Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog
Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog
The NHS is deeply embedded in the social and cultural DNA of the nation – because it’s a caring, accessible, high quality service for all, and so is publicly funded through the tax system. The NHS is massively respected and valued by the public, but the healthcare system is in crisis with particularly serious problems […]
Dr Chris Clark writes: The difference in blood pressure between arms sometimes found in the surgery has been a longstanding research interest of mine. After joining the Mid Devon Medical Practice we were able to start studying it and demonstrated the first association of an interarm blood pressure difference with poorer survival outcomes in 2002. […]
About 1 million people in the UK are living with heart failure, a condition with a range of symptoms, including breathlessness at rest and on exertion, and fatigue. Exercise training, which can be offered as part of a rehabilitation programme, is often used as a means of helping patients with heart failure to manage their […]
A training course for pharmacists to have extended patient-facing roles in primary care There was certainly demand for the course. Forty-two pharmacists applied for sixteen places on the University of Exeter’s ‘The Pharmacist in Primary Care – an Introduction’ continuing professional development course. Pharmacists were selected to be a participant on their written descriptions of […]
The chances are that you are a caregiver or will be in the future. Three in five of us will be a caregiver at some point in our lives supporting at least one person with a long-term condition. A caregiver (or carer) is defined by the Carers Trust as: “anyone who cares, unpaid, for a […]
The UK is making a serious attempt to prevent type 2 diabetes. We know that the development of type 2 diabetes is strongly driven by excess weight and low levels of physical activity. High quality trials have shown that this process is reversible through lifestyle change. The NHS England “One You ” national diabetes prevention […]
We are all aware of the challenges presently faced by the GP workforce, which include decreased NHS expenditure and resources for general practice and persistent difficulties recruiting new GPs and with retaining the existing workforce. All of this is in the context of increased workload through greater numbers of consultations, increased prevalence of co-morbidity and […]
Quite a lot has been happening on the mental health front within the University over recent months that has relevance to APEx. I’d like to take this opportunity to update you all. In particular, there have been a number of very important appointments. Firstly, Professor Clive Ballard was appointed as the new Dean of the […]
Many people (58% of the English population) have multiple health conditions. Having multiple health conditions is associated with worse quality of life, depression, reduced functional status, increased risk of premature death, and more potentially avoidable hospital admissions. In the Health Services and Policy Research Group at Exeter, we have been conducting research into the causes […]
There are four GP Academic Clinical Fellows (ACFs) based at the University of Exeter. We are all GP trainees who have the exciting opportunity of extending our training by a year to integrate academic experience and prepare us for a career in academic primary care. Two of us joined Professors Willie Hamilton and Jose Valderas […]