Andrew R H Dalton

 Hello, my name is Andrew Dalton.

I am currently studying for a PhD in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health. 

My research involves the evaluation of the NHS Health Checks in NHS Ealing. I shall look at this national preventative programme for CVD in its early stages. Prior to the Health Checks I assessed the  completeness of patients electronic medical records for cardiovascular risk factors and analysed patient level variations in the recording. I have developed a model, for PCTs in North East London, to estimate the number of patients found to be at high risk, and with modifiable risk factors, by the Health Check. I aim to apply this model to the PCTs across England, to investigate how the workload and burden of costs of the Health Checks will differ across the country.  As the health checks begin I am interested in the uptake of the health checks. Using the patients invited to the Health Checks in the first year (in a general practice based programme), I shall assess the patient and practice level drivers of uptake, Additionally I hope to look at the uptake in a community based screening programme as contrast to the general practice setting. At the start of the Health Checks, PCTs are open to use one of two cardiovascular risk score to identify their high risk cohort, JBS2 or QRISK2. I shall evaluate how using the differing risk scores will impact on patient care; looking at ethnic difference in the choice of risk score, and assessing methods of data imputation when predicting patient risk scores.

In addition to the studies for my PhD, my work gives me close link to NHS Ealing, where I hold an honorary contract. I am a member of their vascular risk assessment steering group, and attend pan- London and national Health Check events. I shall be working with the PCT to look at the views of those involved in the Health Check.

I have been involved in teaching on the Masters of Public Health, leading on the "Indroduction to Stata" module. I am an associate of Public Health Action Support Team (PHAST), and have been involved in several projects. These include modelling the impacts of the Health Checks in North East London, which have presented to the London SHA vascular risk assessment steering group; a needs assessment of coronary health disease care in North East London and a public health learning workbook for the Eastern Region Public Health Observatory/ Health Knowledge.

 

Publications/ Conferences

2009 Society for Academic Primary Care- Presentation shortlist for the conference travel award. Exception reporting in QOF among individuals with diabetes living in Brent, NW London.

2011 Society for Academic Primary Care- London and South East Region. Uptake of NHS Health Check programme in a deprived, culturally diverse setting

Dalton, A.R.H., Bottle, A. Okoro, C.  Majeed, A., Millett, C. Implementation of the NHS Health Checks programme: baseline assessment of risk factor recording in an urban culturally diverse setting. Family Practice 2011; 28(7):34-40