Imperial College London Primary Care

People who walk to work are around 40 per cent less likely to have diabetes as those who drive, according to a new study by Anthony Laverty and colleagues published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine . A team from Imperial College London and University College London examined how various health indicators related to how people get to work, using data from a survey of 20,000 people across the UK. They found that cycling, walking, and using public transport were all associated with lower risk of being overweight than driving or taking a taxi. People who walk to work were also 17% less likely than people who drive to have high blood pressure. Cyclists were around half as likely to have diabetes as drivers.

Dr Matt Harris, Lecturer in Public Health, has contributed to the production of a video on the Brazilian Community Health Worker role .  For the last year, Dr Harris has been working to translate this role into the UK health system and is now in the final stage of a major NIHR grant proposal submission.  The video was supported by the Department of Health, and the British Embassy in Brazil, and was made in March during a visit to Brazil with a delegation from Bangor University, Public Health Wales, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board in North Wales. 

The Department of Health has announced £10 million of renewed funding for a programme of research aimed at improving healthcare services. The National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) for Northwest London was established in October 2008 to help translate research from the lab bench to the hospital bedside.The new funding from the Department of Health , combined with a further £12M in matched funding from the NHS, universities, charities and industry partners, will support the collaboration for the next five years. The NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London is hosted by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, with Imperial College London as the lead academic partner. Professor Derek Bell, Director of NIHR CLAHRC for Northwest London and Chair in Acute Medicine at Imperial, said: “T his is very exciting news and we are delighted that the Department of Health continues to put research high on the hea...

A paper published by Dr Liz Koshy and colleagues - 'Significantly increasing hospital admissions for acute throat infections among children in England: is this related to tonsillectomy rates?' - has won the Medicines for Children category for the 2012 RCGP Research Paper of the Year Award . Study lead for this research, Dr Koshy, from the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London reported that " Tonsillectomy is a major and costly operation with potentially serious complications. So, it seems sensible for clinicians to maintain a high threshold for referring children with recurrent throat infections for tonsillectomy and restrict it to those children who are most severely affected by these infections ."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training was formally designated, with British Government approval, in June 2007 and joined Imperial College and the Department of Primary Care Public Health in 2008. The work of the centre falls into four main categories: innovative training, academic exchange, capacity building and research. Over the past five years their work in these fields has supported WHO Geneva and Regional Offices in promoting health, enhancing primary health care, strengthening human resource capacity, addressing the escalating worldwide problem of non-communicable disease, and helping countries strengthen and manage their national health systems. Working with governments from around the world, the centre’s focus is to develop and strengthen primary care and public health capacity through training opportunities. Under the leadership of Professor Salman Rawaf, he and team members deliver courses and training aimed at...

A recent publication by WHO Geneva provides guidance on managing tobacco dependence in primary care . The first draft of the training package (4 parts) was produced by Lisa McNally, Elizabeth Dubois and Salman Rawaf from Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London with further inputs to the final draft following piloting in 12 countries of the 6 regions of the WHO. 

The School of Public Health and the Department of Primary Care and Public Health are making good progress on its application to renew its Silver Athena SWAN Award, given in recognition of commitment to excellent working practices and advancing science careers in women. The Opportunities Committee thanks all those who took part in the School wide Staff and Student Consultation workshops aimed at creating a positive working environment within the School of Public Health. The results are available in a report which is available on the School website and contains the views and suggestions for improvements from 75 people across all units in the School.