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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NICE launch interactive pathways on a range of mental health topics

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nhs evidence eye

NICE guidance has sometimes suffered from poor accessibility and usability, and as a result, it has not always been implemented at the coalface as well as it could have been. NICE have responded to this criticism by creating a set of interactive online pathways that bring together all of their content around a specific topic. [read the full story…]

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Aripiprazole: maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder. Where’s the evidence?

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Aripiprazole

Aripiprazole is a second-generation antipsychotic that is widely used as a maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder in the US. It was approved by the FDA as a drug for this purpose in 2005. A new systematic review, published in the online journal PLOS medicine, sought to critically review the evidence supporting the use of aripiprazole [read the full story…]

Children with ADHD are more likely to experiment with drugs and alcohol

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A new Californian meta-analysis shows that childhood ADHD increases the risk of smoking in adolescence and alcohol use in young adulthood. The review examined the association of childhood ADHD with substance use (nicotine, alcohol, marijuana) and abuse/dependence outcomes (nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine) by conducting a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies that prospectively followed children with and without [read the full story…]

New NICE guidance on donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and memantine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

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nhs evidence eye

The review and re-appraisal of donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and memantine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease has resulted in a change in the guidance. Specifically: donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine are now recommended as options for managing mild as well as moderate Alzheimer’s disease, and memantine is now recommended as an option for managing moderate Alzheimer’s [read the full story…]

What was the respective effectiveness of olanzapine vs. risperidone in treating aggressive behaviours in adults with learning disability?

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  New generation anti-psychotic medications are being used to treat aggressive behaviours in people with learning disabilities, whether or not individuals have a formal diagnosis of a mental health problem. This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of two such new generation anti-psychotic medications, olanzapine and risperidone. The study looked at how effective these [read the full story…]

How common is the misdiagnosis of epilepsy in people with learning disabilities?

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Epilepsy is a major issue for people with learning disabilities. The National epilepsy society suggest that around 30% of people with mild to moderate learning disability also have epilepsy and the more severe the learning disability, the more likelihood there is that the person will have epilepsy. However, diagnosing epilepsy in a person with learning [read the full story…]

People with learning disabilities in England 2010

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This report from Improving Health and Lives: Learning Disabilities Observatory (IHaL) brings together information on the characteristics of people with learning disabilities, the services and supports they use and their carers. The aim of this report is to provide a concise summary of this information from a variety of Government departments and to provide links [read the full story…]

Are adolescents with learning disabilities more vulnerable to depression than their non disabled peers?

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Self-reported stigma was positively associated with psychological distress

Depression can be difficult to spot in people with learning disabilities. The Royal College of Psychiatrists in its information leaflet points out that for many people with learning disabilities expressing their feelings in words may not come easily, so their actions may speak for them. They suggest that sudden changes in behaviour or mood, or [read the full story…]

What are the experiences of people with learning disabilities who are psychiatric in-patients in out of area placements?

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Compass and map

People with learning disabilities and complex mental health problems are often most at risk of being placed in services a long way from their homes, their families and any natural support systems they may have built up. This study interviewed 17 service users directly affected in this way: they had all been placed away from [read the full story…]

What do women with learning disabilities understand about the menopause?

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The onset of the menopause in women with learning disabilities occurs earlier than in the general population, and earlier still in women with Down’s syndrome (DS). This study set out to listen to a number of women with learning disabilities to find out what they knew about the menopause and about their sexual health more [read the full story…]

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