Volume 9, Number 1

Alison Bowser, Chief Executive, Acne Support Group

For some people, acne represents nothing more than a rite of passage as the body develops into adulthood. The most common age group to develop acne is between 12 and 16 years when boys are usually more severely affected than girls.

Fiona Smart PhD MEd BSc(Hons) RGN RSCN DipN RNT Director of Studies, Elinor White BSc(Hons) SRN RSCN Senior Lecturer, Advanced Clinical Practice, St Martin’s College, Carlisle

The long awaited National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services was published on 15 September 2004. Comprising 11 standards (see Box 1), it seeks to ensure that regardless of their sex, age, race, faith or disability, children and young people receive high-quality services.1

Meeting report

Delegates at the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA) conference (held 21–23 October 2004) were able to ‘meet the experts’ and hear about the role of primary care and the importance of patient choice in emollient use.

Kath Gilbanks ENB 998 DPSN Project/Audit Nurse, Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle

The Patients’ Charter states that every citizen has the right to a clear explanation of any proposed treatment.1 Written information cannot replace face-to-face contact,2 but it can help to better educate patients.

Jane Fraser RGN BSc Hons Senior Clinical Nurse Specialist HIV/Health adviser, Genitourinary Medicine, North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

There are approximately 131,000 new or recurrent cases of genital warts diagnosed each year in genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics in the UK; many more are diagnosed and treated by GPs, surgeons, gynaecologists and dermatologists.1 There has been a steady rise in the numbers attending for treatment in GUM clinics (see Figure 1).

Talib Yaseen OBE Director of Nursing, North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

This article aims to explore some fundamental issues in nursing leadership that span primary and secondary care. It is not intended that this article addresses all the leadership challenges or proffers simplistic solutions to the hard realities that face nurses, but that it stimulates a broader debate about what nurses and nursing could achieve through a better understanding of the contribution of leadership.

Ann Brown RN BA RNT MA Principal Lecturer/Programme Manager, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, St Martin’s College, Lancaster

‘Learning beyond Registration’ programmes are designed for practitioners who wish to develop their role, to meet current and future healthcare demands within the changing environment of dermatology practice. Continuing education in the student’s own practice setting is grounded in the belief that effective learning takes place within the context provided by personal involvement in real issues as they happen.1

Rebecca Davis MSc BSc(Hons) RGN Dermatology Nurse Consultant, University College London Hospitals NHS Trust

Oral methotrexate is an antimitotic drug that reduces cell division within the body. High doses are prescribed for certain cancers as a cytotoxic agent. Low doses are used for severe psoriasis and some inflammatory skin diseases. It produces serious side-effects such as suppression of the immune system.

Julie Bowman, Editor

When the lights came back on in Carlisle, many would have preferred to remain in the dark. A torrential cloudburst meant two months of rainfall in three days; 1,500 tons of water per second flowed under the city’s main bridge, three rivers overflowed and 110 mph gale force winds raced across the county. The scenes that greeted us after the weekend of 8 and 9 January 2005 were eerie and surreal; an aqualand lay before us.

Rev. Prof. Stephen G Wright FRCN MBE Faculty of Health, St Martin’s College, Lancaster. Chairman, The Sacred Space Foundation

In a culture that glorifies youth at the expense of our regard for old age, how can we accept and embrace the inevitable loss of independence of old age?