Does it make sense for the state to pay tens of thousands of pounds for a drug that might keep a patient with cancer alive for another six weeks and […]
Columnists
David Kerr: 2012, technology and all that
January is the month that heralds the end of procrastination. The New Year is traditionally the time that individuals and organisations look ahead and plan for the future. Among the […]
Richard Smith: A modest proposal to supermarkets
In healthcare we are much concerned about privacy, but Sainsbury’s, the supermarket chain, knows how much toilet paper I’ve bought in the past 20 years, how many chocolate éclairs I […]
Martin McShane: Compliance and membership
The year ahead will be important for the NHS. It will be a year that determines if the leadership across the system inverts and changes. Currently it is based on […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: Disaster preparedness and resiliency
This week I have had the pleasure of attending a workshop in Honolulu with the centre for excellence for disaster management and humanitarian assistance (CoE-DMHA). The CoE is interested in thinking […]
Martin McShane: Networking
“We need to think about networks and define if they are commissioner or provider led.” I heard this said a few weeks ago. I also heard it said 3 years […]
Richard Smith: Transparency—the latest panacea
Opening up NHS data to all will bring jobs, economic growth, innovation, a better health service, reduced health costs, and a new age in science. That was the heady message […]
David Kerr: Consumerism and the lost tribe in diabetes
Bad news makes good press. Last week the main medical news item was the release of the National Diabetes Audit figures for England and it made grim reading. The audit collected […]
Douglas Noble and Felix Greaves: stealth attack on public health
Last month we drew attention to three critical pieces of data that painted a picture of the piece by piece dismantling of the public health specialist workforce. Consultant appointment processes […]
Richard Smith: Death becomes fashionable
Death is becoming fashionable. London’s Southbank is planning a two day festival of death, the BMJ has a Christmas editorial urging us to think of death as a friend rather […]