May 14

‘Women should not rely on breast screening’ – CHSS Snr Clin Res Fellow

CHSS Senior Clinical Research Fellow Dr Lindsay Forbes says failures like the one that led to 450,000 women missing breast cancer mammograms are rare but that anyone with breast symptoms should visit their GP promptly for investigation and not rely on screening.

With anxious women inundating a breast cancer screening helpline, Lindsay says screening can save lives but that it can also cause harm because of overdiagnosis. ‘It may seem astonishing that this problem was not picked up before now. Jeremy Hunt acknowledged that oversight of the NHS Breast Screening Programme may have been inadequate. The Breast Screening Quality Assurance Service has experienced a cut in funding, and the Health and Social Care Act 2012 fragmented the public health workforce and its capacity for monitoring local screening performance. What is even more astonishing, however, is that this kind of error is rare, thankfully. NHS IT systems are vast and complicated and, generally speaking, operate strikingly well.

‘The Inquiry will examine the clinical impact of the error, in particular, the critical issue of whether any women have died prematurely as a result of not being invited for screening. An Independent UK Panel in 2012 estimated that breast screening reduces the risk of breast cancer death by between 11 per cent and 27 per cent, but this is considered by some to be an overestimate. Breast screening can also cause harm: for every woman whose life is saved by breast screening, it is thought that three are overdiagnosed – that is, are treated for a breast cancer that would not have caused them any clinical problems.

‘Therefore, some of the women not invited for screening as a result of the error will have benefited from it, in that they will not have received a diagnosis and treatment for a cancer that would never have come to light and certainly would not have killed them.

‘What is vital is that women with breast symptoms go to their GP promptly for investigation – not screening – as soon as possible. Women with cancers diagnosed at an early symptomatic stage have a high survival rate. We need to see whether women who should have been invited for screening between the ages of 68 and 71 and were subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer had delayed going to see their GP – perhaps falsely reassured by previous normal screens.’

Lindsay is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow with CHSS. For more information view her staff profile

 

 

May 10

CHSS welcomes further NIHR contract for Research Design Service SE

Researchers at the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) have welcomed the announcement that the Research Design Service SE (RDS SE) has been awarded a further five years of funding. The award is part of a £50 million investment by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the national RDS network which operates from 10 regional centres across England.

The RDS SE is a collaboration between CHSS, the School of Health Sciences at the University of Brighton and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey. Now in its tenth year, it provides free and confidential research design and methodological support to health and social care researchers in the NHS South East Coast region, helping them to develop grant applications to the NIHR and other national peer-reviewed funding programmes. It advises on all aspects of preparing grant applications

The team includes specialist health economists and statisticians who are a vital part of protocol design and have a wealth of experience to offer. The RDS SE has academic leads in each centre and a team of research advisers and administrative staff.

The new funding will be provided over five years from 1 October 2018.

Further information on the RDS SE is available here.

 

 

 

May 01

CHSS Newsletter, Spring 2018

Our latest CHSS Newsletter is now available to read or download on our website. We hope you enjoy our latest news, research features and staff updates.

This issue reports on the highly successful EFPC (European Forum for Primary Care) Symposium which was held on a very snowy Friday at the beginning of March. Our research news includes an exciting project with Medway School of Pharmacy, around screening for an often undiagnosed heart rhythm disorder.

‘CHSS People’ profiles Boniface Oyugi who joined us last year to study for a PhD evaluating maternal healthcare in Kenya.

You can subscribe to future issues by email. Our online archive is also available.

We love to receive feedback, suggestions or comments on our newsletters.
contact Helen McGregor at h.mcgregor@kent.ac.uk.

 

Apr 10

NEW Blog from UK EXCEPT project Youth Ambassador on final project conference

Patrick Cantellow, an 18-year-old social entrepreneur from Sittingbourne, Kent is the Youth Ambassador for the UK EXCEPT project team. Aged 15 he founded Swale Young People, an organisation that takes an innovative digital approach to youth empowerment. Patrick is also an Ambassador for a number of organisations across London and the South East, notably the NSPCC, CXK and Youth Employment UK. ​In his second blogpost he talks about attending the final EXCEPT conference …

“A Fantastic Final Conference in Brussels!

Many of you will hear me say this again and again, that despite increasing globalisation, we forget that it is in fact very easy to learn from countries around the world. Not only can we share results from different programmes, but it’s insanely interesting!

That’s why I was so ecstatic to attend the final EXCEPT Project conference at the capital of the EU, Brussels. Not only was it a great opportunity to collaborate with plugged in policy and employment experts from across the EU, but it was also great to be able to chat with young people from many different countries.

Young people bring a fantastic depth to events, particularly when the event’s focus is about young people. So it was great to see the EXCEPT team embrace the youth, and invite many along to the final conference.

The day started off with fellow Youth Ambassadors discussing how our governments, schools and employers approach to internships and apprenticeships. Many of the Youth Ambassadors spoke about internships, and their ability to be either very high quality, or the likelihood that they may offer very little value (and do not lead to employment afterwards). Some spoke about how larger businesses often offer a more training led schemes that allows the interns to learn something new and use these skills not just at the company they are placed in, but that some encourage interns to use their skills at a company that needs it. Others spoke about how the little salary, if any, harms the perception of internships, and that some employers may not see it as real experience.

We also had a good discussion about pensions. Almost all of us agreed on several aspects around pensions. We agreed that we don’t always trust our governments to look after our money. Mainly because of the aging population, the forever increasing retirement age and previous governmental track records.

We also believed that education on not just the pension system, but financial education as whole, needs much improvement. We all agreed that even if we did understand how it worked, we would be hesitant to start paying in to a pension, because our small salaries at the start of our working lives already leave little room to have disposable income. We would rather spend our money going out with friends or saving up for a car, for example.

This mirrors what a UK pension layer said when interviewed by the EXCEPT team:

“The main problem we see in pensions with young people is that they are 18, 19, 20s, they have other things they want to spend their money on and retirement seems an awfully long way away and you sort of think, I’d rather go out and have a few beers tonight.”

They were right!

Later in the day on the Future Perspectives panel discussion, I spoke about how very little people my age understand how pensions work, and the possibility of a campaign focused towards young people, inviting them to learn more about pensions and understand the ‘return on investment’ as it were, could be successful. Although, to counter one’s own argument, I can’t help but question; do we really need to be thinking about pensions at such an early stage in life?

The EXCEPT project findings show that unemployment in young age increases the likelihood of deprivation at retirement. So should we be focusing on paying into pensions, or is this part of a much larger problem, such as long-term unemployment in young age brackets. I’m looking forward to the next event in the UK’s Parliament on the 25th April 218 – and continuing to share the important data that the EXCEPT project has found. I hope to see lots of you there also.”

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Find out more about this project, funded by EU HORIZON 2020 on the EXCEPT website >

Mar 27

CHSS Director: KM Medical School news ‘fantastic’

‘The new Medical School will strengthen the clinical teaching and research partnerships that already exist between CHSS and local NHS and other health care organisations. The Centre looks forward to developing new areas of research and contributing to this exciting new development’.

– Professor of Health Policy, Stephen Peckham, CHSS Director

Stephen Peckham has welcomed the outcome of the joint bid by the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University for a new Medical School as ‘fantastic news for Kent and Medway‘!

Last week, University of Kent Vice-Chancellor Professor Karen Cox announced that the bid for 100 funded places to establish a Medical School had been successful. This will be the county’s first ever medical school, bringing together existing centres of excellence in health and medical education provided by the two universities, and local healthcare organisations, to offer a new model of patient-focused medical education.

The new school will form a fundamental part of a strategy to address the region’s long-standing problems of recruiting and retaining medical professionals. The bid was the culmination of over a year’s work by both institutions after the Government’s commitment to fund 1500 medical new places by 2020. MPs, local councillors, NHS Trust chief executives and medical directors were among those who supported the bid, as well as other health and education related organisations. Brighton and Sussex Medical School will act as the new school’s ‘parent institution’.

The school will welcome its first students in 2020.

 

Mar 26

Prestigious BA Fellowship funds joint UK/Brazil study of Brazilian health policy

 

CHSS Director and Professor of Health Policy Stephen Peckham has won a prestigious two year grant from the British Academy in partnership with Dr Fabiana da Cunha Saddi, post-doc researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Federal University of Goias in Brazil.

The BA Newton Advanced Fellowship award will fund a new study around primary care in Brazil:“How to strengthen leadership and the workforce through the re-design and implementation of a pay for performance program (PMAQ) in PHC in Brazil. A comparative health policy and system analysis”

This research will yield new evidence on PMAQ, the Brazilian National Programme for Access and Quality Improvement in Primary Care. Has reformulation and implementation of the programme helped to strengthen the health system leadership and workforce performance?

Academics from Brazilian universities, governmental and other organisations are collaborating with the project. The researchers will conduct a rapid review, interview policymakers, implementers and front-line staff in Goiás and Pernambuco, and examine related documentation. Data analysis will take into account relevant themes from Public Policy, the politics of performance and Health System literature. The UK/Brazil partnership will involve research collaboration, reciprocal visits and knowledge transfer.

Stephen will give two special open lectures at UFG and, with Fabiana, will teach on a policy analysis module for the University’s Political Science Masters Course. Fabiana will spend time in England at CHSS over the course of the next two years.

Read more on the UFG website >

 

Mar 12

CHSS Director – Canterbury needs cleaner air now!

Clean air campaigners are mounting an aggressive effort to improve the Canterbury environment. With the backing of the city’s MP Rosie Duffield, campaign group Clean Air met on Saturday 10 March to discuss air quality issues.

CHSS Director Professor Stephen Peckham, who is currently working with Dr Ashley Mills gathering data on air quality in Canterbury, told around 100 residents of the need for urgent action to campaign to reduce the levels of air pollution in the city: “we need to be thinking about what we can do ourselves to reduce pollution and create cleaner air for Canterbury”.

Ashley gave a highly engaging talk on the local air quality monitoring project.

Timothy Baker of King’s College, London talked about the scientific risks of air pollution: “Pollutants you breathe in make it into blood system. One simple thing you can do is use back roads rather than major routes when you are walking.”

Later this year, the Council publishes an Air Quality Action Plan for how residents and the authority can improve the city’s environment.

Read more in the Canterbury Journal report >

Feb 26

Parliamentary event to present EXCEPT project findings 25/4/18

2pm, Wednesday 25 April, 2017
Portcullis House, House of Commons, Westminster, London

This Parliamentary reception at Portcullis House will share the findings from the EU-funded EXCEPT project.

“Social Exclusion of Youth In Europe: Cumulative Disadvantage, Coping Strategies, Effective Policies and Transfer” (EXCEPT)  is an innovative EU-funded research project which aims to develop effective policy initiatives to help young people in Europe overcome labour market insecurities and related risks. Our findings highlight the policies and strategies that do make a difference.

The event aims to advance the dialogue between policy makers, civil society and researchers to discuss new interventions for reducing exclusion in Europe. It will be hosted by Rosie Duffield MP. Speakers include Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby from the University of Kent.

To attend, please RSVP by Wednesday 4th April to Helen  Wooldridge: H.L.Wooldridge@kent.ac.uk

More information about this and other upcoming events on our CHSS events page >

 

Feb 19

International ‘Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly’ project – Sally Kendall leads British team

CHSS is working with Yale School of Public Health as part of a global project to promote breastfeeding.

Sally Kendall, Professor of Community Nursing and Public Health, is leading the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) programme for England, Scotland and Wales. The BBF programme involves a five-step process to accurately assess barriers to successful breastfeeding on a country-wide level.

Breastfeeding rates must improve around the world to meet the WHO’s 2025 global target of increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months to at least 50%. The BBF programme helps countries identify gaps in their own breastfeeding programmes, enabling focused resource allocation to ultimately lead to improved breastfeeding results.

Sally Kendall said: ‘Breastfeeding is one of the most cost-effective health interventions a nation can make. There is strong evidence that it is beneficial to the health of both mother and baby. Human milk is the perfect nutrition for babies and provide be provided for at least six months. For example, breastfeeding can reduce gastrointestinal infection in babies, promote mother/baby attachment, and protect against obesity. It also has a protective effect against breast cancer. However, breastfeeding rates in Britain remain low compared to other countries and we need to understand more about how to remove societal barriers and enable women to breastfeed.’

As well as Great Britain, Germany, Myanmar, Samoa, Mexico and Ghana, have accepted the challenge to reach this target by implementing the BBF programme.

 

Find out more about the project and our varied programme of research on our ‘current research’ webpage >

Feb 16

NEW Blog! UK EXCEPT project Youth Ambassador’s perspective on youth unemployment

Patrick Cantellow, an 18-year-old social entrepreneur from Sittingbourne, Kent is the Youth Ambassador for the UK EXCEPT project team. Aged 15 he founded Swale Young People, an organisation that takes an innovative digital approach to youth empowerment. Patrick is also an Ambassador for a number of organisations across London and the South East, notably the NSPCC, CXK and Youth Employment UK. ​

In this blogpost, he gives a young person’s perspective on unemployment and talks about some of the early findings coming from the EXCEPT project. “….I have taken a huge interest in the EXCEPT project, and here I share some of the findings that I found most interesting, from my perspective – an 18 year old guy from Kent, south-east England.”

Read the full blog >

Find out more about this project, funded by EU HORIZON 2020 on the EXCEPT website >