DASHES Protocol: Development and Feasibility Testing of a Tailored Community Programme to Support People in Recovery from Problematic Alcohol and Drug Use to Cut Down or Stop Smoking Using Co-Creation.

Background: Despite the continued global decline in adult tobacco prevalence, rates continue to be significantly higher in groups with problematic drug or alcohol use (PDA). It is estimated that people with alcohol, drug or mental health problems account for approximately half of all smoking deaths. In the UK, there are free stop smoking services for the general population.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Community Testing Team in Scotland: A 14-day review, 6 to 20 February 2020.

In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we set up a team to carry out sampling in the community. This enabled individuals to remain in self-isolation in their own homes and to prevent healthcare settings and services from being overwhelmed by admissions for sampling of suspected cases. There is evidence that this is a cost effective, safe and necessary service to complement COVID-19 testing in hospitals.

Brexit threatens the UK's ability to tackle illicit drugs and organised crime: What needs to happen now?

Background: The decision by the UK government to leave the European Union comes at a time when parts of the UK are experiencing a marked rise in reported gun and knife crimes. The health effects of Brexit will have serious consequences as to how the UK tackles this upsurge in drug-related crime.

Health Policy Processes: The UK's future participation with the EU's specialised agencies will depend on the detail of any agreement reached on future collaboration with the EU and its drug agency, the EMCDDA.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Clinical Considerations for Women.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, and/or inattention. Women with ADHD represent a particularly vulnerable group, given their increased risk for psychosocial and parenting difficulties. Women's health care clinicians should expect to encounter women with diagnosed and undiagnosed ADHD that may or may not be treated.

Retrospective cohort study of breast cancer incidence, health service use and outcomes in Europe: a study of feasibility.

Background: Comparisons of outcomes of health care in different systems can be used to inform health policy. The EuroHOPE (European Healthcare Outcomes, Performance and Efficiency) project investigated the feasibility of comparing routine data on selected conditions including breast cancer across participating European countries.

Methods: Routine data on incidence, treatment and mortality by age and clinical characteristics for breast cancer in women over 24 years of age were obtained (for a calendar year) from linked hospital discharge records, cancer and death registers from Finland, the Turin metropolitan area, Scotland and Sweden (all 2005), Hungary (2006) and Norway (2009).

Prescription stimulant medication misuse: Where are we and where do we go from here?

Prescription stimulants, including methylphenidate (e.g., Ritalin) and amphetamine compounds (e.

Parameter Heterogeneity In Breast Cancer Cost Regressions - Evidence From Five European Countries.

We investigate parameter heterogeneity in breast cancer 1-year cumulative hospital costs across five European countries as part of the EuroHOPE project. The paper aims to explore whether conditional mean effects provide a suitable representation of the national variation in hospital costs. A cohort of patients with a primary diagnosis of invasive breast cancer (ICD-9 codes 174 and ICD-10 C50 codes) is derived using routinely collected individual breast cancer data from Finland, the metropolitan area of Turin (Italy), Norway, Scotland and Sweden.

Socioeconomic differences in mortality amenable to health care among Finnish adults 1992-2003: 12 year follow up using individual level linked population register data.

Background: Finland decentralised its universal healthcare system and introduced market reforms in the 1990s. Despite a commitment to equity, previous studies have identified persistent socio-economic inequities in healthcare, with patterns of service use that are more pro-rich than in most other European countries. To examine whether similar socio-economic patterning existed for mortality amenable to intervention in primary or specialist care, we investigated trends in amenable mortality by income group from 1992-2003.

Increase in the duration of antidepressant treatment from 1994 to 2003: a nationwide population-based study from Finland.

Objective: We examined the length and continuity of antidepressant treatment and factors associated with long-term of treatment among adults.

Methods: Nationwide data from all reimbursed antidepressant prescriptions in 1994-2003 were linked with patients' data retrieved from Statistics Finland and the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. Logistic regression models were used to analyse long term use of antidepressants.

Change and persistence in healthcare inequities: access to elective surgery in Finland in 1992--2003.

Aims: Many countries experience persistent or increasing socioeconomic disparities in specialist care. This study examines the socioeconomic distribution of elective surgery from 1992 to 2003 in Finland.

Methods: Administrative registers were used to identify common elective procedures performed in all public and private hospitals in Finland in 1992-2003.

Incidence and prognostic implications of stable angina pectoris among women and men.

Context: Stable angina pectoris in women has often been considered a "soft" diagnosis, with less-severe prognostic implications than in men, but large-scale population studies are lacking.

Objective: To determine sex differences in the incidence and prognosis of stable angina in a large ambulatory population.

Design: Prospective cohort study using linked national registers.

The snakes and ladders of user involvement: Moving beyond Arnstein.

For 35 years, Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation has been a touchstone for policy makers and practitioners promoting user involvement. This article critically assesses Arnstein's writing in relation to user involvement in health drawing on evidence from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Canada. Arnstein's model, however, by solely emphasizing power, limits effective responses to the challenge of involving users in services and undermines the potential of the user involvement process.

QALY-maximisation and public preferences: results from a general population survey.

The appropriate criteria that should be used in setting priorities in a publicly funded health care system remain open to debate. From a health economics perspective, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are increasingly portrayed as a measure of societal value and the criterion of QALY maximisation is then advocated. This paper reports a study that investigated the extent to which some of the assumptions underlying the QALY maximisation approach, notably constant marginal societal value for increases in the size of health programmes, the level of risk, and the level of benefit are supported by members of the public.

Public involvement in health care priority setting: an economic perspective.

BACKGROUND: Public involvement in health care decision making and priority setting in the UK is being promoted by recent policy initiatives. In 1993, the British Medical Association called for public consultation where rationing of services was to be undertaken. The approach to priority setting advocated by many health economists is the maximization of quality adjusted life years (QALYs).