In the UK approximately half of women drink alcohol during pregnancy, 8% drink above recommended safe limits (1 or 2 units once or twice a week), and a quarter receive no health advice on safe levels of consumption.1,2 It is widely accepted that high alcohol consumption or regular binge drinking …
Point-of-sale marketing of tobacco, including tobacco display racks and sales incentives for retailers, has grown in importance to tobacco companies as other forms of tobacco advertising have been prohibited. 1, 2 Tobacco companies have not disclosed their spend on marketing in the UK, but in the US Point-of-sale marketing accounted for …
The Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme is a large-scale programme developed by the Department of Health to drive forward quality improvements in NHS care, at the same time as making up to £20 billion of efficiency savings by 2014/15.1 QIPP represents a broad, policy agenda rather than a …
The coalition government remains committed to extending the role of competition in the NHS. It is hoped that market reforms encouraging competition between hospital providers will lead to an improvement in care quality. There is some evidence to suggest that competition may have a contribution to make in improving health …
Fuel poverty is defined as the need for a household to spend over 10% of its income to achieve temperatures required for health and comfort.1 Fuel poverty is dependent on: household income fuel prices home energy efficiency The number of households in England in fuel poverty doubled from 2 million …
The Department of Health (DH) has again been forced to deny that a measure in the NHS Operating Framework for 2012-13, published on 24 November 2011, could introduce price competition between hospitals for elective procedures.1 In the past, there have been a number of systems by which NHS hospitals are …
Vaccination1 works by exposing an individual to a killed or weakened infectious organism or part of an organism, usually via injection. This stimulates the immune system to respond quicker to future exposure to that organism, preventing the disease or reducing its severity. Risks of naturally acquired infection are avoided. Many …
On coming into office last year the Coalition government launched their ‘Big Society’ initiative. The encouragement of social action and volunteering were placed high on this agenda, which was demonstrated in two of the initiatives’ key aims: to give communities more powers; and to encourage people to take a more …
Alcohol is an accepted part of our society but there is an increasing burden of harm from its misuse. Alcohol-related crime and disorder costs the tax payer over £7.3 billion per year, workplace costs add up to around £6.4 billion and costs to the NHS around £2.7 billion.1 The Government …
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the UK and accounts for one third of all deaths in this country. It is estimated that 2.6 million people in the UK are living with cardiovascular disease.1 Smoking, obesity, poor diet and lack of physical exercise are major causes of …