Prognosis following upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Background: Upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is one of the most common, high risk emergency disorders in the western world. Almost nothing has been reported on longer term prognosis following upper GI bleeding. The aim of this study was to establish mortality up to three years following hospital admission with upper GI bleeding and its relationship with aetiology, co-morbidities and socio-demographic factors.

Feasibility of using routinely collected inpatient data to monitor quality and inform choice: a case study using the UK inflammatory bowel disease audit.

Objective: To assess the utility and cost of using routinely collected inpatient data for large-scale audit.

Design: Comparison of audit data items collected nationally in a designed audit of inflammatory bowel disease (UK IBD audit) with routinely collected inpatient data; surveys of audit sites to compare costs.

Setting: National Health Service hospitals across England, Wales and Northern Ireland that participated in the UK IBD audit.

Delays in response and triage times reduce patient satisfaction and enablement after using out-of-hours services.

Background: several different models of out-of-hours primary care now exist in the UK. Important outcomes of care include users' satisfaction and enablement to manage their illness or condition, but the determinants of these outcomes in the unscheduled care domain are poorly understood. Aim.

The need to improve the interface between in-hours and out-of-hours GP care, and between out-of-hours care and self-care.

Background: considerable changes have occurred over the last 5 years in the organization of out-of-hours care in the UK. Users' experiences of their care are an important part of 'quality of care' and are valuable for identifying areas for improvement.

Aim: to identify strengths and weaknesses of out-of hours service provision in Wales.

What happens to work if you're unwell? Beliefs and attitudes of managers and employees with musculoskeletal pain in a public sector setting.

Introduction: Musculoskeletal complaints can impact on work in terms of productivity, sickness absence and long term incapacity for work. While employee attitudes and knowledge can drive absenteeism and presenteeism behaviour, managers also play an important role in influencing this via the quality of their relationships with employees and their role in implementing organisational policies and procedures. The aims of this study were to investigate the beliefs and attitudes of managers and employees with musculoskeletal pain about sickness absence, presenteeism, and return to work and to identify areas of consensus and conflict.

Streamline triage and manage user expectations: lessons from a qualitative study of GP out-of-hours services.

Background: Several models of GP out-of-hours provision exist in the UK but there is little detail about their effectiveness to meet users' needs and expectations.

Aim: To explore users' needs, expectations, and experiences of out-of-hours care, and to identify proposals for service redesign.

Setting: Service providers in urban (GP cooperative), mixed (hospital based), rural (private) locations in Wales.

Hospitalized prevalence and 5-year mortality for IBD: record linkage study.

Aim: To establish the hospitalized prevalence of severe Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) in Wales from 1999 to 2007; and to investigate long-term mortality after hospitalization and associations with social deprivation and other socio-demographic factors.

Methods: Record linkage of administrative inpatient and mortality data for 1467 and 1482 people hospitalised as emergencies for > or = 3 d for CD and UC, respectively. The main outcome measures were hospitalized prevalence, mortality rates and standardized mortality ratios for up to 5 years follow-up after hospitalization.