Department of Primary Care and Public Health
Week Commencing: 4th April 2011
Issue 29
TUESDAY 5TH APRIL 2011
Aspirin in Perspective: The Risks and Benefits of Aspirin Prophylaxis.
Lecture Theatre 1. 12.30 – 4.00 pm
Aspirin is a well established drug for the reduction of vascular disease and since the first randomised trial was
reported in 1974 Wales has held the initiative in research on aspirin. Now, evidence of a reduction in the risk
of colorectal and other cancers has been reported (Rothwell et al 2010; 2011).* Aspirin prophylaxis could
therefore make a highly important contribution to the preservation of health and to survival throughout the
community. Aspirin prophylaxis may however be seen as a challenge to healthy behaviours and to screening
procedures.
Aspirin increases the risk of gastric bleeding and of haemorrhagic stroke and there is need therefore for a
careful consideration of the risk/benefit balance of the drug.
The role of aspirin prophylaxis within healthcare should be widely discussed – whether its use should be
promoted throughout the community alongside other self-help prophylactic measures, or whether it should be
kept - as far as possible - under the control of healthcare professionals.
*Rothwell et al. Lancet 2010;376:1741-50; Rothwell et al. Lancet 2011;327:31-41.
Light refreshments will be available from 12.00 to 1.00 pm
DEPARTMENT NEWS / INFORMATION
STAFF NEWS
Bike Theft: A member of staff had their bike stolen last week outside Meirionnydd. CU Security have been
informed but staff are asked to be cautious when parking their bikes outside the building.
-----------------------------------------------Department BBQ: Thank you to those who have responded. It appears the best date is 15th July. At the
moment there is approximately 30 people who have registered an interested in attending. We need at
least 40 people for us to make a booking. Please email pcphadmin@cardiff.ac.uk by Friday 8th April to
confirm if you could like to be included in the numbers. We can then work out if there are enough people
to make the booking. Thanks.
-----------------------------------------------------Reporting Sickness: A gentle reminder that if you are unable to attend work due to sickness you need to
telephone your line manager on your first day of sickness.
Your line manager must notify
pcphadmin@cardiff.ac.uk who will send the SAN form for the member of staff to complete on their return
to work and also the documentation to complete the return to work interview.
1
Department of Primary Care and Public Health
CURRENT JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE DEPARTMENT
Externally Advertised
Database Programmer, Grade 6 (Job Reference: 2011/0132) – Fixed Term for 1 year.
To
design, configure and develop a Windows 2008 Server and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for installation into a
busy trials unit, upgrading current databases into a robust, secure, maintainable SQL back end with secure,
easily accessible services, with well-documented coding and administrative procedures. Closing Date: 4th
April 2011
Senior Statistician / Scientific Lead, Grade 7 (Job Reference: 2011/0711) – Fixed Term for 2
years.
You will be the Scientific Lead at the WCTU for a specific disease area and will be responsible for
the development of the trial portfolio in that area. You will be responsible for all aspects of designing,
running and reporting of trials in their areas and will ensure that all trials in their portfolio are running to
regulatory requirements. For an informal discussion, please contact the Scientific Director at the WCTU,
Gareth Griffiths, telephone: 029 2068 7456 or email: griffithsg@cardiff.ac.uk
Positions recently been advertised on redeployment and will move to external advertising
shortly.
Quality Assurance Manager, Grade 6 (Job Reference: 2011/0176) – Fixed Term until 31st
March 2015
- The Quality Assurance Manager will take the lead role in the long term strategic
development of the quality and regulatory management of South East Wales Trials Unit (SEWTU) and assist
the SEWTU Director and Assistant Director in maintaining the UKCRC registered status of the Unit.
Research Assistant / Data Manager, Grade 5 (Job Reference: 2011/0177) – Fixed term until
30th April 2012 (part time 17.5 hours per week). To work as part of a research team on the DUTY
Study. The successful candidate will join the team responsible for the DUTY study. The research team is led
by Professor Chris Butler (Head of Primary Care & Public Health Dept) and Professor Kerry Hood, Director
at SEWTU, and involves collaboration with colleagues in the University of Bristol, Kings College London and
Southampton University. DUTY is an observational study of unwell children under five years of age
presenting at primary care practices, with the aim of developing a clinical prediction rule for the diagnosis
of urinary tract infections. The study is taking place in four regional centres, with SEWTU being responsible
for study recruitment across Wales.
Lecturer, Grade 7 (Job Reference: 2011/0181) – 3 years fixed term.
To make a significant
teaching contribution by teaching statistics on the Master of Public Health programme and in terms of
teaching statistics and a significant academic contribution to the reproductive health epidemiology research
programme.
2
Department of Primary Care and Public Health
REQUIREMENT FOR RESEARCHERS TO REPORT PATIENT RECRUITMENT INFORMATION:
Message from Jon Bisson: I am writing to draw your attention to the letter in the attached link
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/news.cfm?orgid=952&contentid=18448
The letter is from Professor Keith Lloyd, Head of the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research
(NISCHR), Welsh Assembly Government, and outlines the new requirement for researchers to report
patient recruitment information.
NISCHR will be collecting baseline information for 2010/11 on patient recruitment into studies. NHS
organisations will be expected to report on patient recruitment against each study registered with their
R&D Office. The annual reporting template will be issued to R&D offices in the next few weeks. A total
recruitment figure will need to be recorded against each study reported.
I am writing to alert you to the importance of ensuring that the relevant staff in your Division provide this
data to the R&D Office. We have already sent an email to all Principal Investigators (PI) of ongoing
projects to forewarn them that this data will need to be provided in the near future (If you are a PI, you
may have already have received the email). Once the annual reporting template has been issued to the
UHB R&D office, we will be contacting all PIs again to request that they complete a proforma to include
patient recruitment information. A definition of recruitment and recruitment data is given below:
Definition of Recruitment
"All study participants who provide consent for a research activity and who are counted as part of the
overall sample size should be recorded in the recruitment figures." Recruitment data are data relating to:
patients recruited to a treatment regime
staff members who have completed questionnaire(s) or been interviewed in research
individual members of focus groups
the collection of tissue or blood samples during research
participants who have answered questions during research.
In each of these situations, NISCHR will require the study title, a named recruitment contact for the study
and a total number of individuals that have consented to participate in the study in 2010/11.
Where a recruitment event occurs twice in the same study, e.g. a staff member completes two
questionnaires or a sample is tested twice, the recruitment is only normally counted once.
Please could you encourage Principal Investigators within your Division to provide this information in a
timely manner once the proforma is sent to them.
3
Department of Primary Care and Public Health
DATES FOR THE DIARY:
Medical Education Research Support & Development Group meeting Wednesday 6th April:
Division of Medical Education in the Old Hatch, Room 1.10, Upper Ground Floor, A Block,
School of Medicine, Heath Park. Everyone welcome! Any queries - please contact me direct on
monrouxelv@cardiff.ac.uk
Wednesday 6th April 2011 12.30-13.30: Researching Change – Continuing the discussion around
developing and engaging in medical education research around educational change at the School of
Medicine: Identifying area's and developing the research questions
Wednesday 4th May 2011 12.30.13.30: Medical education research: Do we really need ethical
approval? Andrew Freedman leading the discussion
Thursday 2nd June 2011 12.30-13.30: Focus of session to be arranged
Wednesday 6th July 2011 12.30-13.30: ASME presentations
Thursday 4th August 2011 12.30-13.30: AMEE presentations
-------------------------------The Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality Registered Research Group wanted to give you
advance notice that we will be hosting a lecture by Professor Rycroft Malone from Bangor
University on mobilising knowledge and evidence in clinical practice.
The objectives of this Lecture are to:
(i) discuss the role of knowledge translation research in patient safety and healthcare quality
(ii) explain why healthcare practitioners—clinical and managerial—do not use evidence-based practices
as part of their daily healthcare praxis; and
(iii) to present models and frameworks which facilitate the implementation of evidence-based practice.
The lecture is to be held in Cardiff University Tenovous Lecture Theatre on Wednesday 11th
May 2011 from 11:30 to 2pm and will be followed by lunch and an opportunity for discussion. Further
information, including the lecture synopsis, will follow shortly. As numbers are going to be restricted we
would be very grateful if you could inform us of your intention to attend by emailing Dawn Cassley at
cassleydm@cardiff.ac.uk, before we circulate more widely.
-------------------------------------------------School of City and Regional Planning Public Lecture and Seminar Series: TUESDAY 5 APRIL 2011 - 1PM ROOM 1.67, GLAMORGAN BUILDING The Relationship Between Perceived Neighbourhoods and
Statistical Units of Analysis, a Study of Cardiff. Dr Scott Orford, Cardiff University (WISERD &
CPLAN). Please register to attend this seminar: Ruth Leo (LeoR@cardiff.ac.uk)
-------------------------------------------------
4
Department of Primary Care and Public Health
THE PERNICIOUS ANAEMIA SOCIETY: Diagnosing B12 Deficiency – Problems, Consequences
and Resolution: Thursday June 9th, 2011.
This society has recently completed a survey of our
members that related to how they were diagnosed. The survey was designed and had been analysed by
doctors who are members of this society.
The results prove what we have long suspected, that there are serious issues with the way in which B12
Deficiency is diagnosed. 12% of our members were wrongly diagnosed as suffering from Depression with
23% waiting ten years or more to be identified as being deficient in B12.
We have recently completed a documentary which saw us filming various academics and highly respected
clinicians who know that the current test to determine B12 Deficiency is only identifying around 48% of
patients as being deficient in B12 – this leads to misdiagnosis and unnecessary suffering by patients.
This society has organised a Symposium that will bring together clinicians, researchers, academics and GPs
to be presented with new research findings that identify this easily rectified problem with diagnosing B12
Deficiency.
Please find attached an invitation to the Symposium being held in Porthcawl on June 9th that also includes
the list of speakers and their paper titles.
IT
Lotus Notes *at risk* and brief IMAP outages - Tuesday, 5th April, 1700 hrs to 1800 hrs
What is being done? Fixes are being applied to the Domino (Lotus Notes) servers
When is it being done? Tuesday, 5th April, 1700 to 1800hrs
Who will be affected? All Lotus Notes and IMAP users
How will this affect users? Lotus Notes should be considered *at risk* during this time; IMAP users will
experience brief outages of service during this period
Why is it being done? To apply critical fixes to prevent server failure
Items for the Newsletter: If you would like to include a contribution to the newsletter, please email
pcphadmin@cardiff.ac.uk by Friday at 3.00 pm
5