General practitioners' perceptions on pneumococcal vaccination for children in United Kingdom.

Following the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccination program for children in the UK, a study of General Practitioners in Walsall and Liverpool was undertaken to identify the possible reasons for the delay in implementation of the program. A total of 143 GPs were contacted, of whom 39 responded (response rate = 27%). One-third of the GPs felt that there was 'delay' in the introduction of the program.

Developing performance indicators for primary care: Walsall's experience.

Background: There has been increasing interest in the development of performance indicators in primary care, especially since the introduction of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). Public health and primary care trusts collect a range of data from routine or non-routine sources that may be useful for this purpose.

Aim: To assess whether performance against the QOF is a robust measure of practice performance when compared with health-inequality indicators and to contribute to the development of a tool to monitor and improve primary care services.

Evaluation of an independent, radiographer-led community diagnostic ultrasound service provided to general practitioners.

Background: Health care services traditionally offered in a secondary setting are increasingly being offered in a primary setting. There has been little assessment of quality and efficiency of diagnostic services such as ultrasound delivered in primary settings and no studies have looked at independently provided services.

Aims: To assess the benefits and disadvantages of a radiographer delivered, primary care-based mobile diagnostic ultrasound service by comparing it to an NHS Trust diagnostic ultrasound service.

An outbreak of mumps in the metropolitan area of Walsall, UK.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of excessive mumps cases during the year 2000, within the metropolitan area of Walsall, UK; to assess the impact of the mumps outbreak on morbidity; and to inform future communicable disease control strategy.

Methods: Demographic records, school attendance, uptake of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, and mumps-associated admission to hospital, were reviewed for all Walsall residents diagnosed and notified with mumps during the year 2000.

Results: There were 200 mumps notifications in 2000 (76.