Guest guest Posted November 29, 2004 Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 Hi Matt & All, Matt Bauer forwarded this: > Acupunct Med. 2004 Sep;22(3):137-40. A survey of the use of > self-AP in pain clinics--a safe way to meet increasing demand? > Orpen M, Harvey G, Millard J. Nottingham City Hospital, UK. > Michele.Orpen An AP service is well established > within a pain clinic in Nottingham, England, and is now unable to > meet the increasing demand for treatment despite recent expansion. > Patients used to be offered training in self-AP. This was > withdrawn because of safety concerns, but is being considered again > as a way of meeting the demand. There is little published research > on the topic, so a survey of 42 English hospitals was conducted to > establish whether AP services are provided, and to discover > whether others were offering training in self-AP to patients. > Thirty hospitals replied, 23 of which offer an AP service. The > average waiting time for the first AP treatment was 18.5 weeks, and > the average waiting time for follow up treatments was 9 weeks. One > hospital taught patients auricular self-AP, another was planning > to teach patients, and a third hospital had previously taught > patients but stopped. Discussing these findings, ! concerns are > raised about the safety of self-AP, and issues about patient > selection, training, information, supervision and supply of > materials are reviewed. A debate on these issues would be > valuable. PMID: 15551938 [PubMed - in process] Matt, WOW ... almost unbelievable!!! The mind boggles: Mean waiting time for Session #1 of 18.5 weeks, and for follow up treatments 9 weeks! AND DIY AP! Suffer pain for 18.5 weeks and wait another 9 weeks for followup? Or do they load up on steroids / NSAIDS in the meantime? At what cost, relative to the cost of effective AP immediately? This is more entertaining (if sadder) than the stories of Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter! What on earth is the UK Hospital administration thinking here? How come the UK AP Boards do not get to the Minister of Health IMMEDIATELY to offer proper professional services, IN or OUTSIDE of the Hospital System? Would an efficient referral system from the over-worked hospital staff to qualified therapists not solve this problem? Best regards, Email: < WORK : Teagasc, c/o 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0] HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0] WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm Chinese Proverb: " Man who says it can't be done, should not interrupt man doing it " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 29, 2004 Report Share Posted November 29, 2004 Hi Phil and Matt, Bloody good question Phil, why don't the UK AP boards do something about it. I can't see them doing anything in particular. Shame none of them are willing to voice their opinions on this group, would be interesting to hear what they have to say. Kind regards Attilio D'Alberto Doctor of (Beijing, China) BSc (Hons) TCM MATCM 07786198900 attiliodalberto <http://www.attiliodalberto.com/> www.attiliodalberto.com How come the UK AP Boards do not get to the Minister of Health IMMEDIATELY to offer proper professional services, IN or OUTSIDE of the Hospital System? Would an efficient referral system from the over-worked hospital staff to qualified therapists not solve this problem? Best regards, Email: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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