Searching for the true attrition rate of UK paediatric trainees.

OBJECTIVE: To quantitatively analyse the number of doctors leaving the paediatric specialty training (ST) programme in the UK, to assist with evidence-based workforce planning. DESIGN: Data were sought on those leaving the UK paediatrics training programme between 2014 and 2019 from Heads of Schools of Paediatrics and Freedom of Information Act requests. SETTING: Retrospective data analysis. OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall attrition rate, attrition rate across level of training, attrition rate across geographical area, recorded reason for leaving. RESULTS: All results must be interpreted with caution due to limitations in record keeping and analysis. The annual attrition rate across all ST levels between 2014 and 2019 is estimated at 3.7%-4.2% (ie, 749-845 trainees may have left the paediatric training programme over 2014-2019). No reason for leaving was recorded for three-quarters of individuals, around 630 doctors. Of those leaving paediatrics, significantly more (χ², p=0.015) did so at ST3 (20.3%) versus the next highest training year, ST2 (13.6%). CONCLUSIONS: This project seems to demonstrate worryingly poor record-keeping of the true attrition rate of paediatric trainees by organisations responsible for workforce planning, including Health Education England, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and individual paediatric schools across the UK. To allow evidence-based workforce planning for the benefit of UK children, it is vital that accurate records on trainees who leave the training programme are kept and shared across the UK.

Fundação pública de direito privado / Public foundation of private law

Muitas alternativas de gestão de unidades públicas de saúde têm sido discutidas com o objetivo de aumentar a eficiência destas e garantir melhorias no atendimento e serviços prestados à população em geral. Dentre os diversos modelos de gerência atualmente em voga, como opção à administração direta tem-se: Fundações Públicas de direito público e as de direito privado, Autarquia, Consórcio Público, Empresa Estatal, vínculos paraestatais e de colaboração, Organização Social (OS), Organização da Sociedade Civil de Interesse Público (OSCIP) e Fundação de Apoio.

Many alternatives for the management of public health units have been discussed with the objective of increasing their efficiency and ensuring improvements in care and services provided to the general population. Among the various management models currently in vogue, as an option for direct administration are: Public Foundations of public law and those of private law, Municipality, Public Consortium, State Company, parastate and collaborative links, Social Organization (OS), Civil Society Organization of Public Interest (OSCIP) and Support Foundation.

Shocks, stress and everyday health system resilience: experiences from the Kenyan coast.

Health systems are faced with a wide variety of challenges. As complex adaptive systems, they respond differently and sometimes in unexpected ways to these challenges. We set out to examine the challenges experienced by the health system at a sub-national level in Kenya, a country that has recently undergone rapid devolution, using an 'everyday resilience' lens. We focussed on chronic stressors, rather than acute shocks in examining the responses and organizational capacities underpinning those responses, with a view to contributing to the understanding of health system resilience. We drew on learning and experiences gained through working with managers using a learning site approach over the years. We also collected in-depth qualitative data through informal observations, reflective meetings and in-depth interviews with middle-level managers (sub-county and hospital) and peripheral facility managers (n = 29). We analysed the data using a framework approach. Health managers reported a wide range of health system stressors related to resource scarcity, lack of clarity in roles and political interference, reduced autonomy and human resource management. The health managers adopted absorptive, adaptive and transformative strategies but with mixed effects on system functioning. Everyday resilience seemed to emerge from strategies enacted by managers drawing on a varying combination of organizational capacities depending on the stressor and context.

Simulating the council-specific impact of anti-malaria interventions: A tool to support malaria strategic planning in Tanzania.

INTRODUCTION: The decision-making process for malaria control and elimination strategies has become more challenging. Interventions need to be targeted at council level to allow for changing malaria epidemiology and an increase in the number of possible interventions. Models of malaria dynamics can support this process by simulating potential impacts of multiple interventions in different settings and determining appropriate packages of interventions for meeting specific expected targets. METHODS: The OpenMalaria model of malaria dynamics was calibrated for all 184 councils in mainland Tanzania using data from malaria indicator surveys, school parasitaemia surveys, entomological surveillance, and vector control deployment data. The simulations were run for different transmission intensities per region and five interventions, currently or potentially included in the National Malaria Strategic Plan, individually and in combination. The simulated prevalences were fitted to council specific prevalences derived from geostatistical models to obtain council specific predictions of the prevalence and number of cases between 2017 and 2020. The predictions were used to evaluate in silico the feasibility of the national target of reaching a prevalence of below 1% by 2020, and to suggest alternative intervention stratifications for the country. RESULTS: The historical prevalence trend was fitted for each council with an agreement of 87% in 2016 (95%CI: 0.84-0.90) and an agreement of 90% for the historical trend (2003-2016) (95%CI: 0.87-0.93) The current national malaria strategy was expected to reduce the malaria prevalence between 2016 and 2020 on average by 23.8% (95% CI: 19.7%-27.9%) if current case management levels were maintained, and by 52.1% (95% CI: 48.8%-55.3%) if the case management were improved. Insecticide treated nets and case management were the most cost-effective interventions, expected to reduce the prevalence by 25.0% (95% CI: 19.7%-30.2) and to avert 37 million cases between 2017 and 2020. Mass drug administration was included in most councils in the stratification selected for meeting the national target at minimal costs, expected to reduce the prevalence by 77.5% (95%CI: 70.5%-84.5%) and to avert 102 million cases, with almost twice higher costs than those of the current national strategy. In summary, the model suggested that current interventions are not sufficient to reach the national aim of a prevalence of less than 1% by 2020 and a revised strategic plan needs to consider additional, more effective interventions, especially in high transmission areas and that the targets need to be revisited. CONCLUSION: The methodology reported here is based on intensive interactions with the NMCP and provides a helpful tool for assessing the feasibility of country specific targets and for determining which intervention stratifications at sub-national level will have most impact. This country-led application could support strategic planning of malaria control in many other malaria endemic countries.

An evaluation of a training intervention to support the use of evidence in healthcare commissioning in England.

AIM: Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England are responsible for the health of their populations through the services they provide, yet we know that the use of evidence to inform commissioning decisions is low. A programme of training in seven CCGs in England was instigated in a joint piece of work by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care and Academic Health Science Network in the West of England, to help build an evidence informed culture in commissioning. METHODS: Evidence workshops were delivered in each of the seven CCGs in the West of England by an experienced senior lecturer (the author) and local healthcare librarians. The workshop was developed by the author and an information scientist and included guidance and demonstration of a systematic evidence search covering both traditional and grey literature, and a brief look at quality of evidence including a critical appraisal activity. Participants were asked to evaluate the workshop on the day and to indicate an intended action they would take as a result of the workshop; a short follow-up interview was carried out with a sample of participants between 3 and 6 months later, to identify any longer term impact of the training. RESULTS: A total of 63 staff in a variety of commissioning-related roles attended the workshops between March and September 2016. 95% rated the workshop overall as either 'excellent' or 'good'. Of particular value was the involvement of the local healthcare librarian, helping to promote their expertise and services; and the discussion of grey literature as a valuable source of evidence. A variety of intended actions as a result of the training included initiating a thorough search for evidence for new projects, use of bibliographic databases, and making use of local library services for evidence searching. Follow-up interviews with nine staff revealed a positive impact in the longer-term. This ranged from simply triggering an interest in using evidence, boosting motivation and sharing information with colleagues; to changes in processes such as broadening the responsibility for finding and filtering evidence for business cases; to one clear case of financial savings resulting from a search for evidence by a senior commissioning manager. CONCLUSION: Offering short, interactive training workshops is valued by healthcare commissioners and can make a difference to their approach to and use of evidence in decision-making. There is a need for a flexible approach to the concept of evidence in healthcare commissioning, which includes the use of grey literature, and training can encourage and support the systematic search for an appraisal of this type of evidence. Tools for improving and sustaining this aspect of evidence use by commissioners are included here.

Scaling up an Empirically Supported Intervention with Long-Term Outcomes: the Nationwide Implementation of GenerationPMTO in Norway.

Effective implementation outcomes are necessary preconditions for effective service and positive treatment outcomes for children with behavioral problems. The aim of this study is to assess outcomes of the transfer of the empirically supported intervention GenerationPMTO from the developer in the USA to a nationwide implementation in Norway. Adoption, sustainability, reach, and fidelity are tested across seven generations of therapists in Norway. Participants in the study were 521 therapists who began training in the program. The developer's team trained the first generation (G1) and the Norwegian team trained the next six generations (G2-G7). The mean rate of certification was 94.2% (n = 491). Intervention fidelity was assessed from 1964 video recordings of intervention sessions submitted for certification evaluation using the observation-based measure Fidelity of Implementation Rating System (FIMP). A small but significant drop in fidelity scores was previously observed from G1 to G2; however, fidelity scores recovered at or above G1 scores for G3 Forgatch and DeGarmo (Prevention Science 12, 235-246, 2011). Twenty years since the inception of implementation, 314 certified therapists practice the model today, a retention rate of 64%. The outcomes show sustained fidelity scores across seven generations, increasing heterogeneity among therapists trained, and a shift of focus in the target population from clinical to primary services. The present study contributes to the field with the systematic evaluation of outcomes for the full transfer implementation approach with continuing adoption and sustainability, increasing reach and sustained intervention fidelity across several generations of practitioners.

Scaling up Evidence-Based Interventions in US Public Systems to Prevent Behavioral Health Problems: Challenges and Opportunities.

A number of programs, policies, and practices have been tested using rigorous scientific methods and shown to prevent behavioral health problems (Catalano et al., Lancet 379:1653-1664, 2012; National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009). Yet these evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are not widely used in public systems, and they have limited reach (Glasgow et al., American Journal of Public Health 102:1274-1281, 2012; National Research Council and Institute of Medicine 2009; Prinz and Sanders, Clinical Psychology Review 27:739-749, 2007). To address this challenge and improve public health and well-being at a population level, the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) formed the Mapping Advances in Prevention Science (MAPS) IV Translation Research Task Force, which considered ways to scale up EBIs in five public systems: behavioral health, child welfare, education, juvenile justice, and public health. After reviewing other efforts to scale up EBIs in public systems, a common set of factors were identified as affecting scale-up in all five systems. The most important factor was the degree to which these systems enacted public policies (i.e., statutes, regulations, and guidance) requiring or recommending EBIs and provided public funds for EBIs. Across systems, other facilitators of scale-up were creating EBIs that are ready for scale-up, public awareness of and support for EBIs, community engagement and capacity to implement EBIs, leadership support for EBIs, a skilled workforce capable of delivering EBIs, and data monitoring and evaluation capacity. It was concluded that the following actions are needed to significantly increase EBI scale-up in public systems: (1) provide more public policies and funding to support the creation, testing, and scaling up of EBIs; (2) develop and evaluate specific frameworks that address systems level barriers impeding EBI scale-up; and (3) promote public support for EBIs, community capacity to implement EBIs at scale, and partnerships between community stakeholders, policy makers, practitioners, and scientists within and across systems.

[The changing trend of capacity on policy implementation related to the prevention and control of chronic non-communicable disease at the provincial level, from 2011 to 2017].

Objective: To assess the follow-up situstion and changes of policies related to the prevention and control on chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), in various provinces from 2011 to 2017. Methods: Three national assessment programs on the prevention and control capacity of NCDs were carried out from September 2012 to March 2013, September 2014 to March 2015, and July to November 2018 respectively. Data related to the capacity on policy implementation among the 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipality directly under the central government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, were collected through online surveys. Results: The rate of data collection in all the provinces reached 100%, for all three surveys. In 2011, 2013, and 2017, the capacity for policy development special funding was distributed for prevention and control NCDs under the provincial fiscal revenue by 27 provinces (84.4%), 26 provinces (81.3%) and 25 provinces (78.1%), and the numbers of provincial governments leaders attended the local activities related to prevention and control NCDs was 15 (46.9%), 13 (40.6%) and 19(59.4%), respectively. From 2009 to 2011, 14 (43.8%) proposals related to the topics on prevention and control of NCDs, were raised at the provincial People's Congress and Political Consultative Conference, while from 2011 to 2013 and2014 to 2017, 13 (40.6%) and 12 (37.5%) were respectively raised. In terms of capacity for policy development, numbers of provincial comprehensive plan which targeting prevention and control of NCDs reached 6 (18.8%), 20 (62.5%) and 27 (84.4%) in 2011, 2013, and 2017 respectively. In 2011, 2013 and 2017, numbers of provincial special plans that targeting on NCDs or the risk factors of NCDs prevention and control were 0, 1, and 3, respectively. Conclusions: Under the continuous introduction of international and national policies related to prevention and control on NCDs, capacity for policy formulation in various provinces has been greatly improved. However, a slight progress has been made in the capacity for policy making. The increase of capacity building on policy making regarding prevention and control of NCDs, at the provincial government level, has become a key issue.

[Assessment on the capacity for prevention and control programs for chronic non-communicable diseases in China, in 2014].

Objective: To assess the capacity of prevention and control on chronic non- communicable diseases (NCDs) in China. Methods: On-line questionnaire survey was adopted by 3 395 CDCs at provincial, municipal and county (district) levels and 3 000 primary health care units, and assess on capacity of policy, infrastructure, capacity of training and guidance, cooperation, surveillance, intervention and management, assessment and scientific research from September 2014 to March 2015. Results: (1) Capacity of policy: 23 (71.9%) provincial, 139 (40.6%) municipal and 919 (31.2%) county (district) governments or health administrative departments had existing plans for prevention and control of NCDs. (2) Capacity of infrastructure: 25 (78.1%) provincial, 136 (39.8%) municipal and 529 (18.0%) county (district) CDCs had set up departments dedicated to the prevention and control of NCDs, with 9 787 staff members, accounting for 5.0% of the total CDC personnel, working on NCDs prevention and control programs. 68.1% of the CDCs had special funding set for NCDs prevention and control. (3) Capacity of training and guidance: 2 485 CDCs (74.9%) held all kinds of training on prevention and control of NCDs. 2 571 (87.3%) CDCs at the county (district) level provided technical guidance for primary health care units. (4) Capacity of cooperation: 42.0% of the CDCs had experiences collaborating with the mass media. (5) Capacity of surveillance: 73.8% of the CDCs had set up programs for death registration while less than 50.0% of the CDCs had implemented surveillance programs on major NCDs and related risk factors. In terms of primary health care units, 32.4% of them had set up reporting system for newly developed stroke case and 29.9% of them having programs on myocardial infarction case reporting. (6) Capacity of intervention and management: 69.1% and 68.2% of the CDCs conducted individualized intervention programs on hypertension and diabetes, while less than 40.0% CDCs conducting intervention programs on other NCDs and risk factors. More than 90.0% of the primary health care units carried out follow-up surveys on hypertension and diabetes. However, only 17.4% and 13.7% of the CDCs working on hypertension and diabetes patient management programs while 83.7% and 80.4%, of them following the standardized guidelines for management, with successful rates of control as 59.2% and 55.2%, respectively. (7) Capacity of assessment: 32.4% of the CDCs or health administrations carried out evaluation programs related to the responses on NCDs. (8) Capacity of scientific research: the capacity on scientific research among provincial CDCs was apparently higher than that at the municipal or county (district) CDCs. Conclusions: Compared with the results of previous two surveys, the capacity on policies set for the prevention and control programs improved continuously, at all level NCDs, but remained relatively weak, especially at both county (district) and primary health care units.

Utilisation of the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant in NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups across England: a freedom of information investigation.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the extent to which National Health Service (NHS) service providers appoint a named Armed Forces veteran lead or champion, and to explore the commissioning of veteran-specific services by Clinical Commissioning Groups. DESIGN: A convergent mixed method design was used to improve understanding obtained from the information provided by respondents on their practice. The study comprised two parts: phase 1 involved NHS Trusts, and phase 2 involved Clinical Commissioning Groups. SETTING: All NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups in England were contacted using a freedom of information request. PARTICIPANTS: All NHS trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups across England. INTERVENTIONS: Initially, existing national websites were searched to gather information within the public domain. An audit was carried out, using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 to gather further information. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The FOIA 2000 applies to UK Government departments and public authorities, including NHS Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. RESULTS: Responses from the freedom of information requests illustrate inconsistencies in relation to adopting the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. The inconsistencies extend to the practice of appointing an Armed Forces Veteran Lead or an Armed Forces Veteran Champion. There is also evidence to suggest a lack of commitment to and understanding of policy guidance in relation to Clinical Commissioning Group responsibility for commissioning veteran-specific services. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study support the case for making improvements to, and improving the consistency of, commissioning practices for veterans.

Intermediary/purveyor organizations for evidence-based interventions in the US child mental health: characteristics and implementation strategies.

BACKGROUND: Many psychosocial interventions are disseminated and supported by organizations, termed "Intermediary/Purveyor Organizations" (IPOs). Because IPOs remain largely unstudied, we lack understanding of their scale and the strategies they utilize. The role and function of organizations that link resource systems with user systems, such as IPOs, have been identified as an important but understudied issue in implementation science. The objectives of this paper are to describe features of IPOs that disseminate evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for child behavioral health and identify the strategies they use to support their implementation. METHODS: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) listed 119 unique IPOs for the 127 child behavioral health EBIs listed on its website. Data characterizing each organization were drawn from NREPP and GuideStar profiles. From 119 unique IPOs identified, we found contact information for 108. We sent an electronic survey to capture additional organizational information and implementation strategies the IPOs employed in spreading the EBIs; response rate was 50%. Data are presented descriptively and analyzed using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and Latent Class Analysis (LCA). RESULTS: Virtually all identified EBIs had an IPO. IPOs train individuals, organizations, and communities and provide supervision for the use of EBIs. About 20% of IPOs trained at large scale, some training 500-1000+ providers annually. IPOs reported using an average of 32 distinct strategies to implement their EBIs, with most using educational, planning, and quality improvement strategies. However, there was little convergence around strategy helpfulness. The only significant predictor of number of strategies used by an IPO was the NREPP-posted implementation readiness score of the intervention. LCA revealed that IPOs either used several implementation strategies or used very few. CONCLUSIONS: Findings add significantly to knowledge about IPO structure, scale, and function. They use numerous and varying implementation strategies but report little consensus in what works. The study advances methods for measuring and characterizing real-world implementation by demonstrating the feasibility of using a common nomenclature, per a published compilation and of LCA for data reduction in characterizing profiles of implementation approaches.

Componentes esenciales de organizaciones sanitarias culturalmente competentes: revisión de la literatura / Essential components of culturally competent health organizations: review of the literature

El número de personas migrantes a nivel internacional ha ascendido en todo el mundo, alcanzando actualmente los 244 millones de personas. Este dato representa un 3,3 % de la población mundial. Los estudios muestran mayores tasas de enfermedad, invalidez, muerte y una atención de menor calidad en las personas inmigrantes. El énfasis para mejorar la atención a la diversidad cultural ha estado normalmente en la capacitación de los profesiones, con menos protagonismo del estudio de las organizaciones en las que estos trabajan. Se llevó a cabo una revisión narrativa de la literatura con el objetivo de identificar tanto las características que deberían tener las organizaciones sanitarias para ser culturalmente competentes, como posibles acciones de mejora para proporcionar un cuidado de calidad atendiendo a la diversidad cultural. La literatura muestra que para ser culturalmente competentes las organizaciones deben incluir cinco aspectos: el compromiso organizacional con la diversidad, la existencia de gestores que promuevan acciones enfocadas a la diversidad cultural, el mantenimiento de registros de datos de la población a la que dan cobertura, la presencia de personal diverso trabajando en ellas y la garantía del mantenimiento de una comunicación culturalmente competente. Identificar estos componentes puede ayudar a las organizaciones a analizar sus estructuras y funcionamiento y así planificar acciones que ayuden a reducir las disparidades étnicas, mejorar la calidad de los cuidados, satisfacer las necesidades sociales, culturales y lingüísticas de los pacientes, promover la integración de las personas en el sistema sanitario y finalmente contribuir a la equidad en salud.

The number of international migrants has risen throughout the world, reaching currently 244 million people. This figure represents 3.3% of the world population. Studies show higher rates of illness, disability, death and lower quality care for immigrants. Health professionals and their cultural competency has usually been the focus on research when discussing about cultural diversity care, with less attention paid to the organization in which they work. A narrative review of the literature was carried out aiming at identifying both the characteristics that health organizations should have in order to be culturally competent, and possible improvement actions to provide quality care in response to cultural diversity. The literature shows that in order to be culturally competent, organizations must include five aspects: the organizational commitment to diversity, the existence of managers that promote actions focused on cultural diversity, the maintenance of data records of the population they cover, the presence of diverse personnel working in them and the guarantee of the maintenance of a culturally competent communication. Identifying these components can help organizations to analyze their structures and functioning and thus plan actions that help reduce ethnic disparities in the care that they provide, improve the quality of care, meet social, cultural and linguistic needs of patients, promote the integration of people in the health system and finally contribute to health equity.

Advantages and disadvantages of channeling Gavi's health system strengthening funds through health partners, a case study.

INTRODUCTION: Following a period of interruption of Gavi's funds for health system strengthening (HSS) in Cameroon and Chad, the two countries reprogramed their HSS grants. To implement the reprogrammed HSS, Chad committed to better management of the funds. Cameroon chose to channel the HSS funds through one of the health partners. This process is new to Gavi's HSS grants, and little is known about its effectiveness or characteristics. We investigated the advantages and disadvantages of this process to inform the global health community about the added value of this solution. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated Gavi's HSS programs in Cameroon and Chad through a mixed methodology. To explore the pros and cons of channeling the funds through a health partner, we triangulated data from document review, key informant interviews (KIIs), field visits, and financial analysis of HSS expenditures in both countries. RESULTS: Data triangulated from multiple sources showed that channeling HSS funds thorugh a health partner in Cameroon allowed compliance with budget, the development of a stronger accounting system at the Ministry of Health (MOH), and a rigid monitoring system. However, this mechanism delayed implementation by six months, accounted for 15% of the total cost, and created a tension around roles between MOH and the health partner. Achievement of program's output indicators was average. In Chad, expenditures complied with budget as well. However, implementation was delayed longer causing a second reprogramming of the funds. While the program had fewer output indicators in Chad, these were minimally achieved. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study of channeling Gavi HSS funds through a health partner. This new process contributed to a higher level of implementation, stronger monitoring, and strengthened accountability in Cameroon. Recipient countries of Gavi HSS grants who lack the financial management capacity can benefit from a similar process.

Evaluación de la calidad de la atención en un Centro de Hipertensión Arterial de un Hospital Universitario / EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF CARE IN AN ARTERIAL HYPERTENSIVE CENTER FROM AN UNIVERSITARY HOSPITAL

de la hipótesis de que la creación de un área específica para la atención integrada e integral del paciente hipertenso facilitaría el diagnóstico y control de esta patología y mejoraría la calidad de atención, se implementó esta estrategia asistencial en 2015 con la construcción y puesta en funcionamiento de un Centro de Hipertensión Arterial (CHTA). Luego de dos años de funcionamiento, para comprobar nuestra hipótesis evaluamos el grado de satisfacción en la atención administrativa, médica y edilicia de los pacientes hipertensos asistidos en este Centro y comparamos las respuestas con un modelo clásico de atención en consultorio externo dentro del Hospital Central (HC).. Material y Métodos. Se realizó un estudio prospectivo utilizando como instrumento de medición una encuesta anónima, no obligatoria. Se entregó para su respuesta a los pacientes que debían realizarse estudios para el diagnóstico o control de su presión arterial luego de ser evaluados por el cardiólogo tanto a los asistidos en el CHTA como a los de Consultorio externo en el Hospital Central (HC) Resultados. Completaron la encuesta 393 pacientes (244 correspondientes al CHTA y 149 del HC) durante el período comprendido entre Febrero y Abril de 2016. Demostramos una mayor satisfacción y percepción de mejor calidad de atención en los pacientes del CTHA comparado con el HC. La diferencia fue estadísticamente significativa Conclusión. La calidad de la atención ofrecida en un Centro de Hipertensión Arterial demostró ser superior a la que se brinda a los pacientes hipertensos en HC. Se comprobó una mejor percepción de la atención a nivel administrativo, médico y edilicio. La creación de estos centros multidisciplinarios contribuye a la mejora de la calidad asistencial del paciente hipertenso.

This is an experience on the evaluation of the quality of care in an Artery Hypertension Center (AHC) from an Universitary Hospital (CH). Since the hypothesis that the creation of a specific area for an integral care and the effectiveness achieved in hypertensive patients, would facilitate the diagnosis and control of this pathology, and simultaneously will improve the quality of assistance, it was instituted the functioning of an Artery Hypertension Center. A prospective study showed a better health behavior in the quality of life of the hypertensive patients from the AHC compared with those treated in the CH. The conclusions were based on cost effectiveness analysis that observed a well-managed care which achieved a better health behavior in the patients from the health center

Commissioning of specialist palliative care services in England.

OBJECTIVES: Some failures in end-of-life care have been attributed to inconsistent provision of palliative care across England. We aimed to explore the variation in commissioning of services by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) using a data collection exercise. METHODS: We sent a Freedom of Information request in the form of an open questionnaire to all 209 CCGs in England to assess their commissioning of palliative and end-of-life care services, mainly focused on the provision of specialist palliative care services. RESULTS: 29 CCGs provided information about the number of patients with some form of palliative care needs in their population. For specialist palliative care services, CCGs allocated budgets ranging from £51.83 to £2329.19 per patient per annum. 163 CCGs (77.90%) currently commission 7-day admission to their specialist palliative care beds. 82.84% of CCGs commission 7-day specialist palliative care services in patients' own homes and out-of-hours services rely heavily on hospice provision. 64 CCGs (31.37%) commission pain control teams, the majority of whom only operate in regular working hours. 68.14% of CCGs reported commissioning palliative care education of any sort for healthcare professionals and 44.85% of CCGs had no plans to update or review their palliative care services. CONCLUSIONS: The most important finding from this exercise is that the information CCGs hold about their population and services is not standardised. However, information based on data that are more objective, for example, population and total budget for palliative care, demonstrate wide variations in commissioning.