We humans often use analogies to help us solve problems. From our memory, we identify a problem similar to—but not exactly the same as—the one we are currently faced with, […]
Columnists
James Raftery: NICE and value based pricing—is this the end?
Since Andrew Lansley announced in 2010 that the NHS would in future use “value based pricing” in its purchases of pharmaceuticals, civil servants and (more recently) the National Institute for […]
Richard Smith: The joy of a hernia repair
I had a hernia repair recently, but the day turned out to be one of the pleasantest I’ve had in a long time. Can that really be true? Oddly, I […]
David Oliver: What would my mum think? The new CQC regime for care home inspection
On 9 October, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) announced the details of its new inspection regime for care homes, after a lengthy consultation and evidence gathering process. The proposals amount to […]
Richard Smith: A tobacco company CEO writes to his marketing department
Dear all, I see a great opportunity for us. You won’t believe this, but I’m at a public health conference in Sousse in Tunisia. I’ve come with my twin brother, […]
William Cayley: Thinking about Ebola from the sidelines
Recently I was staring at two dramatically different bits of “news” on my computer screen. Yet another story on the spreading Ebola outbreak was in one window, and the latest update […]
Desmond O’Neill: Sky disc and the marvel of ageing
One of the great challenges of hospital medicine is retaining a sense of the marvel of ageing after a busy night on general take. The sheer complexity of the frail, […]
Richard Smith: Improving health through the community in Tunisia
Tunisia, like all low and middle income countries, is having to respond to non-communicable disease after making good progress in reducing infectious disease and improving child and maternal health. Premature deaths […]
William Cayley: Facing uncertainty
The first case of Ebola in the United States, a cluster of cases of “acute neurologic illness with focal limb weakness of unknown etiology in children,” and ongoing concern over […]
Richard Smith: Using data to improve care and reduce waste in health systems
Annual expenditure on healthcare in the United States is currently $2.8 trillion, and about a third of it is wasted, says the Institute of Medicine. The sum wasted is about […]