Social prescribing, fraudulent data, . . . and other stories

Social prescribingEngland’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is keen to promote social prescribing—an initiative where health professionals can refer people to non-clinical services (often provided by voluntary sector organisations) with the aim of improving mental health and wellbeing. Interventions include volunteering, arts activities, group learning, gardening, and sporting activities. Minerva likes the idea of non-pharmacological interventions, but a systematic review warns that few of these schemes have been properly evaluated and that there’s no robust evidence about their effectiveness (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health; BMJ Open doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060214).Prenatal exposure to anaesthesiaAlthough non-obstetric surgery and anaesthesia are best avoided during pregnancy, it looks as if any risk to the fetus is low. Among 130 children aged 2-18 whose mothers had needed surgery while pregnant, psychosocial problems, learning disorders, and psychiatric diagnoses were no commoner than in an unexposed control group of children born to women of the same age and parity (Association of Anaesthetists doi:10.1111/anae.15884).Fraudulent…
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