Call for submissions to Turning the Tide exhibition

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As part of the programme for this year’s Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting (SAPC ASM), which we are hosting in Bristol on 3-5 July, we are inviting submissions for an art exhibition on the theme of water and health. Successful submissions will be displayed at the conference and online. There will be prizes of £150 for outstanding entries. Anyone is welcome to make a submission, including delegates to the conference.

Tiled montage of images of sea, ocean, dolphins, sharks, whales, coast and people swimming and deep sea diving.

The exhibition is being organised by Dr Alan Kellas and Dr Catherine Lamont-Robinson from Bristol Medical School. Both Alan and Catherine lead a Year 3 medical student research project around ‘Blue Health’, which is the inspiration for the exhibition titled: ‘Turning the tide: water as medicine – exploring water’s role in sustaining health for our global and community futures: a multimedia enquiry and collaboration between arts and science, evidence and practice, medicine and ecology’.

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CHICO intervention helps GPs decide whether to prescribe antibiotics for children with respiratory infections

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Clinicians have found the ‘CHIldren with acute COugh’ (CHICO) intervention valuable in supporting decision-making around antibiotic prescribing and facilitating discussions with carers about concerns and treatment options, according to University of Bristol led research published in the British Journal of General Practice.

A young boy (18 months) with a nasty cough, coughing with his mouth open and tongue poking out

Childhood respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are common, often leading to unnecessary antibiotic use and contributing to antimicrobial resistance. The qualitative study aimed to explore how clinicians implemented the CHICO intervention, using interviews to understand its acceptability and use.

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New Centre for Applied Excellence in Skin and Allergy Research

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The University of Bristol is home to a new Centre for Applied Excellence in Skin and Allergy Research (CAESAR), which has been established to improve the diagnosis and treatment of common skin and allergy problems in primary care.

The CAESAR team.
CAESAR Team (from left): Dr Phuong Hua, Dr Andrew Turner, Dr Roxanne Parslow, Professor Matt Ridd, Dr Raquel Granell, Catriona Rutter.

Directed by Matthew Ridd, GP and Professor of Primary Health Care at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, it comprises a multi-disciplinary group of 20 people with a focus on childhood eczema and food allergy.

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Exploring health inequalities in primary care: ethnicity, antibiotics and respiratory health

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First-year University of Bristol PhD student, Anna Pathmanathan, is exploring respiratory health outcomes and antibiotic prescribing trends among different ethnicities. She shared information about her project during one of the People in Health West of England’s researcher coffee catch-ups.

Anna Pathmanathan
Anna Pathmanathan

Anna is part of the Centre for Academic Primary Care and her PhD project is looking at the relationship between ethnicity, antibiotic resistance and respiratory health outcomes.

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Exploring knowledge sharing approaches in NIHR research: a systematic review

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Evidence on the effectiveness of knowledge sharing techniques and approaches in National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded research could be improved, according to a newly published systematic review, which was supported by the NIHR Dissemination and Knowledge Mobilisation team.

People working together on organising visual information using diagrams, drawings and post-it notes.

The study, published in BMC Health Research Policy and Systems, looked at NIHR funded research that described knowledge sharing techniques or approaches. The researchers concluded that there is little evidence of the effectiveness of these approaches in these studies in influencing change in practice or ongoing research. However, this doesn’t mean they aren’t effective in instigating change or impacting on practice, rather that clear evidence for this has not yet been produced.

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Registration open for the Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

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You can now register for this year’s Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting (SAPC ASM) , which is being held at the University of Bristol on 3-5 July.

Registration open advert for the Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting 2024. View of colourful houses from Bristol Harbour.

The conference will welcome over 300 delegates from across the country and beyond. The Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) is the leading organisation championing academic primary care in the UK. The theme for the conference is ‘Sustainable Primary Care: healthy systems, healthy people’.

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Call to reduce repeat ‘within-episode’ antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory tract infections in primary care

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A new study exploring the use of repeat antibiotic prescriptions for the same respiratory tract infection (RTI) episode – known as repeat ‘within-episode’ prescriptions – in primary care has found high rates of their use in England, despite evidence that they are of little benefit. The study authors, from the Universities of Bristol and Bath, King’s College London, and University Medical Center Utrecht, are calling for a reduction in their use and to make them a target for antimicrobial stewardship interventions.

Pills scattered on a white table top next to a white pill container.

RTIs are one of the most common reasons people visit a GP in the UK. Many RTIs are caused by viruses and current primary care guidelines recommend a no or delayed antibiotic prescribing strategy in the vast majority of patients. Despite this, 54% of RTI consultations in UK primary care result in an antibiotic prescription, and RTIs account for 60% of antibiotic prescribing in primary care worldwide. As such, RTIs are one of the key drivers of antimicrobial resistance.

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Improving access to healthcare for and with people with multiple disadvantage

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General practice teams changed their services to better include patients with severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD) after facilitated collaboration with people with lived experience according to a paper published in the British Journal of General Practice. Implementing these changes brought joy and satisfaction to general practice staff and increased connections with patients and community organisations.

People sitting on a beach watching the sunset with their hands joined together to make a heart shape.

The changes which were implemented using existing funding available to general practices included:

  • using care coordinators and a micro-team to advocate and work with a specially created patient list
  • prioritising flexible access and longer appointments to patients in greater need
  • promoting a trauma-informed approach throughout the whole practice team.

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New cancer and domestic abuse toolkit launched

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Content warning: This article contains information about domestic abuse, which some may find upsetting.

A new toolkit to support cancer professionals to identify and respond to signs of domestic abuse in patients with cancer and their carers is being launched today [26 March]. The toolkit has been developed in partnership with the University of Bristol, Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Older woman looking pensively out a window
‘a thousand words’ commissioned by Scottish Womens Aid and Zero Tolerance. Copyright Laura Dodsworth

Domestic abuse and cancer are common, and a cancer diagnosis can trigger abusers to escalate their abuse or use new types of abuse. The toolkit has been designed to equip cancer professionals in secondary and tertiary care with an understanding of different types of domestic abuse and cancer-related vulnerabilities, red flags to look out for in the cancer context, and what to do if they suspect someone is experiencing domestic abuse. The toolkit is designed to complement existing domestic abuse training in NHS Trusts.

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£2.2M for clinical trial to improve general practice response to men and children affected by domestic abuse

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A new clinical trial of a general practice programme to improve the identification and referral of men and children affected by domestic abuse begins in May thanks to a £2.2 million National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) award to University of Bristol researchers, in partnership with Oxford University and the social enterprise IRISi.

A family group in a living room. Mother and children sitting unhappily on the floor. Father sitting on a sofa with a drink in hand in the background.

The programme, IRIS+, is an expanded version of the successful IRIS (Identification and Referral to Improve Safety) general practice training and support programme, which has been shown to increase referrals of women experiencing domestic violence and abuse (DVA) to specialist services. IRIS+ broadens the scope of the intervention to include men and children, without diminishing the response to women.

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