Publications

In this edition: The Best of CLAHRC West; Lack of evidence in guidelines for monitoring chronic diseases; GPs should not use inflammatory marker tests to rule out serious conditions

The 3D study was the largest ever trial of an intervention for people with multimorbidity, with 1,546 patients recruited. It was a randomised control trial, the best test of any medical intervention. It evaluated a patient-centred intervention, the 3D approach, to improve how GP practices manage and care for patients with multimorbidity.

Overcoming Barriers is a short film exploring perceptions of autism in the Somali community and the experiences of parents accessing support for their children. Their stories are interwoven with the perspectives of professionals from health, social care and education who support these families.

We reviewed the literature to identify the factors influencing whether a patient will develop urinary retention and what can be done to prevent and treat it.

The Cluster Randomized Trial of PSA Testing for Prostate Cancer (CAP) study aimed to see if inviting men to have a single PSA blood test would reduce the number of men dying from prostate cancer.

Some clinical commissioning groups have already brought in full or partial bans on GPs prescribing gluten-free foods to people with coeliac disease, and the Department of Health and Social Care has introduced policies to limit prescriptions to certain gluten-free items. The overall aim of this study was to investigate the potential impact of policy changes on patients and NHS spending.

NHS England is investing £45 million in implementing online consultation systems in GP practices, aiming to improve patient access to health advice and reduce the use of face-to-face GP appointments. We evaluated eConsult, a web-based platform that patients access from their GP practice’s website.

Forty-seven per cent of women attending sexual health services will have experienced domestic violence and abuse (DVA) at some point in their lives. Most sexual health professionals haven’t had much training in identifying and responding to DVA.

Many homeless people drink heavily and don’t eat enough. Advice on preventing malnutrition is often unsuitable for homeless people, who have no cooking facilities and little money. To find the best way to tackle this problem, we reviewed the findings of research studies on this topic.

Services for children who are exposed to domestic violence and abuse are vital, but our researchers have found that there is little evidence for what support works best.