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Notes and News

MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCILHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH PANEL

FOLLOWING the new arrangements for cooperation between theDepartment of Health and Social Security and the MedicalResearch Council, the M.R.C.’s commitment to health servicesresearch is to be expanded so that, by 1985-86, expenditure willhave increased by £2m each year. A Health Services Research Panelhas been created to advise on policy and applications for research.Prof A. G. Shaper (departmental of clinical epidemiology andgeneral practice, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London)is chairman of the panel, and the following have been appointedmembers:

Sir Ivor Batchelor (department of psychiatry, University of Dundee); Prof.Grimley Evans (department of medicine, geriatrics, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne) ; Prof. A. J. Fox (department of mathematics, City University,London); Dr John Fry (general practitioner); Prof. J. Knowelden (departmentof community medicine, University of Sheffield); Dr T. W. Meade (M.R.C.epidemiology and medical care unit, Northwick Park Hospital, London); Prof.E. 0. R. Reynolds (department of paediatrics, University College HospitalSchool of Medicine, London); Dr D. A. Robinson (Institute for HealthStudies, University of Hull); Dr A. H. Snaith (Avon Area Health Authority,Teaching); Mrs Belinda Banham and Prof. W. B. Jennett (representing theCouncil); Prof. J. K. Wing (representing the M.R.C. neurosciences board);Prof. J. S. Beck (representing the cell board); Prof. G. A. Rose (representing thesystems board); and Prof. M. Peston and Prof. Dorothy Wedderburn(representing the Social Science Research Council).

PLACE OF BIRTH

THE full report of a survey assessing the performance of general-practitioner obstetrics, first published in abbreviated form,2 runscounter to the views of the Short report3 on perinatal mortality,which quoted the Royal College of Midwives’ opinion that smallG.P. maternity units were "dangerous" and the Royal College ofGynaecologists and Obstetricians’ opinion that they were "virtuallyobsolete". The Short report recommended that: "An increasingnumber of mothers should be delivered in large units; selection ofpatients should be improved for smaller consultant units andisolated G.P. units". The survey compared a control group of low-risk mothers in consultant maternity units (in Rochdale and the Isleof Wight) with a similar group booked into G.P. units (in WestBerkshire), and found that the latter group (whether primigravidaeor multigravidae) and their infants, including those requiringsubsequent transfer to a consultant unit, experienced no greaterrisks than the control group. As the Short report acknowledges,mothers are understandably attached to the familiar surroundings ofsmall G.P. units, finding the large obstetric units inconsiderate andharsh. If mothers are forced into consultant units, they may refuseto go to the hospital at all and decide on home confinement-evenmore unpopular with the maternity services ("home delivery shouldbe phased out further"). The survey also estimated that the cost ofproviding maternity care in a G.P. unit is approximately half thecost of the care provided in a consultant unit.

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

An honorary fellowship has been awarded to Dr Loyal Davis,formerly professor of surgery, North Western University, Illinois,and Editor of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics. The ceremony tookplace in the Irish Embassy in Washington, and was attended byPresident Reagan and his wife, who is the adopted daughter of DrLoyal Davis.

1. How Safe is General Practitioner Obstetrics? An Independent Study (May, 1981) by DrWilliam Edgar, Dr Don Neal, and Dr Gordon Taylor. Copies available from WestBerkshire Health District, 3 Craven Road, Reading, Berkshire.

2. Taylor GW, Edgar W, Taylor BA, Neal DG. How safe is general practitionerobstetrics? Lancet 1980; ii 1287-89.

3. Perinatal and neonatal mortality. Second report from the Social Services Committee1979/80 London H.M Stationery Office, 1980.

British Heart Foundation

A Foundation prize of 5000 is to be offered biennially to anoutstanding research worker under the age of 45 in cardiovascularmedicine (including pathology, biochemistry, biophysics,physiology, radiology, and surgery) working in the UnitedKingdom. Applications should be submitted to the MedicalAdministrator, British Heart Foundation, 57 Gloucester Place,London W1H 4DH, to arrive not later than April 1.

A study day organised by the National Childbirth Trust entitled Breast-feeding for Professionals will take place at 9 Queensborough Terrace,London W2 3TB, on Nov. 11. Details may be obtained from Helen Clarke,Appletree House, Fee Farm Road, Claygate, Esher, Surrey.

The 2nd lecture of the International Society and Federation of Cardiologyon Lessons from Programmed Stimulation of the Heart will be given byProf. Hein Wellens (Netherlands) at the Wembley Conference Centre,London, on Dec. 8. Details may be obtained from Mme Marianne de

Figueiredo, International Society and Federation of Cardiology, P.O. Box 117,CH-1211 Geneva 12, Switzerland.

The first national scientific meeting of the Bayliss and Starling Society onRegulatory Peptides and Gut Hormones will take place at the RoyalPostgraduate Medical School, London, on Dec. 18-19. Further information is

available from Dr S. R. Bloom, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road,London W12 OHS.

A course on Immunocytochemistry Today will take place at the

University of London on Jan. 25-Feb. 5. Further information may be obtainedfrom the School Office, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Du Cane Road,London W12 OHS.

The annual congress of the Ophthalmological Society of the UnitedKingdom will be held at the University of London on April 21-23. Furtherinformation is available from Miss M. M. Hallendorff, OphthalmologicalSociety of the United Kingdom at the Royal College of Surgeons, 35/43Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PN.

The London Medical Orchestra will resume rehearsals at GatewaySchool, Lisson Grove, London NW8, at 7 P.M. on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Newmembers are welcome, especially string players. Particulars may be had fromMrs A. P. Mason, 102 Hamilton Terrace, London NW8 (tel. 01-286-4367,evenings).

Dr John Garry (2971 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6L IX3,Canada) is seeking information about his uncle, Thomas Peter Garry(1884-1963), an anatomist with the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin. Heplans to prepare a biography and a Garry’s Anatoni-v

Correction

Patient Participation in General Practice.-The report discussed in thiseditorial (Aug. 1) costs ;E3.75, not 3.25.

International Diary9th international congress of Transplantation Society: Brighton, U.K.,

Aug. 23-27 (Conference Consultants Limited, 4 "L" Portman Mansions,Chiltern Street, London WIM 1LF).

6th international conference on Birth Defects: London, U.K., Aug.29-Sept. 4 (Mr R. C. Gedney, Birth Defects Congress, 1275 MamaroneckAvenue, White Plains, NY 10605, U.S.A.).

14th international symposium on Epilepsy: London, U.K., Oct. 7-12(Joop N. Loeber, Epilepsy International. P.O. Box 21, 2100 AA Heemstede,Netherlands).

4th world congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics: San Francisco,California, Oct. 17-22 (American College of Obstetricians andGynaecologists, One East Wacker Drive, Suite 2700, Chicago, Illinois 60601.U.S.A.).

24th international congress of Ophthalmology: San Francisco, California,Oct. 31-Nov. 5 (Dr B. E. Spivey, Department of Ophthalmology, PacificMedical Center, CA 94120, U.S.A.).