Memory clinics are becoming more widespread in the UK and elsewhere. They offer assessment, support, information and advice to people with memory problems and their carers. GPs will often refer patients to memory clinics if they feel that they may be in the early stages of dementia, but need an assessment before a diagnosis can [read the full story…]
Many children suffer from disruptive behaviour or anxiety disorders, but access to care for this group is notoriously poor because there are so many barriers to receiving help. Psychotherapy takes time and there remains a lack of funding and a dearth of trained professionals to deliver quality care. Added to this is the stigma experienced [read the full story…]
Around 20% of people on medical wards in hospital are affected by delirium. Sometimes called ‘acute confusional state’, delirium is a common clinical syndrome characterised by disturbed consciousness, cognitive function or perception, which has an acute onset and fluctuating course. NICE issued guidance on delirium in July 2010 and they have now published an evidence [read the full story…]
NICE guidance recommends that all people who self-harm and are admitted to hospital are given mental health and risk assessment: Everyone who has self-harmed should have a comprehensive assessment of needs and risk; engaging the service user is a prerequisite. – Taken from NICE Self-harm guidance (CG16), Nov 2004 This new prospective cohort study conducted [read the full story…]
NICE guidance recommends offering CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), family therapy and arts therapies for people with schizophrenia: Offer CBT to all people with schizophrenia. This can be started either during the acute phase or later, including in inpatient settings. – Taken from 1.3.4.1 in Schizophrenia (CG82). NICE, March 2009. However, CBT is still not widely [read the full story…]
The majority of studies about depression measure outcomes using a scale such as the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (PDF), which is a questionnaire that patients complete with a health professional. This new randomised controlled trial by researchers from the Arkin Institute for Mental Health in Amsterdam uses the Hamilton Depression Scale, but is also measures social [read the full story…]
The Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework enables commissioners to reward excellence by linking a proportion of providers’ income to the achievement of local quality improvement goals. The framework aims to embed quality within commissioner-provider discussions and to create a culture of continuous quality improvement, with stretching goals agreed in contracts on an [read the full story…]
Today’s blog comes courtesy of my friend and yours, the Lifestyle Elf: “Mr Watson, come here, I want you”. These are the first intelligble words transmitted over a telephone, by Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant, back in 1876. Nowadays, any observer of ears in the street will see a large proportion attached to mobiles; [read the full story…]
There is an enormous body of research concerned with schizophrenia and the use of antipsychotic drugs. A quick search on PubMed for ‘schizophrenia, antipsychotics and randomised controlled trials’ brings back nearly 2,000 articles! The authors of a new systematic review and meta analysis published today in the Lancet, suggest that one area that has not [read the full story…]
There is a clear need for specialist assessment and care for older people who self-harm, according to two papers published in the May issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers from the University of Manchester studied 1,177 people over the age of 60 who were admitted to six general hospitals in Oxford, Manchester and Derby [read the full story…]
