The nomadic life of the district general hospital haematology registrar: Reviewing how far we travel

As a district general hospital (DGH) registrar, clinical duties are varied. The geographical location of these clinical duties can vary in different hospital settings. In our trust, the inpatient Haematology ward was reallocated to become the designated 'COVID ward' at the start of the pandemic, due to a lack of availability of side rooms in the hospital. Haematology inpatients are now managed on general medical wards, with no specific Haematology ward available. This has further increased the geographical spread of registrars' clinical duties. In order to quantify the impact of this geographical spread, we undertook an audit of physical activity over a four-week period. We included the physical activity during working hours recorded by the attending haematology registrar and an on call medical registrar for comparison. We collected data using smart devices on steps walked, distance travelled, time spent walking and calories burnt whilst walking. We collected data for all day shifts worked from 09:00-17: 00 for all days of the week. Overall, the attending haematology registrar walked an average of 10 241 steps a day, covering 7.87 km over a period of 107 min and burning 410 calories whilst active. The medical registrar walked an average of 7498 steps a day, covering 5.76 km over a period of 79 min and burning 300 calories whilst active. By comparison the attending haematology registrar covered 37% more steps per day than the medical registrar, a statistically significant difference (p-value 0.002, students unpaired t-test). During a 7.5 h working day (taking into account a contractual 30-min unpaid lunch break), our DGH haematology registrars spend 107 min walking, which is 24% of their working hours. Our results highlight the time pressures on DGH haematology registrars. Time pressures on registrars in London have become more important as a result of Health Education England's (HEE) medical specialty redistribution programme, which will see the number of specialty trainees in London reduced by 46% over 5 years. Addressing the geographical spread of clinical duties could help to reduce the time pressures on registrars allowing them to spend more time on providing a clinical service. We have presented our data to trust management as evidence to lobby for the creation of a new haematology ward, which has now been included in the plans for a new hospital at our trust.

UK Music before and after Covid-19

This article analyses the statistical reporting of UK Music, the umbrella organization that provides a collective voice for British music industry trade bodies. It documents changes in methodology from the organization's earliest reports, which provide financial data for each industry sector and use the prosperity of the business as a platform from which to lobby, to the reports for the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which turn away sectoral information to argue that the industry is an ecosystem and music is beneficial for national well-being. In the process, UK Music submerges evidence that record companies and music publishers fared well during the pandemic while music creators and live music industry workers suffered greatly. As well as uncovering this information, this article considers why it has been neglected. It has enabled UK Music to lobby for actions that work across the industry and sidestep arguments that music creators should receive a greater share of remuneration. It has also helped to keep UK Music intact.

Parties, Patronage and COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution in Indonesia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as Indonesia mobilized to deliver vaccines to the population, an unexpected phenomenon occurred: political parties became directly involved in the vaccine delivery effort. In this article, we draw on online reports and interviews to demonstrate that these campaigns acted as an extension of the patronage politics that dominate the country's political arena. The involvement of political parties had little effect on the national vaccination effort, as parties delivered a relatively small number of vaccines and often targeted areas that already had high coverage. Instead, parties and politicians used these events to strengthen links with constituents and supporters. We identify three main pathways that allowed political parties to access the vaccines: lobbying by members of the national legislature's health commission;through local governments;and by direct executive government access to the national Ministry of Health. This "hijacking" of a national policy for clientelistic purposes provides insight into the presence of intra-party coordination of patronage goods but also demonstrates the personalization and fragmentation of patronage distribution highlighted in the existing literature. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the quality of public healthcare and other services in Indonesia.

Lung cancer patients' views on screening and experiences of treatment and care - findings from the Global Lung Cancer Coalition's third annual global survey

Introduction: In 2022, the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC), a partnership of 42 patient organisations across 30 countries, ran its third annual global patient experience survey on the continued impact of COVID-19 on people living with lung cancer. Method(s): A steering group of patients, advocates, and clinicians developed the survey, asking questions around screening, patients' involvement in decision-making, and preferences in speaking to their treatment team. 555 patients from 21 countries responded, including 83 from the UK and Ireland. [Figure presented] Results: The results show that all responding patients in Ireland and 9 in 10 in the UK would attend a screening appointment if it was available and they were invited. Only a small proportion said they would not attend, and a minority were unsure. When asked if they have been involved in decisions about their treatment and care, a large proportion of patients in both countries stated they have not felt fully involved. The majority of patients in the UK and Ireland prefer speaking to their treatment team in person in a range of situations. However, if patients are worried about something, they would be willing to have a telephone conversation with their treatment team. Conclusion(s): The findings on screening are encouraging given the National Screening Committee's recent recommendation to implement a targeted screening programme in the UK. In Ireland, advocacy organisations continue to lobby the Government for a national programme, and it is positive to see high levels of patient support. Treatment teams should be asking and supporting patients to be as involved in decisions around their treatment and care as they wish to be. Finally, it is clear that patients prefer to discuss their treatment and care face-to-face. Treatment teams should seek to understand patients' preferences, and health systems should put in place relevant provisions to offer virtual appointments. Disclosure: No significant relationships.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V.

Is There a First Mover Advantage in Lobbying? A Comparative Analysis of How the Timing of Mobilization Affects the Influence of Interest Groups in 10 Polities

The first mover advantage is a critical factor for the productivity of firms that enter new markets. Surprisingly, however, the importance of timing is rarely explored in studies of interest groups and their influence on new policy agendas. In this article, we therefore develop a theory of first mover advantages in lobbying. We argue that especially more resourceful and more highly affected organizations should be able to benefit from early lobbying. Using granular survey data on the timing of lobby efforts by interest groups on Covid-19 related policies in 10 European democracies, we test this novel theory. Our results show that timing is an important predictor of lobbying influence, but that interest groups which are hardly affected by a new policy cannot benefit from early mover advantages in the same way as affected organizations. Moreover, we give evidence for differences in first mover advantages depending on organizational staff resources.

Debatable Aspects of the Concept of Tax Expenditures

[...]there is no uniform approach to defining the conceptual model of benchmark structure. [...]in addition to complaints about their overall quality and regularity, it is not possible to determine exactly how close to representative the data are (Redonda & Haldenwang, 2021) both due to different approaches to tax expenditure classification and the fact that governments often provide information only about a part of them, for example, in the US official the report includes an estimate of lost income from the provision of tax benefits only from income taxes. Since its beginning, noted concept has been criticized in academia, including professors Bittker (1969), Mclntyr (1980), and others. According to the Global Tax Expenditures Database (GTED), of the 46 G20 and OECD countries, only two (China and Saudi Arabia) do not publish any official information on tax expenditures, and from EU members just three countries (Croatia, Cyprus and Malta) do not report any tax expenditures. Methods In the process of research, general scientific methods of cognition were used: abstract-logical - to justify the relationship of tax benefits, benchmark structure of the tax and tax expenditures;critical analysis of discussion approaches to determining the components of "structural" benefits;systematic structural analysis to determine the elements of the benchmark structure of the tax;analysis and synthesis - in the process of transition from partial (simple) to integrated determination of tax expenditures;combination of qualitative and quantitative - to analyze both the content and value of individual components of the basic structure of taxes in Ukraine.

Covid, schooling and race in England: a case of necropolitics

In this paper, I focus on the UK government's Covid-19 pandemic response to schooling in England with regards to the impact on race inequality, an area which has received comparatively little attention. I review the existing research, drawing on work by academics, think tanks, lobbying organisations and media reports, conducted between spring 2020 and autumn 2021, and argue that this evidence suggests that the UK government's pandemic response firstly has increased existing racial disadvantage for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) pupils in education, and secondly, it has potentially increased the exposure of BAME households to illness and death. I further argue that not only can education policy in response to Covid be considered to be an example of white supremacy, but it is an example of necropolitics, defined as ‘the power and the capacity [of the state] to dictate who may live and who must die' (Mbembe 2013, 161). I conclude by making some recommendations for wide-reaching social and educational change. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Anticipating demand shocks: Patient capital and the supply of housing

‘Patient capital' is presented by many policymakers as a panacea to address domestic (and sometimes city-level) gaps in financing urban development, particularly housing, that emerged in the post-2008 credit crunch. In this article, we analyse the complexities of patient investors' entry into residential markets in London and their response to the first major, and unexpected, crisis of demand: the COVID-19 pandemic and immediate falls in market demand. We focus on how patient capital and the firms invested in the professionalised rental market, build to rent (BTR), have responded. We highlight three main responses: (1) advancing their lobbying efforts to secure a more supportive political environment;(2) protecting their income streams by offering new payment plans and adaptability to prevent void rates;(3) turning to a ‘reserve army' of renters backed by the state – so-called Key Workers (KWs). We argue these demonstrate a continual and co-evolutionary dimension to policy promoting patient capital and the need for patient planning to govern patient investment in housing systems. Our findings are in ‘real-time' and highlight the importance of structural uncertainties and the breakdown of long-term assumptions in shaping investment decisions. © The Author(s) 2022.

How a Community Foundation's Disaster Framework Guided Rapid Pandemic Response

Serving as an intermediary between donors and a wide variety of regional causes they support, the foundation provides philanthropy and civic leadership to address community challenges. Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in August 2005, the foundation has become a recognized expert in philanthropic response to disasters, lauded for the strategic principles underlying deployment of its standing Disaster Response and Restoration Fund and broader disaster response framework (Greater New Orleans Foundation, 2022b). [...]the city and its surrounding region have endured 16 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster declarations, including three hurricanes during the record-breaking 2020 season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (FEMA, 2021a;National Oceanic Key Points * Disasters create opportunities for philanthropy to rebuild equitably by prioritizing the most vulnerable community members in disaster response and addressing existing disparities and structural inequities in the recovery phase. According to Easterling, these foundations acting as community leaders go beyond traditional grantmaking to convene diverse stakeholders and catalyze cross-sector solutions to community challenges. [...]during the BP oil spill, the Greater New Orleans Foundation pressed Congress to amend provisions for citizen engagement and permanent set-aside funds for unforeseen issues to the RESTORE Act1 providing federal relief (Barry et al., 2012). [...]community foundations might take advantage of brief opportunities created by disasters to address otherwise entrenched deficits and disparities facing their communities, introducing largescale social innovations which might in turn enhance community resilience (Westley, 2013).

The Challenges of Political Corruption in Australia, the Proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill (2020) and the Application of the APUNCAC

Political corruption affects each nation-state differently, but the outcomes are nominally the same: a deficit of public trust, weakened government institutions and undermined political systems. This article analyzes issues of political corruption in Australia by framing them within a national integrity ecosystem (NIE) and addressing them against the proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC) 2020 bill. It also discusses prevalent ‘grey’ areas of Australian politically-corrupt behavior where they interact with the private sector: the revolving door, political donations, and lobbying;and the state of Australia’s implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. This article argues for their inclusion within the mandated scope of the proposed CIC. There is a need for strong legislation, both domestic and international, to fight corruption. This article then discusses the application of the provisions of the draft Anticorruption Protocol to the UN Convention Against Corruption (APUNCAC) that may apply with respect to these ‘grey’ issues, and how an International Anti-Corruption Court may provide another institutional model for Australia to follow. Finally, this article links these proposals to the 2021 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Corruption and the 9th Conference of States Parties on the UNCAC (COSP9). These events illustrate multilateral momentum and progress on anti-corruption. As a country that has historically supported the UN multilateral framework and its institutions, this article recommends a proactive approach for Australia so that the passing of a strong domestic anticorruption initiative will contribute to the adoption, and eventual ratification, of the APUNCAC.

Global Health Impact: Extending Access to Essential Medicines, Nicole Hassoun, . Oxford University Press, 2020, xv + 301 pages

Global Health Impact is based on Hassoun’s broad and extensive scholarship on topics such as global justice, human rights, empirical philosophy and corporate responsibility, and her work as director of the Global Health Impact project (https://www.global-health-impact.org/new), a collaboration between academics and civil society organizations aimed at increasing access to essential medicines. [...]while Hassoun does not reject the global patent system as such, she contends that drug companies exploit this system in ways that violate people’s right to access to essential medicines, e.g. by aggressively extending and multiplying patent protections that keep drugs unaffordable in poor countries and by lobbying against compulsory licensing. [...]she argues that since drug companies contribute to, benefit from and are especially well-placed to address the access to medicines problem, they have a special obligation to address it, an obligation they currently fail to fulfil. [...]the chapter discusses how to collect evidence for other initiatives to improve access to medicines and advance global justice, and why empirical research needs philosophy (and not just the other way around).

Homecare personal support worker experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

Introduction: Personal support workers (PSWs) are considered the backbone of homecare however their working conditions remain precarious and unregulated suggesting increased vulnerability in the face of a pandemic. The purpose of this study is to better understand the experiences of PSWs working in homecare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study used a social constructivist approach to understand the experiences of Toronto-based PSWs working at a local homecare agency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted. All transcribed interviews were coded and analyzed using the DEPICT framework. Results: 19 interviews were completed. PSWs shared a strong belief in duty to work during a health crisis and responsibility to support their vulnerable clients despite feeling vulnerable themselves to transmission and infection;the weight of pandemic anxiety was felt daily and intensely for most. PSWs described existing system challenges exacerbated by the pandemic that tested the limits of their motivations to work, emotional wellbeing and perception of organizational support. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to increased occupational stress among PSWs. Longstanding system-level issues coupled with increased emotional labour has positioned this workforce at- risk for burnout indicating that health human resource issues may persist if unaddressed. Homecare organizations can implement strategies that promote and protect the mental wellbeing of PSWs while aggressively lobbying for system changes such as higher wages and better labour protections.

The representation of business interests during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

This article explains the representation of business interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article describes how business interests get into the policy process across policy areas and political venues. Following previous studies (Dur and Mateo, 2016), the article argues the COVID-19 pandemic did not alter business groups' position in the policymaking process. Business groups occupy a predominant role in the discussion of policy proposals vis-a-vis other types of groups during the COVID-19 in the governmental arena, and this is especially the case for economy related policies and agriculture affairs. In contrast, business groups occupy a secondary role in the parliamentary arena, especially for non-economic issues. The article also explains which business associations represent business interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical strategy relies on two datasets developed by the Quality of Democ-racy Research Group (www.q-dem.com) containing information about interest groups' mobi-lization in the Spanish Congress of Deputies and the Spanish government from March 2020 to March 2021.