BACKGROUND The English National Health Service's (NHS) Stop Smoking Services (SSSs) constitute one of the most highly developed behavioural support programmes in the world. However, there is significant variation in success rates across the approximately 150 services, some of which may be due to variation in practice. This study aimed to assess these differences in practice. METHODS Two onlin...

BACKGROUND The National Health Service (NHS) Health Check is a cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment and management programme in England aiming to increase CVD risk awareness among people at increased risk of CVD. There is no tool to assess the effectiveness of the programme in communicating CVD risk to patients. AIMS The aim of this paper was to develop a questionnaire examining patie...

OBJECTIVES Given many countries' ageing populations, policymakers must consider how to mitigate or reduce health problems associated with old age, within budgetary constraints. Evidence of use of digital technology in delaying the onset of illness and reducing healthcare service use is mixed, with no clear consensus as yet. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between frequent internet u...

National evidence-based guidelines for preventing healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England were originally commissioned by the Department of Health and developed during 1998-2000 by a nurse-led multi-professional team of researchers and specialist clinicians. Following extensive consultation, they were first published in January 2001(1) and u...

INTRODUCTION the 24 h telephone health information and advice service in England and Wales, NHS Direct, aims to help callers manage health problems and relieve pressure on primary healthcare services. Although older people may use NHS Direct less than other age groups, no research has specifically investigated older people's use of the service. AIMS the aim of this study was to describe the o...

BACKGROUND Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) have been set up in the National Health Service (NHS) in England to enable patients and the public to access information and raise issues they are concerned about their health care. The aim of this study was to examine to what extent, and how, PALS have promoted children's, young people's and parents' access to and use of the service. METH...

OBJECTIVES The presented study aimed to explore referral patterns of National Health Service (NHS) Direct to determine how patients engage with telephone-based healthcare and how telephone-based healthcare can manage urgent and emergency care. SETTING NHS Direct, England, UK PARTICIPANTS: NHS Direct anonymised call data (N=1,415,472) were extracted over a representative 1-year period, during ...

OBJECTIVES We present a national evaluation of the impact of independent verification visits (IVVs) performed by National Health Service (NHS) England as part of quality assuring medical revalidation. Organisational visits are central to NHS quality assurance. They are costly, yet little empirical research evidence exists concerning their impact, and what does exist is conflicting. SETTING Th...

Objectives To evaluate the implementation and adoption of the NHS detailed care records service in “early adopter” hospitals in England. Design Theoretically informed, longitudinal qualitative evaluation based on case studies. Setting 12 “early adopter” NHS acute hospitals and specialist care settings studied over two and a half years. Data sources Data were collected through in depth interview...