As I walked beside Clapham Common towards Trinity Hospice a famous BMJ phrase was ringing in my ears: “Hospice care is deluxe dying for the few looked after by dowager […]
Year: 2014
Marc Wittenberg on taking part in a CQC inspection
In September 2013, shortly after starting in post as a national medical director’s clinical fellow at the BMJ and NHS England, I received an email inviting applicants to join “Mike’s […]
Sean Roche: In order for patients to be valued, we must begin by valuing staff
Since the Francis report there has been much discussion about the need to disseminate “compassion” in the NHS. While there has been a great deal of moralistic rhetoric extolling the […]
Jacobo Mendioroz on plans to introduce restrictions on abortion in Spain
The Spanish government recently announced that it plans to introduce restrictions on abortion in Spain. This move has been supported by the Ministry of Justice. From the beginning of this […]
Carolyn Thomas: Why physicians must stop saying: “we are all patients”
While noodling around on Linked In one day, I was pleased to notice that the professional networking site has some member groups discussing patient engagement. I’m a heart attack survivor, […]
Stephen E Lankenau: Legalising cannabis for recreational use in the US
Colorado became the first state in the United States to allow the sale of cannabis for recreational use on 1 January 2014. Colorado residents aged 21 years or older may […]
Richard Smith: NCD among the bottom billion
My main job these days means thinking about non-communicable disease (NCD) in low and middle income countries (LMIC), but a paper in the Lancet suggests that I may be thinking […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—13 January 2014
JAMA Internal Medicine Jan 2014 Vol 174 I was amazed at the richness of the contents of JAMA Intern Med this week, but then I sadly realized that the journal […]
Carl Heneghan: What could cause you to absorb water better than water?
At the same time that a campaign is aiming to cut sugar in food by up to 30%, our sports stars are readily guzzling oodles of sugary drinks. Well, the […]
Richard Smith: Work from the 1950s that can help us reform healthcare today
One of the questions that occurred to many after the public inquiry into Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust was “How could nurses and doctors behave like that and not do anything?” […]