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Recruitment is one of the main strategic tools for universities, which aim to hire the best possible candidates for their academic positions. However, not every institution can hire whom they perceive as the best. Our paper investigates what are perceived to be the most pressing hindrances to attracting the best researchers. We focus on national and disciplinary differences in researchers' perceptions of barriers to recruiting the best scholars in their fields. We surveyed researchers in economics and physics in the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK and find that economists emphasize salary level and institutional prestige as the main barriers, while physicists underline competition from non-academic actors and career development opportunities. We further find differences by country. In Norway, limited institutional prestige is a key barrier to attracting the best researchers, while researchers in the UK highlight salary levels. Respondents at Dutch universities claim that they experience multiple, equally important barriers.

Background. Between 2015 and 2020, 1,578 care homes in the UK closed, displacing nearly 50,000 older and disabled people with very significant care and support needs. It is widely thought that relocation can have a significant impact on the health and well-being of older people. Yet, evidence is limited due to sensitivity and logistical difficulties with data collection. This study aimed to review the published literature in order to (i) identify evidence on the costs, consequences, and wider impacts of care home closures, for older people, family members, care home staff, and local authorities and (ii) understand the causes of and processes surrounding the closure of residential care homes in the UK. Methods. Eight electronic databases (Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, ASSIA, HMIC, AgeInfo, and SPP) were searched from 1st January 2000 to 9th February 2023; Google and Google Scholar were searched for guidance/policy documents from the grey literature. Data on the objectives, methods, and main results were extracted, and the findings were narratively reported. Results. Eighteen records, comprising guidance documents and academic publications (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches), met the inclusion criteria. We found a lack of good quality evidence on costs of closure and no consideration of outcomes for staff. Studies reporting on outcomes for residents suggest there may not be any long-term adverse effects on their health, in contrast to often-expressed views that care home closures result in harm. Conclusion. Future research should consider the stress and anxiety experienced by staff and families as relevant outcomes and show caution with respect to the use of proxy reporting of resident health outcomes. Given that a sizable portion of the costs associated with care home closure falls on local authorities, an evidence-based approach to closures that includes an assessment of cost-effectiveness will help to improve future outcomes and guide the most efficient use of limited public resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effectiveness of liberalization policy on the intercity coach market in England and Wales and evaluates its impact in promoting competition and enhancing welfare. The paper adds to the current literature by assessing this policy focusing on natural monopolies, deriving a structural model of the industry and using web-scraped key market-level data in the study. Regression analysis and descriptive statistics suggest peripheral routes with a small market size are natural monopolies, where passengers pay higher prices. We estimate a structural model, currently absent from the literature, which shows that these routes are characterized by lower welfare levels. The model allows us to simulate a policy promoting competition on such routes showing that a regulator could generate net welfare gains by implementing a more competitive equilibrium on these routes. This paper confirms the dominant conclusion that unregulated coach industries detrimentally consolidate, as demonstrated in other European markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport committee's inquiry into the economics of music streaming. The scrutiny of the committee's oral and written evidence, and final report is placed within the context of the music industry's significance to UK cultural policy since the late 1990s. The perspectives of the UK's musicians and song-writers are a focal point of the analysis of the inquiry's published documentation, as they are when discussing the committee's recommendations released in July 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income and political attitudes are powerfully correlated in cross‐sectional data, yet research based on panel data finds at most a weak correlation. In this paper, we examine this puzzling pattern by exploring the long‐term evolution of attitudes over the life cycle. We evaluate the predictions of five different explanations on the relationship between attitudes and income experiences. These explanations focus on, respectively: socialization, anticipation, myopic self‐interest, learning and status maximization. We employ accelerated longitudinal design models using data on core political values that span up to sixteen years from the British Household Panel Survey. Our findings reconcile the mixed evidence in the literature: the correlation between income and political attitudes, strong in cross‐sectional studies but weak in short panel studies, emerges because attitudes crystallize – slowly but systematically – as income evolves over the life cycle. This pattern is most consistent with the learning explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study has been conducted with 302 original contributions with a total of 8347 citations contributed by 549 authors published in volumes 74 (393) to 83 (332) of the renowned Journal, Economica, New Series during 2007-2016. An analysis of the different forms of literature, authorship pattern, language-wise cited articles, country-wise distribution, subject-wise distribution, ranking of cited journals, and obsolescence study has been made. Among the citations, articles accounted for 63.83% and books 26.49%. The highest number of articles totaling 5319(99.83%) has emanated from the English language. The first two countries USA and UK are responsible for 83.75% of the articles and 90.49% of the books. Most articles (59.891%) were published on core subjects of research, which include Econometrics, American Economics, Political Economics, International Economics, Monetary Economics, European Economics, and Public Economics. Literature in Economics published during the last 20 years contributes almost 68.506% of the total literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender norms, roles and relations differentially affect women, men, and non-binary individuals' vulnerability to disease. Outbreak response measures also have immediate and long-term gendered effects. However, gender-based analysis of outbreaks and responses is limited by lack of data and little integration of feminist analysis within global health scholarship. Recognising these barriers, this paper applies a gender matrix methodology, grounded in feminist political economy approaches, to evaluate the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in four case studies: China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK. Through a rapid scoping of documentation of the gendered effects of the outbreak, it applies the matrix framework to analyse findings, identifying common themes across the case studies: financial discrimination, crisis in care, and unequal risks and secondary effects. Results point to transnational structural conditions which put women on the front lines of the pandemic at work and at home while denying them health, economic and personal security – effects that are exacerbated where racism and other forms of discrimination intersect with gender inequities. Given that women and people living at the intersections of multiple inequities are made additionally vulnerable by pandemic responses, intersectional feminist responses should be prioritised at the beginning of any crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges in the modern National Health Service cannot be underestimated. Workforce pressures alongside increasing demands for healthcare requires creative adaptation to services. This article describes the introduction of interim wound dressing kits into residential homes and the resulting positive improvements to patient care. It details how a clear baseline investigation of a clinical issue, the use of modern technology and adherence to a structured process can achieve project goals. The objective of maintaining patient safety in relation to interim wound care was met, resulting in a reduction of same-day and out-of-hours community nurse visits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Migraine is the world's second most common disabling disorder, affecting 15% of UK adults and costing the UK over £1.5 billion per year. Several costly new drugs have been approved by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness of drugs used to treat adults with chronic migraine. Methods: We did a systematic review of placebo-controlled trials of preventive drugs for chronic migraine. We then assessed the cost-effectiveness of the currently prescribable drugs included in the review: Onabotulinum toxin A (BTA), Eptinezumab (100mg or 300mg), Fremanezumab (monthly or quarterly dose), Galcanezumab or Topiramate, each compared to placebo, and we evaluated them jointly. We developed a Markov (state-transition) model with a three-month cycle length to estimate the costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for the different medications from a UK NHS and Personal Social Services perspective. We used a two-year time horizon with a starting age of 30 years for the patient cohort. We estimated transition probabilities based on monthly headache days using a network meta-analysis (NMA) developed by us, and from published literature. We obtained costs from published sources and applied discount rates of 3.5% to both costs and outcomes. Results: Deterministic results suggest Topiramate was the least costly option and generated slightly more QALYs than the placebo, whereas Eptinezumab 300mg was the more costly option and generated the most QALYs. After excluding dominated options, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) between BTA and Topiramate was £68,000 per QALY gained and the ICER between Eptinezumab 300mg and BTA was not within plausible cost-effectiveness thresholds. The cost-effectiveness acceptability frontier showed that Topiramate is the most cost-effective medication for any amount the decision maker is willing-to-pay per QALY. Conclusions: Among the various prophylactic medications for managing chronic migraine, only Topiramate was within typical cost-effectiveness threshold ranges. Further research is needed, ideally an economic evaluation alongside a randomised trial, to compare these newer, expensive CGRP MAbs with the cheaper oral medications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This unique evaluation aimed to estimate, the financial impact of non‐attendance on a nation‐wide hospital lymphoedema service. Along with gaining some understanding of patient characteristics of those who Did Not Attend (DNA) and were subsequently discharged. The evaluation design interrogated existing performance data from 2012 to 2022. This information was used to estimate the costs incurred based on national published sources and pay scales. Staffing costs of over £1.1 m in one decade related to the financial impact of over 23 000 unattended lymphoedema appointments. The characteristics of 870 patients from 2019/2020 were also evaluated suggesting that those with a wound alongside complex lymphoedema were less likely to DNA appointments. Two‐thirds of patients were managing two or more comorbidities—obesity, cardiac conditions and diabetes being the most common. It seems likely that some DNAs are avoidable by adapting appointment administrative processes and greater understanding of patients' perception of value. However, the reasons for DNA are likely to be varied and nuanced so potentially a small proportion are unavoidable. Modernising appointment processes and identifying patient value may help minimise DNA costs in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the economic dimensions of war. It considers empirical literature through structure review to explore the different effects of war on businesses. The scope of the study covers all geographical areas and studies dealing with any respective event in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, the study caters for quality, relevance, and recentness in publications. Hence, publications in 4*, 4, and 3 stars journals that are placed in Association of Business Schools of UK Guidelines in 2015 are reviewed. The study with its extant literature presents an important realization that against the stereo‐typed opinion about war being devastating to businesses indicates that war affects in various dimensions, that is, positive, negative, or even no effects depending on the nature and place of business. Whereas businesses, in general, may be negatively affected in wartime, businesses critical to war may get an unprecedented boost. The study also indicates a dire need of developing a framework for investigating this important relationship on sound footings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the nineteenth century, British imperial doctors found that the glycerinated lymph they received from British-based pharmaceutical companies became inert, failing to protect colonial populations against smallpox. Colonial doctors and their British suppliers thus took a fresh look at the preservation media used for lymph as they discovered how different kinds of lymph reacted to 'tropical' climates. British lymph distributors like the Society of Apothecaries sought to maintain their economic hold and influence on the colonies, which provided them with significant commercial outlets to sell lymph, through exploring new modes of preserving lymph. Colonial doctors, however, used the issue to argue for the ability to locally produce vaccine, creating a more economical and dependable production line for the colonies. Building on scholarship on imperial climates, public health, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, I argue that together, colonial climates and local preferences forced calf vaccine lymph producers and users in Britain to redefine their ideas about what constituted smallpox vaccination. These issues affected where colonial lymph was produced and who benefited from lymph's economic power and scientific authority across international borders, exposing how the tropical colonial climate shifted how long-standing medical technologies were produced and distributed across international borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical negligence claims for pressure injuries against the NHS continue to rise annually. This article will discuss the number of claims and financial costs to the NHS, together with the legal processes involved. Issues such as duty of care, breach of duty and harm and how these are interpreted in law will be explained, together with advice on how to avoid a potential negligence claim in the future. The author will discuss scenarios specific to primary care, such as non-adherence to pressure injury prevention strategies and how to manage these effectively. The importance of accurate, concise, relevant and factual documentation will also be discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom Government has undertaken unprecedented economic activity to support UK business during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This article applies the law and economics of corporate bankruptcy to these provisions. In particular, it examines whether legal responses to the pandemic encourage Type I bankruptcy errors (where a company that could be saved enters a terminal insolvency process) or Type II bankruptcy errors (where a company that could not be saved avoids a terminal insolvency process). Whilst more could undoubtedly have been done, it seems that the UK Government's actions to avoid Type I errors arising from the pandemic may have caused Type II errors. More pertinently, it is almost impossible for the UK Government to lift these protections in a neutral way – if all are uniformly lifted too soon, then this will result in Type I errors; if all are uniformly lifted too late, then this will result in Type II errors. It is impossible and undesirable to decide when to lift protections on a case‐by‐case basis, and any attempt to selectively lift protections results in the UK Government deciding which sectors have advantages post‐COVID‐19 and which do not. Accordingly, in setting and lifting legal protections, the UK Government finds itself a key market actor in deciding the post‐COVID‐19 shape of the UK market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the financial, emotional and relationship impacts of involuntary childlessness and treatment, and the satisfaction with support from professionals. 796 participants in the UK completed an online survey based on a similar survey conducted in 1997. 55% of participants had to pay for at least part of their treatment. High levels of distress were experienced and 42% experienced suicidal feelings at least occasionally. Those most at risk of distress and suicidal feelings had experienced unsuccessful treatment outcomes, spent longer trying to conceive and reported some relationship strains. While 75% would like to have received counselling if it had been free, 45% only received such counselling and 54% of these had to fund some of it themselves. Although advances have been made in improving the availability of funded treatment and psychological support, involuntary childlessness and treatment continue to have financial, emotional and relationship consequences for many people. While counselling was generally reported to be useful, an approach involving all fertility clinic staff in the psychosocial care of clients is advisable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Ageism has increased over 200 years and costs the U.S. health care system $63 billion a year. While scholars agree on the consequences of ageism, there are disagreements on whether it is related to the demographics of aging, or society's cultural values. We test both hypotheses across 20 countries. Method To circumvent the sampling limitations of survey studies, we used an 8-billion-word corpus, identified 3 synonyms with the highest prevalence—aged, elderly, old people—and compiled the top 300 words (collocates) that were used most frequently with these synonyms for each of the 20 countries. The resulting 6,000 collocates were rated on an ageism scale by 2 raters to create an ageism score per country. Cultural dimension scores—Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-term Orientation—were taken from Hofstede, and demographics—size and speed of population aging—came from the World Development Indicators. Results Of the 20 countries, UK topped the ageism table, while Sri Lanka had the lowest ageism score. Multiple regression models showed that higher levels of masculinity and long-term orientation are associated with ageism, controlling for other cultural dimensions, demographics (size and speed of aging), and economics (GDP-per-capita). Discussion Our findings blunt the deterministic nature of ageism at the societal level. Demographics is only one side of the ageism coin, and the cultural side is equally, if not more important. This study lays the groundwork to tackle societal ageism—one of our generation's most pernicious threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global trend of declining fertility rates and an increasingly ageing population has led to increased scrutiny of parenthood. Although there are more childless men than childless women, there is very little research literature on the impact of male childlessness. The childless are absent from much social science literature, which has mainly focussed on family and women. Feminist studies into infertility and ageing have highlighted the absence of the male experience. Involuntary childlessness has been viewed as a complex bereavement formed by multiple losses. Distress levels in both men and women in this population have been found to be as high those with grave medical conditions. The aim of this study was to examine older men's experience of involuntary childlessness. This piece draws on my qualitative auto/biographical doctoral study that was framed by biographical, life course, gerontological, and feminist approaches. Data collection involved in-depth semi-structured biographical interviews with 14 self-defined involuntary childless men aged between 49 and 82 years from across the United Kingdom. A latent thematic analysis highlighted the complex intersections between agency, biology, childlessness, economics, mental and physical health, relationships, and socio-cultural structures. Findings countered the stereotype that men are not interested in reproduction. I argue that that involuntary childlessness should be considered as a significant factor in older men's poor health and social capital. This piece challenges the common narratives that the social, emotional, and relational aspects of involuntary childlessness do not affect men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Overconsumption of energy from food is a major contributor to the high rates of overweight and obesity in many populations. There is growing evidence that interventions that target the food environment may be effective at reducing energy intake. The current study aimed to estimate the effect of decreasing the proportion of higher energy (kcal) foods, with and without reducing portion size, on energy purchased in worksite cafeterias.Methods and Findings: This stepped-wedge randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluated 2 interventions: (i) availability: replacing higher energy products with lower energy products; and (ii) size: reducing the portion size of higher energy products. A total of 19 cafeterias were randomised to the order in which they introduced the 2 interventions. Availability was implemented first and maintained. Size was added to the availability intervention. Intervention categories included main meals, sides, cold drinks, snacks, and desserts. The study setting was worksite cafeterias located in distribution centres for a major United Kingdom supermarket and lasted for 25 weeks (May to November 2019). These cafeterias were used by 20,327 employees, mainly (96%) in manual occupations. The primary outcome was total energy (kcal) purchased from intervention categories per day. The secondary outcomes were energy (kcal) purchased from nonintervention categories per day, total energy purchased per day, and revenue. Regression models showed an overall reduction in energy purchased from intervention categories of -4.8% (95% CI -7.0% to -2.7%), p < 0.001 during the availability intervention period and a reduction of -11.5% (95% CI -13.7% to -9.3%), p < 0.001 during the availability plus size intervention period, relative to the baseline. There was a reduction in energy purchased of -6.6% (95% CI -7.9% to -5.4%), p < 0.001 during the availability plus size period, relative to availability alone. Study limitations include using energy purchased as the primary outcome (and not energy consumed) and the availability only of transaction-level sales data per site (and not individual-level data).Conclusions: Decreasing the proportion of higher energy foods in cafeterias reduced the energy purchased. Decreasing portion sizes reduced this further. These interventions, particularly in combination, may be effective as part of broader strategies to reduce overconsumption of energy from food in out-of-home settings.Trial Registration: ISRCTN registry ISRCTN87225572. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic literature searching identified 29 relevant health and social sciences articles for review on the topic of austerity policies and their impacts on the health and social care of disabled, elderly and immigrants in the United Kingdom (UK). Since 2010, government changes to previously state-funded areas meant levels of funding and eligibility changed significantly. Self-funding or self-managing healthcare, but more often social care, was transferred to individuals. While additional funding was given for some treatments, prevention approaches were cut. More people had to depend on non-professional care, mostly from family. Many family carers received no professional advice or information and mostly had to reduce their own employment hours and income to care for a dependent. The quality of services, professional or non-professional, became poorer than pre-2010. These changes increased marginalisation and stigma. Consequently, many 'vulnerable' became 'vilified' – disabled, elderly and immigrants often of the worst affected. Government definitions of 'disability', 'elderly' and 'immigrant' change. UK changes reduced the health and social care available to individuals recently. Individuals were made responsible for knowing about changes that affected them and had to manage their care without professional guidance and support. Some had to use personal funding to maintain their quality of life. Many people felt stigmatised because of the changes and were nervous about seeking help they were entitled to. Health and social care should be joined-up and involve assessment, funding, and services offered as a package. This should be ideally focused on preventing worsening health, early treatment and support for managing long-term conditions. Judging that people currently contributing to the economy through work as those who deserve government services is wrong. Assisting the well-being of those who cannot currently contribute can recognise past contributions and improve potential to contribute, and may reduce future needs for government services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many structural problems facing the UK at present, from a weakened National Health Service to deeply ingrained inequality. These challenges extend through society to clinical practice and have an impact on current mental health research, which was in a perilous state even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. In this editorial, a group of psychiatric researchers who currently sit on the Academic Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and represent the breadth of research in mental health from across the UK discuss the challenges faced in academic mental health research. They reflect on the need for additional investment in the specialty and ask whether this is a turning point for the future of mental health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It's official: The UK is in a recession. The economy has suffered its biggest slump on record with a drop in gross domestic product (GDP) of 20.4%. 1 This is going to have a significant impact on our health and well-being. It risks creating a spiralling decay as we know good health is not only a consequence, but also a condition for sustained and sustainable economic development. 2 In this way, the health of a nation creates a virtuous circle of improved health and improved economic prosperity. How we measure prosperity is therefore important and needs to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on bioethical issues related to mental health, particularly focusing on digital mental health tools, affordability of these tools, the impact of financial stress on mental health, and environmental factors contributing to poor mental health. It emphasizes the need for action, including the introduction of appropriate legislation and addressing health inequalities, to tackle these issues on a broader scale.