Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL) Research Seminars

Location: Institute of Life Science Seminar Room 1
Time: Wednesdays 12:30pm

   Forthcoming CHIRAL Seminars 2010

Speaker

(1) Mark Ridgewell, Kings Road GP Practice and Nick Gallop, School of Medicine, Swansea University

(2) Professor Julian Hopkin

New ways of avoiding unnecessary admissions and inappropriate outpatient referrals:

(1)The role of musculoskeletal triage services in appropriated referral to orthopaedic secondary care:

The Swansea Musculoskeletal Clinical Assessment Service (MCAS) was created as a primary care-led service to operate a triage and assessment service of GP referrals for adult patients. MCAS was delivered by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of two GPwSIs with physiotherapy input.  Our study is designed to investigate the recent efficiency and effectiveness MCAS and assesses a cohort of 299 patients, seen between 01.4.09 - 30.9.09. It aims to consider their management and outcomes, whilst also exploring the cost implications of providing such a service. Preliminary results indicate that MCAS is providing improved clinical outcomes and fewer unsuitable referrals. It also shows that MCAS has been received well by the community and medical staff. The implications of cost effectiveness are still to be fully elucidated.

(2) Early reflections on "hot clinics"

Tackling big questions in Linked Data research

1. Using medical record linkage to answer the big questions in health services research: the Western Australian experience

2. Approaches to the evaluation of health policy: using linked data to answer the big questions

Thoracic Seminar Series

Sarah Gaze, Hayley Hutchings and Claire Clement

Ethical consent processes when carrying emergency care research: Examples from the SAFER research programme

Genetics and mental illness: making basic research clinically relevant

 Past CHIRAL Seminars 2010

The Computer Based Patient Record: The role of international standards

Past CHIRAL Seminars 2009

Reducing avoidable deaths relating to substance misuse: patterns and potential interventions

Deaths from opiate overdose in the UK are among the highest in Europe. There is an effective drug called naloxone which will reverse overdose, if administered in time. This treatment is given by paramedics and emergency departments. People who survive an overdose, or 'non fatal poisoning' are at raised risk of death from drug use, particularly within the following year.  For every overdose death, it is estimated that there are approximately 7 ‘near misses’ although little is known about patterns of these near misses.
 
The Welsh Assembly Government commissioned research to inform development of initiatives to minimise avoidable deaths from drug use. The study had two parts:
1) to describe incidents and patterns of presentation of non fatal overdoses for which 999 calls were made
2) to describe and review interventions to prevent occurrence or recurrence of fatal and non fatal overdoses in the emergency setting
 
This seminar will present findings about the patterns and pathways of 999 calls for overdoses; and results of a systematic review of interventions which aim to reduce overdoses and deaths.

Dr Simon Gates           Principal Research Fellow
Warwick Medical School Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick

Minimising losses to follow-up in clinical trials: Evidence based research and missing data in randomised trials

Randomised controlled trials are the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, and increasing numbers of trials need to be conducted to provide the necessary high-quality evidence to inform clinical practice.  Trials are time-consuming, complex and costly to conduct, so it is important to ensure that they are conducted as efficiently as possible.  There is an increasing amount of evidence about the best methods to use to help successful completion of trials.  As an example, this presentation will consider the issue of missing data, and describe an experimental study conducted alongside a randomised trial (the MINT incentive study).  Issues of translation of evidence into research practice and the future research agenda will be explored.

David Rea               School of Health Science

David Rea will present some of the findings from an internal evaluation of the work of Involving People/Cynnwys Pobl. He will discuss the methodology for involving lay people in this evaluation. He will then discuss its recommendations and possible infrastructure support for involvement after March 2010.

Patient Safety – Closing the Gap?

The gap between the care we receive and the care that is possible is wide – in fact it is a “chasm”.  I will explore the implications of this variation in patient safety and clinical quality, reflecting on the current policy, improvement initiatives and all Wales data.” The 1000 Lives campaign

When the NIHR Medicines for Children Research Network (MCRN) was established, it was clear that there was very limited capacity, within the UK, to undertake large multicentre clinical trials with children. The MCRN Clinical Trials Unit was established in 2005 to conduct and provide support for clinical trials undertaken within the MCRN.

The MCRN CTU portfolio currently includes sixteen studies, including important methodological research into aspects of clinical trials with children. This talk will describe the key challenges faced during the first four years of the unit.

PsyCymru

PsyCymru is a feasibility study to establish and maintain an all Wales Psychosis cohort, with the additional feature of electronic linkage to the SAIL databank for prospective longitudinal follow-up

Sept 15 Tuesday

Dr David Hadden Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast

Sept 10

 The genetics of diabetes and beyond

“Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is a multifactorial disease with significant genetic and environmental components. In the last 2 years there has been an exponential increase in the number of genes associated with disease to over 20. Despite this rapid progress, the genes identified do not explain the majority of the genetic component of T2D.”

Caroline Brooks
Health Information Research Unit (HIRU)

• Non-Conveyance of 999 callers:  record linkage study identifying subsequent health service contacts
• The prescribed duration algorithm: utilising "free text" from multiple primary care electronic systems
• Are blood pressure levels taken during a secondary care diabetic clinic likely to be higher than when measured in primary care?

This seminar will include an overview of the datasets held by Health Solutions Wales (HSW), the main processor of information on behalf of the NHS in Wales, plus some examples of their use, touching in particular on some research areas.

Jul 15

 Centre for NanoHealth 

May13    

Understanding how the public chooses to use unscheduled care services: the UPCUUCS Study