Imperial College London Primary Care

Congratulations to Dr Sonia Saxena and Dr Josip Car. Both were nominated in Pulse’s annual poll of Top 50 GPs. The poll seeks to name those GPs who are considered to be amongst the most influential GPs in the profession, the NHS and Government policy.

The number of children admitted to hospital in England for acute throat infections increased by 76 per cent between 1999 and 2010, according to new research published by Elizabeth Koshy and colleagues in the journal  Archives of Disease in Childhood . The article was covered by a number of media outlets, including the BBC . Acute throat infection (ATI), which includes acute tonsillitis and acute pharyngitis, is one of the most common reasons for consulting a GP. The majority of ATIs are self-limiting and can be managed at home or by the GP, but a small proportion may require hospital admission. This study investigated admission rates for children up to age 17 with ATI alongside trends in tonsillectomy rates, between 1999 and 2010.  The study was motivated by concerns that the decline in tonsillectomy rates in recent years has led to an increase in hospital admissions for tonsillitis of increased severity. It also investigated whether performing fewer tonsillectomies is as...

Enquiries from prospective PhD students are welcome in any of the  areas of research  carried out in the  Department of Primary Care and Public Health  at Imperial College London. The department is part of the  School of Public Health . We have a highly active and wide-ranging research programmes in public health and primary care. This includes collaborative work with UK and international organisations. Current and past PhD students have undertaken studies on a wide range of projects, including prescribing policy in Thailand; health care equity; deaths from drug overdose; the impact of pay for performance schemes on quality of care; ethnic and socio-economic differences in the management of diabetes and its complications; screening for diabetes and other chronic diseases; the use of new technology to improve health care; the epidemiology and management of diabetes in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council; medical ethics; and the epidemiology of c...

The Medical Education Specialist Interest Group ( MESIG ) is a support group and discussion forum for anyone involved in teaching, curriculum development or education research across the medical faculty at Imperial College. MESIG meets once a month to hear from expert speakers, share experiences and offer support and advice for your educational projects. The group meets in an informal atmosphere where participants can discuss the latest thinking in education, ask for advice on ethics approval or funding for their research project, or listen to expert speakers.

Tomorrow's Doctors 2009 highlighted the importance of undergraduates acquiring leadership skills and set out learning outcomes required of medical students. The medical leadership competency framework was commissioned in 2006 by the Department of Health and jointly compiled by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, and the Academy for Medical Royal Colleges as part of a wider UK project called ‘enhancing engagement in leadership’. This framework lists the key competences that medical students require to become involved in improving and delivering future health services. It also maps these competences to the learning outcomes. In a paper published in JRSM Short Reports , Sian Powell and Graham Easton design online questionnaire to explore current leadership teaching in an undergraduate curriculum, using the medical leadership competency framework (MLCF). Sixty-nine course leads were invited to participate in the questionnaire study. Course leads were asked whether they...

Free bus passes for over-60s may be encouraging older people to be more physically active, say the authors of a study published in the American Journal of Public Health by researchers from the Department of Public Health & Primary Care at Imperial College London. The researchers reached their conclusion by analysing four years of data from the UK National Travel Survey. They found that people with a bus pass are more likely to walk frequently and take more journeys by "active travel" - defined as walking, cycling or using public transport. These associations cut across socio-economic groups, suggesting that wealthier and poorer people are benefiting from the scheme equally. Keeping physically active helps to maintain mental wellbeing, mobility and muscle strength in older people and reduces their risk of cardiovascular disease, falls and fractures. Previous research has shown that 15 minutes of moderate daily exercise is associated with a 12 per cent lower risk of dea...

This is an exciting opportunity for an individual with a Master’s degree or equivalent in Health Services Management/research or a related field. The post holder will be a member of the London (North West) Comprehensive Local Research Network (CLRN) team, responsible for managing a wide variety of projects to support research activity in primary care. The aim of the post is to widen participation in research, particularly in North West London, and ensure that patients and healthcare professionals from primary care are able to participate, and benefit from, clinical research in all areas of disease and healthcare. The appointee will be based at the Charing Cross Hospital campus in Hammersmith, but the role will require frequent travel to general practices across NW London, the CLRN host organisation in Northwick Park Hospital, as well as other collaborating organisations in North West London. The post holder will have substantial experience of healthcare management, extensive knowl...