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Secretary Of State (secretary + of_state)
Selected AbstractsPolitics and Film: A letter to the Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and SportCRITICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 1-2 2008COLIN MacCABE No abstract is available for this article. [source] Insulin-treated diabetes and driving in the UKDIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 6 2002G. Gill Abstract Diabetes, and particularly insulin-treated diabetes, has important implications for motor vehicle driving, largely because of its association with potential hypoglycaemia. For this reason, most countries operate some driving restrictions on insulin-treated diabetic patients, as well as systems of intermittent reassessment of hypoglycaemic risk. In the UK, regulations are operated by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which is an agency of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). They are supported by an Expert Panel which advises the Secretary of State on diabetes-related issues relating to fitness to drive. The patient organization Diabetes UK is also concerned with diabetes and driving issues, largely from a position of lobbying policy-influencers and supporting individual cases. All parties involved with diabetes and driving issues recognize the need for more research on the subject, as the current literature is flawed in design, though no convincing excess of accidents amongst diabetic drivers has been conclusively demonstrated. Currently in the UK, Class 2 vehicles (large trucks and passenger vehicles) are barred to diabetic drivers on insulin. European law has recently extended this to so-called C1 (large vans and small lorries) and D1 (minibuses) vehicles, though the law has recently been revised to allow individual consideration for potential diabetic C1 drivers on insulin treatment. Diabetes and insulin-treated diabetes is an emotive and difficult issue, for which a stronger evidence base is urgently needed. [source] Patterns of Policing and Policing PattenJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2000Paddy Hillyard In September 1999 the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland, chaired by Chris Patten, published its recommendations. This article examines the political context of policing reform, the contents of the report and the rejection of its core ideas in the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill published in May 2000. The central argument of the paper is that the Commission's radical model of policing , a network of regulating mechanisms in which policing becomes everyone's business , failed, because it gave insufficient attention, like much modern writing on policing, to the role of the state and the vested interests within policing. The overall outcome is that the Patten Commission has been effectively policed and Northern Ireland will be left with a traditional, largely undemocratic and unaccountable model of policing with most of the control resting with the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable. [source] Statistical issues in first-in-man studiesJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 3 2007Professor Stephen Senn Preface., In March 2006 a first-in-man trial took place using healthy volunteers involving the use of monoclonal antibodies. Within hours the subjects had suffered such adverse effects that they were admitted to intensive care at Northwick Park Hospital. In April 2006 the Secretary of State for Health announced the appointment of Professor (now Sir) Gordon Duff, who chairs the UK's Commission on Human Medicines, to chair a scientific expert group on phase 1 clinical trials. The group reported on December 7th, 2006 (Expert Scientific Group on Clinical Trials, 2006a). Clinical trials have a well-established regulatory basis both in the UK and worldwide. Trials have to be approved by the regulatory authority and are subject to a detailed protocol concerning, among other things, the study design and statistical analyses that will form the basis of the evaluation. In fact, a cornerstone of the regulatory framework is the statistical theory and methods that underpin clinical trials. As a result, the Royal Statistical Society established an expert group of its own to look in detail at the statistical issues that might be relevant to first-in-man studies. The group mainly comprised senior Fellows of the Society who had expert knowledge of the theory and application of statistics in clinical trials. However, the group also included an expert immunologist and clinicians to ensure that the interface between statistics and clinical disciplines was not overlooked. In addition, expert representation was sought from Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry (PSI), an organization with which the Royal Statistical Society has very close links. The output from the Society's expert group is contained in this report. It makes a number of recommendations directed towards the statistical aspects of clinical trials. As such it complements the report by Professor Duff's group and will, I trust, contribute to a safer framework for first-in-man trials in the future. Tim Holt (President, Royal Statistical Society) [source] The National Minimum Wage: Coverage, Impact and Future,OXFORD BULLETIN OF ECONOMICS & STATISTICS, Issue 2002David Metcalf Abstract Since its establishment in 1997, the Low Pay Commission (LPC) , whose main task is to recommend the rate for the national minimum wage (NMW) to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry , has operated in a very open manner. Commissioners and the (small) secretariat have visited all the corners of the UK and hundreds of workplaces. Large volumes of written evidence and much oral evidence inform successive reports (LPC, 1998, 2000, 2001a,b, 2003). The LPC also values and nurtures its links with the academic community, many of whom have undertaken research for the LPC which has greatly contributed to the debate on the merits or otherwise of the NMW. In addition the LPC have periodically held conferences where the latest research on low pay and the NMW is discussed and evaluated. Some of the papers in this volume were originally presented at just such a conference hosted by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics (LSE) on 28 September 2001 and organized (beautifully) by Joanna Swaffield of York University. In what follows the conference papers, those published in this volume, and related research are put into context. Section I deals with the thorny matter of coverage and data. The impact of the NMW on the pay distribution, employment and incomes is set out in section II. Some thoughts on the future of the NMW follow in section III. [source] Latest news and product developmentsPRESCRIBER, Issue 2 2008Article first published online: 11 FEB 200 NICE should evaluate all new medicines NICE should determine the cost effectiveness of all new medicines, the Health Select Committee has concluded in its second review of the Institute. The review, prompted by criticisms from patients, health professionals and the pharmaceutical industry, found that NICE is doing ,a vital job in difficult circumstances'. The Committee called for the costs to carers and society to be included in cost effectiveness estimates (this is currently prohibited) and for cost per QALY thresholds to be aligned with NHS affordability. NICE should publish brief appraisals at the time of a product launch , these could be used to negotiate prices. GPs responsible for unlicensed co-proxamol GPs who prescribe co-proxamol are now responsible for the consequences, the MHRA warns. The Agency agrees that the drug may be needed by ,a small group of patients who are likely to find it very difficult to change from co-proxamol or where alternatives appear not to be effective or suitable'. Following the withdrawal of product licences, stock that is currently in the supply chain may be dispensed but no new stock should be released by suppliers. The Drug Tariff price of co-proxamol has now increased from £2.79 to £20.36 per 100 tablets. Vitamin D deficiency on the increase Pregnant and breastfeeding women may need vitamin D supplements, the Department of Health has warned, and GPs are seeing increasing numbers of patients with vitamin D deficiency. Endogenous synthesis may be low in some ethnic groups and dark-skinned people, and north of Birmingham there is no light of the appropriate wavelength for the synthesis of vitamin D during the winter. The Department says free vitamin supplements are available for eligible patients through its Healthy Start Scheme (www.healthystart.nhs.uk) and may also be supplied at low cost by some PCTs. Innovation and good practice recognised Innovative practice and better outcomes for patients have been recognised through awards from the NHS Alliance and Improvement Foundation presented by the Secretary of State for Health, Rt Hon Alan Johnson, at the annual NHS Alliance conference held in Manchester. The Mountwood Surgery in Northwood, Middlesex, won the CHD QOF GP Practice Award sponsored by Schering Plough for their outstanding multidisciplinary approach to tackling CHD. In addition to having a highly organised in-house cardiology team, they have produced an interactive, patient-empowering booklet for CHD. Mountwood Surgery achieved blood pressure targets of 96.79 per cent in their CHD patients. North Tees PCT wins the CHD QOF PCO Award, also sponsored by Schering Plough, for their support and encouragement to GP practices to ,own' CHD care. They provide timely feedback of performance data using funnel plots and regular communication by the CHD LIT and Cardiac Network. Even though North Tees PCT has a high CHD prevalence, 4.2 per cent vs 3.6 per cent nationally, across the 27 practices 85 per cent of patients achieved cholesterol targets and 91 per cent reached the QOF blood pressure target. The St Benedict's Hospice Day Centre Project (for the Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust) won the Guy Rotherham Award for its excellent multidisciplinary team improvement of the palliative care provided. This team demonstrated a thorough understanding of the use of quality improvement methods to improve patient care, and carefully measured the individual improvements they made. Through the use of a referral ,decision tree', nonattenders were reduced by 300 per cent and average waiting times halved. The Extended Primary Care (EPC) Gynaecology Service (for the Practice Based Commissioning Consortium South Manchester Hub) was highly commended for its development of an effective and innovative service offering gynaecological treatment managed within a primary care setting, allowing patients improved access closer to home. The Salford Perinatal Mental Health Project was also highly commended for effectively challenging the high levels of maternal suicides. The awards were also supported by Prescriber, the British Cardiac Patients Association and the British Cardiac Society. Anastrozole superior to tamoxifen in long term A new analysis of the ATAC trial (Lancet Oncology 2008;9:45-53) shows that the advantages of the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole (Arimidex) over tamoxifen as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer persist for at least four years after the end of treatment. After primary treatment with surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, postmenopausal women with localised invasive breast cancer were randomised to five years' treatment with anastrozole or tamoxifen. Among 5216 women who were hormone-receptor positive, anastrozole increased disease-free survival by 15 per cent after 100 months. Time to recurrence and distant recurrence were also increased, though overall survival was similar; the absolute difference in time to recurrence was greater at nine years (4.8 per cent) than at five years (2.8 per cent). Joint symptoms and fractures were more frequent with anastrozole during treatment but not thereafter. Use a steroid with a LABA , MHRA reminder The MHRA has reminded clinicians that patients treated with an inhaled long-acting beta-agonist (LABA) should also use an inhaled steroid. In the latest edition of Drug Safety Update (2008;1:No.6), the Agency reviews the implications of the SMART study (Chest 2006;129:15-26), which reported an increased risk of respiratory- and asthma-related deaths among patients using salmeterol (Serevent). This is contradicted by epidemiological data suggesting that asthma-related admissions have declined since LABAs were introduced. Randomised trials also do not support such a risk, probably because inhaled steroids are used more consistently in trial settings. The latest Update notes that product licences for carisoprodol (Carisoma) have been suspended due to concerns about the risk of abuse and psychomotor effects. It also includes a comprehensive summary of drug interactions with statins, a warning that methylene blue should not be prescribed for a patient taking a drug with serotonergic activity, and a reminder that only oral formulations of desmopressin are now licensed for primary nocturnal enuresis. This issue of Update is available at www.mhra.gov.uk. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Interface Ltd [source] Public Health Nursing in Latin AmericaPUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2006Hazel O'Hara ABSTRACT This reprint of excerpts from an article printed in Public Health Nursing in February 1950 by Hazel O'Hara, a staff writer for the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, describes the state of public health nursing in clinics operated under the cooperative health programs of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, in conjunction with governmental entities in Latin American countries and the United States federal government in the mid-20th century. The Institute of Inter-American Affairs was an important element of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor" policy toward Latin America. Conceived by Nelson Rockefeller, Assistant Secretary of State in the Roosevelt administration, the program was delayed by the outbreak of World War II (NLM, 2005, June 22). O'Hara's colorful descriptions of jungle residents and poor residents of urban slums have been omitted because they reflect a past time and sensibility. The remaining information, however, is significant in understanding the development of public health nursing in countries where it had not previously existed, the expansion of the nursing workforce, and the creation of health centers that served communities to improve social conditions as well as health status. [source] Security, Not Defence, Strategic, Not Habit: Restructuring the Political Arrangements for Policy Making on Britain's Role in the WorldTHE POLITICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2010JOHN GEARSON The Conservative,Liberal Democrat coalition government has committed itself to a Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDR) in 2010. The government and the country face very hard choices to bring United Kingdom defence and security policy back from the brink of bankruptcy,both financial and strategic (Gow). To succeed, it must overcome the failings of the past (Chisnall, Dorman, Rees) and take a truly open and radical look at all aspects of policy and process,including the Trident independent nuclear deterrent (Allen), relations with Europe (Witney) and the importance of cyber-issues in the future security context (Fisher). It must get strategic concepts right to provide flexibility with credibility (Stone). It must deliver ,what the military wants': true strategic prioritisation, radical defence acquisition reform, and credible balancing of resources and commitments (Kiszley). The scale of the challenge facing the United Kingdom in,and beyond,the 2010 SDR is why The Political Quarterly convened a workshop early in 2010 involving MPs, practitioners, retired military personnel, journalists, commentators, business people and academics, and publishes these associated papers. Most of all, to overcome the failings of the past, there must be a radical move beyond the welcome first steps of the Cameron,Clegg government to introduce a National Security Council and a National Security Advisor, to reconfigure relationships within government, across departments and with Parliament to have a government figure of accountability and responsibility,a Secretary of State for Security Policy, primus inter pares with other Secretaries of State,to make sense of the questions needing to be asked and answered (Gearson and Gow). [source] Cromwellian England: A Propaganda State?HISTORY, Issue 302 2006JASON PEACEY This article explores the attitude to the press on the part of Oliver Cromwell and his chief ministers in terms of press control and propaganda and in terms of the theory and the practice of government policy. It examines whether the regime sought and whether it was able to achieve strict press control through pre-publication censorship and swift and severe punishment of malefactors as well as effective and pervasive propaganda, which was centrally organized, controlled, funded, and distributed. It argues that between 1653 and 1659 profound changes were implemented regarding intelligence-gathering, press censorship and propaganda in the deployment of resources and bureaucratic efficiency, not least by centralizing power in the hands of the secretary of state, even if the regime sought to exert its power in only some areas of print culture rather than to achieve a complete press monopoly. [source] | |||||||||||||