Articles about 'Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research'

Telephone consultations to determine whether a patient needs to see their GP face-to-face can deal with many problems, but a study led by researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research (University of Cambridge and RAND Europe), found no evidence to support claims by companies offering to manage these services or by NHS England that the approach saves money or reduces the number of hospital referrals.

The University of Cambridge is to receive £40 million over ten years from the Health Foundation, an independent charity, to establish and run a new research institute aimed at strengthening the evidence-base for how to improve health care.

Worries over wasting their doctor’s time, particularly at a time when NHS resources are stretched, may influence when and whether patients choose to see their GP, according to a study carried out by the University of Cambridge. 

Healthcare is a complex beast and too often problems arise that can put patients’ health – and in some cases, lives – at risk. A collaboration between the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research and the Department of Engineering hopes to get to the bottom of what’s going wrong – and to offer new ways of solving the problems.

Communication between doctors and South Asian patients is poor, according to national GP surveys, but a question has been raised about whether this reflects genuinely worse experiences or differences in responding to questionnaires. Now, a new study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge has shown that it is in fact the former – South Asian patients do experience poorer communication with their GP than the White British majority.

The current focus on financial crises in hospitals diverts attention from the crisis in general practice, argue Professor Martin Roland from the University of Cambridge and GP Sir Sam Everington in an editorial published in The BMJ today.

Recent changes to UK healthcare policy intended to reduce the number of emergency hospital admissions are unlikely to be effective, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.

New research has identified an increased risk of brain haemorrhage from the combined use of antidepressant medicines and medicines such as ibuprofen. Should we be worried? Dr Rupert Payne from the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research looks at the evidence.

A survey of over two million people has found that lesbian, gay and bisexual men and women in England are more likely to report poor health and unfavourable experiences of the National Health Service than their heterosexual counterparts.

Poor access to GP surgeries could be driving patients to use out-of-hours services and putting an extra burden on the NHS, according to researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research. In research published today, they say that improving access could lead to an 11% reduction in the use of out-of-hours primary care services.