BACKGROUND Increasing pressure in the United Kingdom (UK) urgent care system has led to Emergency Departments (EDs) failing to meet the national requirement that 95% of patients are admitted, discharged or transferred within 4-h of arrival. Despite the target being the same for all acute hospitals, individual Trusts organise their services in different ways. The impact of this variation on pati...

Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are drugs that suppress gastric acid secretion. Its use, without support from scientific evidence, can contribute to polypharmacy, lead drug interactions and, in the long term, cause serious adverse reactions. Studies advise physicians deprescribe PPI. A quick review of also called a rapid systematic review, on deprescribing PPI was performed. Evidence searches were...

BACKGROUND Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) are important tools for improving patient care. Patient and public involvement is recognised as an essential component of CPG development and implementation. The Guideline International Network Patient and Public Involvement Working Group (G-I-N PUBLIC) aims to support the development, implementation and evaluation of guideline-oriented patient and ...

On two sunny days in Rome in November 2014, more than 200 people with an interest in core outcome sets (COS) from around the world gathered at The Pontificia Università Lateranense for the fourth meeting of the COMET Initiative. They came from 14 countries: Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, UK and USA. The programme w...

BACKGROUND The importance of patient and public involvement (PPI) in healthcare decisions and research is increasingly recognised. This paper describes the aims, delivery, evaluation and impact of a 'Birdshot Day' organised for patients with birdshot uveitis, their carers and healthcare professionals. METHODS Delivery of this event involved the close collaboration of patients with a large num...

Qualitative research and public patient involvement (PPI) in trials have increased over recent years, and can occur at many stages from inception to implementation. They offer different strengths and limitations, with both often needed to gain a real world perspective. Yet increasingly they are portrayed as a dichotomy in the way they are written about in grant applications, protocols and repor...