We’ve been receiving a flurry of e-mails recently detailing lots of library opening times over Christmas, as usual we will be shut on the 25th – 28th December 2009 and 1st January 2010.  Any other time (if it’s a week day) somebody will be about the place somewhere!  If you are working in the NHS elsewhere in the North Westyou can find out if your local health library is open here.

So while we remember, here’s hoping you have a cool yule….

Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2010 (Volume 67 Number 1)

Fade Fave: Lung function and indicators of exposure to indoor and outdoor particulate matter among asthma and COPD patients

Fade Skinny: Finds no consistent associations between lung function and 24 h average particle number or particle mass concentrations were found in panels of patients with mild to moderate COPD or asthma. More detailed exposure assessment did not change the observed associations.

(NHS Athens is required to access this article online)

Title: Key messages for ovarian cancer for health professionals

Skinny: Key messages on ovarian cancer for health professionals to support early diagnosis and better progress for patients.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 5p.

Published: 23/12/2009

Title: PALS in prison: a toolkit and good practice guidance for implementing Patient Advice and Liaison Services in a secure setting

Skinny: Toolkit and good practice guidance for commissioners and providers of healthcare in the criminal or youth justice sectors, covering the implementation of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service in a secure setting.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 30p.

Published: 23/12/2009

Title: An overview of the new arrangements under Part IX of the Drug Tariff for the provision of stoma and urology appliances, and related services, in primary care

Skinny: Looks at provision for new essential services to be provided by all pharmacies and appliance contractors including emergency supply of appliances at the request of the prescriber and when supplying certain appliances, a home delivery service, provision of wipes and disposal bags and provision of specialist advice. Appliance contractors will also be able to offer repeat dispensing and will be required to operate a system of clinical governance, similar to pharmacies.

SI 2009 No. 3340. National Health Service, England. The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Appliances) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 makes the provisions for new advanced services to be offered by appliance contractors and pharmacies who choose to provide them. The advance services include customisation of stoma appliances and appliance use reviews.

Changes to the Drug Tariff from 1 April 2010, are needed to take account of new fees and allowances associated with the new arrangements.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 18p.

Published: 22/12/2009

Title: Directions to NHS bodies concerning the cost of telephone calls 2009.

Skinny: Regulations that came into force on the 21st December 2009 regarding telephone charges in the NHS.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 2p.

Published: 22/12/2009

Title: The use of 084 Numbers: directions to NHS bodies

Skinny: Dear Colleague letter from Nick Hall introducing Directions to NHS bodies concerning the cost of telephone calls 2009.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 1p.

Published: 22/12/2009

New England Journal of Medicine 2009 (Vol 361 No 25) Contents Page

Fade Fave: A Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine in Various Age Groups

Fade Skinny: This article looks at a clinical trial which evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of a split-virus, inactivated candidate vaccine against the H1N1 virus

(Print subscription held at Fade Library)

Title: Age equality in health and social care

Skinny: Review of age discrimination and age equality in the health and social care sector.  Analyses evidence about the nature, extent and variability of age discrimination in health and social care services. Considers reforms are already in train to tackle age discrimination and support greater age equality.  This has led to the current consultation Age equality in health and social care: a consultation on preparing the NHS and social care in England for the age requirements in the Equality Bill that affect the provision of services and exercise of public functions.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 63p.

Published: 22/10/2009

• SI 2009 No. 3340. National Health Service, England. The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Appliances) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

Title: Local Routes: Guidance for developing alcohol treatment pathways

Skinny: Provides good practice guidance on the development of integrated care pathways for people with alcohol problems – alcohol treatment pathways (ATPs). It is illustrated with a number of examples but is not intended to provide an exhaustive resource of off-the-shelf pathways.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 35p.

Published: 01/12/2009

Title: Immunisation Against Infectious Disease 2006 – “The Green Book” (updated 21 December 2009)

Skinny: Update of  ‘The Green Book’, it presents latest information on vaccines and vaccination procedures for all the vaccine preventable infectious diseases that may occur in the UK.  In particular it deals with those immunisations that comprise the routine immunisation programme for all children from birth to adolescence.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 491p.

Published: 22/12/2009

New England Journal of Medicine 2009 (Vol 361 No 24) Contents Page

Fade Fave: Dabigatran versus Warfarin in the treatment of Acute Venous Thromboembolism

Fade Skinny: This article looks at a random, double-blind trial involving patients with acute venous thromboembolism to establish whether dabigatran may act as an alternative to warfarin.

(Print subscription held at Fade Library)

Title: Understanding Liverpool Better: The Joint Director of Public Health Annual Report 2008–2009

Skinny: This year’s public health annual report from Liverpool PCT focusing on:

• Improving Health
  • 2010 Year of Wellbeing and Innovation
  • Workplace Wellbeing Charter
  • Impact of Recession on Mental Health
  • Policies that impact on reducing Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
  • Reducing smoking rates in Liverpool
  • Obesity in Liverpool
  • Dental public health
• Protecting Health
  • Seasonal and swine flu
  • Measles, mumps and rubella vaccination (MMR)
  • Chlamydia
  • Tuberculosis (TB)
• Understanding Liverpool Better
  • Alcohol
  • CVD Audit
  • Cancer Inequalities
  • Dementia
  • Using Data to Improve Understanding
• Progress on Recommendations from 2008

Publisher: Liverpool PCT

Size of Publication: 74p.

Published: 21/12/2009

Journal of Clinical Pathology 2010 (Vol. 63 No. 1) contents page

Fade Fave: Brucellosis in the UK: a risk to laboratory workers? Recommendations for prevention and management of laboratory exposure

Fade Skinny: Report of four recent cases of brucellosis diagnosed at five different London laboratories, and it highlights the need to maintain a high index of suspicion for brucellosis in patients with a history of travel to and/or consumption of unpasteurised foods from endemic areas. A protocol for risk categorisation is proposed, and there is a description of the strategy adopted for serological follow-up of exposed staff and use of postexposure prophylaxis.

(NHS Athens is required to access this article online)

Journal of the American Medical Association 2009 (Vol. 302 No. 23) Contents

Fade Fave: Effect of Tarenflurbil on Cognitive Decline and Activities of Daily Living in Patients With Mild Alzheimer Disease

Fade Skinny: Amyloid-β peptide (Aβ₄₂) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD). Tarenflurbil, a selective Aβ₄₂-lowering agent, demonstrated encouraging results on cognitive and functional outcomes among mildly affected patients in an earlier phase 2 trial. The objective of this study is to determine the efficacy, safety, and tolerabilityof tarenflurbil.

An NHS password is needed to access this journal online. A print copy if available from the library.

Journal of Clinical Pathology 2009 (Vol. 62 No. 12) contents page

Fade Fave: Drug-related cardiac pathology

Fade Skinny: Discusses drug-related cardiotoxic effects of antineoplastic agents, psychotropic medications, heavy metals, substances of abuse, promotility agents, antihistamines, antimicrobials, antiarrhythmic agents and hypersensitivity myocarditis.

(NHS Athens is required to access this article online)

Archives of Surgery 2009 (Vol. 144 No. 12) contents page

Fade Fave: Preoperative Weight Loss Before Bariatric Surgery

Fade Skinny: Suggests and finds that preoperative weight loss reduces the frequency of surgical complications in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

(NHS Athens is required to access this article online)

International Journal of Epidemiology 2009 Vol. 38 No. 6 Contents Page

Fade Fave: Risk of cancer among hairdressers and related workers: a meta-analysis

Fade Skinny: Hairdressers and allied occupations are chronically exposed to a large number of chemicals present in their work environment, including potential carcinogens contained in hair dyes. This article carries out a systematic evaluation of the risk of cancer in this group.

An NHS Athens password is required to access this article online. A print copy is available from the library.

Title: Using the CQUIN payment framework – an addendum to the policy guidance for 2010/11

Skinny: The Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework makes a proportion of providers’ income conditional on quality and innovation.   This is an addendum to the Using the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework – 2008 guidance that should be read in the context of the NHS operating framework for England for 2010/11 and the national standard contracts for acute, ambulance, community, mental health and learning disability services. These contracts require commissioners to make 1.5% of contract value available for providers to earn if they achieve locally agreed quality improvement and innovation goals and, for acute providers, two national goals.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 27p.

Published: 21/12/2009

Title: A(H1N1) Swine Influenza: SocCon – end to national collection

Skinny: Letter from Roy Taylor ending the national collection of SocCon data as a result of the slow down in infection rates with swine flu.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 2p.

Published: 18/12/2009

Title: Local Responding to Lord Laming’s recommendation for further guidance on effective practice for Local Safeguarding Children Boards

Skinny: Consultation on guidance to Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) on how to operate as effectively as possible from the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit (NSDU). Request views on the proposed outline and issues that the practice guidance should cover, the style and format of the practice guidance and how to produce the final practice guidance.  Also asks for best practice.

Publisher: DCSF

Size of Publication: 15p.

Published: 18/11/2009

Title: Working Together to Safeguard Children

Skinny: Consultation on revised draft guidance addressing 17 of Lord Laming’s recommendations, as indicated in the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit’s earlier pre-consultation.  The revised draft also updates the guidance to reflect changes to the policy and legislative landscape since Working Together was last published in 2006.

Publisher: DCSF

Size of Publication: 8p.

Published: 18/11/2009

Title: Get out of jail BBV-free!

Skinny: Leaflet on bloodborne viruses for use in prisons and covering letter.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 2p.

Published: 18/12/2009

Title: HPV vaccination programme: update

Skinny: Final update regarding the death of the young girl from Coventry who died after receiving an HPV vaccine.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 2p.

Published: 18/12/2009

Lists of new and changed vocabulary are available at these links:

+ MeSH Vocabulary Changes
+ New Descriptors – 2010
+ Changed Descriptors – 2010
+ Deleted Descriptors – 2010
+ New Descriptors by Tree Subcategory – 2010

Thanks to the folk at Resource Shelf for pointing this out.

The Lancet 2009 (Volume 374 Issue 9707) Contents Page

Fade Fave: Adjuvant chemotherapy and timing of tamoxifen in postmenopausal patients with endocrine-responsive, node-positive breast cancer: a phase 3, open-label, randomised controlled trial

Fade Skinny: Assesses the benefit of adding chemotherapy to adjuvant tamoxifen and whether tamoxifen should be given concurrently or after chemotherapy.  It finds shemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and fluorouracil (CAF) plus tamoxifen given sequentially is more effective adjuvant therapy for postmenopausal patients with endocrine-responsive, node-positive breast cancer than is tamoxifen alone. However, it might be possible to identify some subgroups that do not benefit from anthracycline-based chemotherapy despite positive nodes.

(Print Subscription Held by the Fade Library)

Title: Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust: 6 months progress report

Skinny: The former Healthcare Commission investigated mortality rates in emergency care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. The results of their report were published in March 2009. This is the second of three formal checks on progress at the trust prior to a a full review against the trust’s action plan to be undertaken in 2010.

Publisher: Care Quality Commission

Size of Publication: 24p.

Published: 17/12/2009

Heart 2010 (Vol. 96 No. 1) Contents page

Fade Fave: Epidemiology: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in South Asian and white populations in London: database evaluation of characteristics and outcome

Fade Skinny: Compares out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) characteristics in white and South Asian populations within Greater London. Supports the emerging view that South Asians’ high mortality from coronary heart disease reflects higher incidence rather than higher case fatality. South Asians had an OOHCA at a significantly younger age. The study demonstrates the importance of ethnic coding within the emergency services.

(NHS Athens is required to access this article online)

Link: The GP Patient Survey results website

The Skinny: Website providing durther information about the GP Patient Survey 2009/10 and the final combined results of the quarterly surveys run from April to September 2009 and published on 17 December 2009.

Link: IDeA recession case studies: health focus

The Skinny: Good practice examples for local authorities of coping with the health aspects of recession from Bristol, Gloucesteshire, Newcastle and Wigan.

Title: Keeping in touch

Skinny: Survey and discussion group report from Ofsted which asked 370 children in care, for their views about keeping in touch – and losing contact – with their families and friends while in care. It finds that the longer children stay in care the more likely it is that all contact with their parents, siblings and friends are lost. Once children have been in care for over two years, they have much less contact with their birth family and for those who have been in care for over six years all contact is most likely to be lost.

Publisher: Ofsted

Size of Publication: 36p.

Published: 17/12/2009

Title: Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust v. Westwood [2009]

The Skinny:  Appeal against the judgment of an Employment Tribunal which found that the employee Respondent had been unfairly dismissed on grounds of gross misconduct because:

 i. the investigation was so deficient that no reasonable employer could have relied upon [it];

ii. the disciplinary hearing was equally deficient and no reasonable employer could have dismissed as a result;

iii. the sanction of dismissal lay outside the band of reasonable responses with the result that no reasonable employer could have dismissed in the circumstances;

iv. the conduct could not have been characterised as gross misconduct.

Publisher: Bailii

Size of Document: Webpage

Case No.:  UKEAT 0032_09_1712 (17 December 2009)

Title: Informatics planning 2010/11

Skinny: The NHS operating framework 2010/11 confirms that informatics will be included in operational plans and this document provides guidance on the informatics components of these plans. National expectations for the NHS for delivery of national and local objectives are set out, building on existing investments to strengthen local information and data management.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 28p.

Published: 17/12/2009

Title: Transfer of commissioning and funding of social care for adults with learning disabilities from the NHS to local Government: final returns for 2009/10 by 15 January 2010

Skinny: This letter to lead commissioners in primary care trusts and local authorities gives further guidance on the transfer of funding and commissioning of social care for adults with learning disabilities from the NHS to local authorities.  It informs them that Final returns for 2009/10 must be completed and returned to the Department by Friday 15 January 2010.

Publisher: DH

Size of Publication: 6p.

Published: 17/12/2009

Additional Documents:

• Proforma for return by 15 January 2010
• Proforma for return by 31 March 2010
• Letter to strategic health authorities and deputy regional directors of social care