Releases Saturday 25 January 2003
No 7382 Volume 326
Please remember to credit the BMJ as source when publicising
an
article and to tell your readers that they can read its full text on
the
journal's web site (http://bmj.com).
If your story is posted on a website please include a link back to
the source BMJ article (URL's are given under titles).
(1) LONG WAITING LISTS DO NOT REFLECT A
GENERAL FAILURE OF THE NHS
(2) SOME
CONCERNS ABOUT DOCTORS' CAREER
CHOICES
(3) NIGHT
BLINDNESS MAY EXPLAIN FEAR OF
THE DARK
(4) INTERNATIONAL
HEALTH EXPERTS CALL ON
BRITISH PRIME
MINISTER TO CONSIDER
HEALTH IMPACTS
OF WAR ON IRAQ
(1) LONG WAITING
LISTS DO NOT REFLECT A
GENERAL FAILURE OF THE NHS
(NHS waiting lists and evidence of
national or local
failure: analysis of health service
data )
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7382/188
Despite widespread political and media
attention about
long waiting lists, a study in this week's
BMJ finds that in
most instances, substantial numbers of
patients waiting
longer than six months for elective surgery
are restricted
to a small number of hospitals.
Researchers at the University of Bristol
examined the
distribution of patients waiting six months
or longer for
general surgery; ear, nose, and throat
surgery; opthalmic
surgery; or trauma and orthopaedic surgery
in England.
They found that one quarter of hospital
trusts contributed
between half and four fifths of the patients
waiting six
months or longer. They found little evidence
to show that
measures of capacity (such as beds, operating
theatres,
doctors) were associated with prolonged
waiting.
This study challenges the widely held assumption
that
most patients in England are being forced
to wait
unacceptably long periods of time for
elective surgery,
say the authors. This experience may be
true for a
minority of hospitals, but little evidence
supports the
notion that the waiting list phenomenon
in most hospitals
in England arises from an overall mismatch
between
supply and demand.
The long term underinvestment in British
health care is
being tackled, but the waiting list problem
cannot be
expected to be solved by global investment
alone, they
conclude.
Contact:
Stephen Frankel, Professor of Epidemiology
and Public
Health, Department of Social Medicine,
University of
Bristol, Bristol, UK
Email: stephen.frankel{at}bristol.ac.uk
Or University of Bristol Press Office:
Cherry Lewis or
Hannah Johnson
(2) SOME CONCERNS
ABOUT DOCTORS' CAREER
CHOICES
(Career choices of United Kingdom
medical graduates
of 1999 and 2000: questionnaire
surveys)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7382/194
There has been a small increase recently
in the number of
newly qualified doctors wanting to enter
general practice,
finds a study in this week's BMJ. However,
newly
qualified doctors are still much less
likely than doctors
from the 1970s and 1980s to choose general
practice as
a career.
Researchers at the University of Oxford
surveyed over
8,000 medical graduates who qualified
in the United
Kingdom in 1999 and 2000 about their long
term career
choices. Their choices were compared with
respondents
of a similar survey carried out in 1996.
Choices for general practice increased,
whereas choices
for hospital medical specialties, surgical
specialties, and
paediatrics decreased. Choices for obstetrics
and
gynaecology halved. Differences between
men and
women in choices of specialty remained
substantial.
One in ten graduates "definitely" or "probably"
did not
intend to practise medicine in the United
Kingdom for
the foreseeable future. Including those
who were
undecided, a quarter had doubts about
practising
medicine in the United Kingdom.
The percentage of newly qualified doctors
intending to
enter general practice has increased from
20% in 1996,
but remains much lower than the figure
of 40-50% of
graduates of the 1970s and 1980s, say
the authors.
Concerns about career prospects in obstetrics
and
gynaecology have reduced the numbers choosing
this
specialty to the lowest ever recorded,
although changes
in choice for other specialties are less
striking, they add.
Knowledge of young doctors' career choices
will help
planners to anticipate whether future
service
requirements in different specialties
will be met from
United Kingdom sources, conclude the authors.
Contact:
Trevor Lambert, Statistician, UK Medical
Careers
Research Group, Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology,
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Email: trevor.lambert{at}dphpc.ox.ac.uk
(3) NIGHT BLINDNESS
MAY EXPLAIN FEAR OF
THE DARK
(Fear of the dark in children: is
stationary night blindness
the cause?)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7382/211
Fear of the dark is a common complaint
in children and
is often attributed to attention seeking
behaviour. Yet
researchers in this week's BMJ suggest
that it may be
due to night blindness — a diagnosis which
can be easily
missed.
They describe two children with an inherited
form of
stationary night blindness. Both were
very frightened of
the dark, had a history of bumping into
things at night,
and insisted that curtains were drawn
much earlier than
others would choose. One child had fear
of shadows.
Although this form of night blindness is
rare, it may be
missed without appropriate history taking
from the
parents, particularly if there is no family
history of visual
problems, say the authors.
Fear of the dark in children may have a
pathological
basis. Recognition of the diagnosis and
giving the child
control of lighting conditions can transform
family life,
they conclude.
Contact:
Gordon Dutton, Consultant Ophthalmologist,
Garnavel
General Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland
(4) INTERNATIONAL
HEALTH EXPERTS CALL ON
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER TO CONSIDER
HEALTH IMPACTS OF WAR ON IRAQ
(Open letter to Tony Blair: Call
to prevent escalating
violence)
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7382/220
A war on Iraq would have disastrous short,
medium and
long-term social and public health consequences
? not
just for Iraq, but internationally, argue
500 signatories of
the London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine in
an open letter to Tony Blair, Prime Minister
of the
United Kingdom.
This letter is published simultaneously
in this week's issue
of the BMJ and the Lancet.
The letter highlights three reports published
in the last
month on the humanitarian impacts of international
violence and conflict. All provide evidence
of the short
and long-term adverse health impacts of
the use of force
internationally.
Medact estimate that if the threatened
war on Iraq
ensues, total possible deaths on all sides
during conflict
and in the following three months range
from 48,000 to
over 260,000. The most recent UN report
also
estimates substantial and wide-reaching
humanitarian
impacts. But the most worrying impact
of the use of
force in Iraq and internationally, say
the authors, is in its
role as an escalator of collective violence
- the
instrumental use of violence in order
to achieve political,
economic or social objectives. WHO reports
that such
collective use of force has long term
negative impacts on
stability and social wellbeing.
"Health professionals worldwide care for
the casualties
of war. We accept this responsibility.
However, it is also
our responsibility to argue for prevention
of violence and
peaceful resolution of conflict, write
the authors.
"Our experience and evidence corroborate
the views of
the World Health Organisation, the United
Nations and
Medact. We oppose the use of military
intervention in
Iraq. We hope this letter contributes
to informed
discussion amongst members of the Government
and the
public. We also intend this statement
to support all those
who are opposed to military action on
ethical and
humanitarian grounds, not originating
from any political
or religious view point," they conclude.
Contact:
Dr Carolyn Stephens, Senior Lecturer in
Environment
and Health Policy, Department of Public
Health &
Policy, London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine
Email: Carolyn.stephens{at}lshtm.ac.uk
FOR ACCREDITED JOURNALISTS
Embargoed press releases and articles are available from:
Public Affairs Division
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9JR
(contact: pressoffice{at}bma.org.uk)
and from:
the EurekAlert website, run by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science
(http://www.eurekalert.org)
What's new
Latest blogs
Find BMJ on:
Services
Tools
Online poll
Resources
Print issues
