testing evaluation; Testing rates for routine blood tests; Workshop explores co-production in implementation; Plus much more

In this edition: Unintended consequences of patient online access to health records; ReSPECT care plan empowers care home residents; New PTSD resources for young people; Plus much more