Analysis of the impact of the Birmingham OwnHealth program on secondary care utilization and cost: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: This study aimed to assess the impact of the Birmingham OwnHealth(®) program (a partnership among the National Health Service [NHS] Birmingham East and North, formerly Birmingham East and North PCT, as the commissioner, Pfizer Health Solutions [Tadworth, United Kingdom] as the primary contractor, and NHS Direct as a subcontractor) on the number of unscheduled secondary care spells and the cost of care for patients with long-term conditions. This article reports a retrospective cohort study conducted at the NHS Birmingham East and North.

Subjects And Methods: Adults with at least 1 of 10 defined long-term conditions were eligible for inclusion.

Differences in inflammatory bowel disease phenotype between South Asians and Northern Europeans living in North West London, UK.

Objectives: The incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing throughout Asia. Since the 1950s, there has been substantial migration from South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) to the United Kingdom. The aim of this study was to define the clinical phenotype of IBD in UK South Asians living in North West London, and to compare the results with a white Northern European IBD cohort.

The Expert Patients Programme online, a 1-year study of an Internet-based self-management programme for people with long-term conditions.

Objectives: Evaluate the effectiveness of an online self-management programme (EPP Online) for England residents with long-term conditions.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal study. Data were collected online at baseline, 6 and 12 months.

Alcoholic ketoacidosis with multiple complications: a case report.

Alcoholic ketoacidosis is a poorly diagnosed medical emergency usually identified in chronic alcohol misusers following an abrupt cessation or reduction of alcohol consumption. A high index of suspicion should be maintained by acute physicians as response to treatment is rapid with complete resolution of metabolic derangements. Complications are usually the result of not instituting the correct treatment or not addressing associated conditions.

The Surrey Emergency Care System: a countywide initiative for change.

Modernisation is at the core of government policy. Within the NHS it has variously focused on accident and emergency, coronary heart disease, clinical governance and information technology although each strand has tended to operate in isolation. The Surrey Emergency Care System is a programme combining the strands into a single countywide initiative and that lays the technical and clinical foundations of a future integrated unscheduled care network.