When the largest teaching hospital in Dublin removed the Christmas crib from its atrium a few years ago, the response to the resulting public outcry suggested a timorous confusion about […]
Columnists
Tracey Koehlmoos: Arrive alive – road traffic fatalities in Bangladesh
Two weeks ago, while travelling outside of Dhaka, I passed the remnants of an accident that had left a man dead on the road. It was a jarring sight and […]
Sandra Lako: Journal club
Today was the launch of the journal club at the Ola During Children’s Hospital. Two professors, seven national doctors and three expatriate doctors sat together in an office for the […]
Richard Smith: Ten iconoclastic thoughts
Last week I had the privilege of speaking to a learning set of six former NHS managers who have kept up their learning for over 20 years. They have done […]
Richard Smith: The town that gave up medicine
How would you like to be part of a television programme provisionally entitled “The town that gave up medicine”? The programme will be made by a company called Films of […]
Richard Smith: Will the Big Society help with NHS efficiency savings?
Will the Big Society, GP commissioning, and a major reorganisation help or hinder the NHS in making 4% efficiency savings compound over four years? This was the question that kept […]
Des O’Neill: So, when do you become “old”?
An occupational hazard of being a geriatrician is that not infrequently I am asked at social occasions: “So, Des, when do you become ‘old’?” The questioner is usually a fit […]
Martin McShane on tools and workshops
This is one of the busiest times of the year for the PCT. We have a tight timetable to assemble a plan and start contract negotiations. Soon we will be […]
Richard Smith: Recessions are good for health
Between 1991 and 1993 the Finnish economy suffered a deep recession and health and social services were cut by 25%. The result was a fall in mortality. Sweden had the same […]
Julian Sheather: What’s wrong with addiction?
Middle-aged; mid-life; mid-career. Party to the blessings – and the curses – of a young family. A sense that some things have been achieved, some are still to be achieved, […]