Andre Tomlin

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André Tomlin is an Information Scientist with 20 years experience working in evidence-based healthcare. He's worked in the NHS, for Oxford University and since 2002 as Managing Director of Minervation Ltd, a consultancy company who do clever digital stuff for charities, universities and the public sector. Most recently André has been the driving force behind the Mental Elf and the National Elf Service; an innovative digital platform that helps professionals keep up to date with simple, clear and engaging summaries of evidence-based research. André is a Trustee at the Centre for Mental Health and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London Division of Psychiatry. He lives in Bristol, surrounded by dogs, elflings and lots of woodland!

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Trauma-focused CBT reduces anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in children exposed to intimate partner violence

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This small randomised controlled trial conducted in Pittsburgh set out to compare community-provided trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT) with usual community treatment for children with intimate partner violence (IPV)-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The trial randomised 124 children (7-14 year olds) to receive 8 sessions of TF-CBT or usual care (child-centered therapy). A number of [read the full story…]

Better prescribing for schizophrenia requires guidelines, frequent academic activities and a relaxed working environment

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People with schizophrenia are sometimes prescribed multiple antipsychotic drugs, even though clinical guidelines rarely recommend this course of action. This cross-sectional observational study from Denmark explored the reasons behind this prescribing practice in two treatment centres; one that had high rates of antipsychotic polypharmacy and the other that had low rates. The researchers sent a [read the full story…]

The common core principles for supporting people with dementia

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The Department of Health has commissioned Skills for Care and Skills for Health to produce new guidance for health and social care professionals who work with people who have dementia. The publication provides guidance for leaders and managers, commissioners and training and education leads to develop a workforce that can create dementia friendly settings. It [read the full story…]

Commitment to review care for people with dementia on antipsychotic medication

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The Dementia Action Alliance has launched a call to action on the use of antipsychotic drugs for people with dementia: All people with dementia who are receiving antipsychotic drugs should receive a clinical review from their doctor to ensure that their care is compliant with current best practice and guidelines and that alternatives to medication have been [read the full story…]

WordsMatter: a new website to help promote fair mental health reporting

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Unbalanced and prejudicial reporting of mental health issues creates a climate of stigma and discrimination against people who experience mental health problems. This is a major barrier in terms of their everyday lives and can significantly hamper their recovery. There is a gap in terms of a web-based project that allows people to praise and [read the full story…]

Attitudes to mental illness survey shows some improvement but more work needed

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The NHS Information Centre has published a report that presents the findings of a survey of attitudes towards mental illness among adults in England undertaken in 2011. The questionnaire included a number of statements about mental illness. Respondents were asked to indicate how much they agreed or disagreed with each statement. Other questions covered a [read the full story…]

Reducing alcohol related hospital admissions and improving quality of care (QIPP)

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The British Society of Gastroenterology and the Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have published a quality and productivity (QIPP) case study, which looks at how to reduce alcohol related hospital admissions and improve the quality of care. Very few hospitals have dedicated alcohol services, and a 2009 survey showed that only 42% of acute [read the full story…]

New research report on self-management published by The Health Foundation

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Policy-makers, commissioners and healthcare providers will be interested in this new rapid review that compiles evidence about the effects of supporting self-management on people’s quality of life, clinical outcomes and health service use. Reviewers searched more than 10 bibliographic databases for research evidence published up until September 2010. More than 100,000 reports were scanned and the [read the full story…]

Problem-solving therapy better than supportive therapy for reducing disability in depressed old people with executive dysfunction

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A randomised controlled trial published in the Archives of General Psychiatry has found that problem-solving therapy is a useful treatment alternative for elderly people with depression and executive dysfunction who do not respond well to conventional drug treatments. The trial randomised 221 patients to either problem-solving therapy (PST) or supportive therapy (ST) and followed them [read the full story…]

Payment by results for mental health services: an update from the Department of Health

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Bob Alexander (Director of NHS Finance) and Bruce Calderwood (Director of Mental Health Policy) have written to all mental health service leads with an update on Payment by Results for mental health services for working age and older people. The letter confirms that: The Department of Health (DH) are now in the ‘implementation phase’ of mental [read the full story…]