Setting up FM systems in the UK has traditionally been the role of the Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) or Educational Audiologist. Most FM systems are purchased by Education services and are considered to be an “educational aid”, an essential piece of equipment to facilitate the inclusion of hearing impaired children into mainstream education. Personal hearing aids are provided by the National Health...

A survey of all consultant neurologists was carried out to investigate the current provision of hospital-based adult epilepsy services in the UK and to compare the level of services offered by epilepsy and general neurology clinics. The valid response rate was 75%. Fifty-four epilepsy clinics were identified led by 43 neurologists in 46 hospitals. Over half the major neurological centres repres...

PROBLEM Healthcare organisations are expected both to monitor inequalities in access to health services and also to act to improve access and increase equity in service provision. DESIGN Locally developed action research projects with an explicit objective of reducing inequalities in access. SETTING Eight different health care services in the Yorkshire and Humber region, including community...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to compare differences in cost estimates for paediatric HIV hospital service provision based on hospital prices with cost estimates obtained through a research-based service-specific costing exercise. METHODS Activity data on the use of hospital services of children by stage of HIV infection were collected from case-notes for 118 HIV antibody positiv...

When around-the-clock community care is provided it has been shown to improve the quality of patients’ experience and is effective in reducing unnecessary hospital admissions (Macmillan Cancer Support, 2010). The DH white paper (2012), Caring for our Future: reforming care and support, focuses on achieving more consistency in patients’ access to services around the country. Greater consistency ...

Equity in healthcare in British Columbia is defined as the provision of services based on need rather than ability to pay and a separation of contributions to financing from the use of services. Physician and hospital services in Canada are financed mainly through general tax revenues, and there is a perception that this financing is progressive. This paper uses Gini coefficients, concentration...