In the 1980s there was an eight year waiting list in India for a landline telephone. Long distance “trunk calls” had to be booked with an operator and required you […]
David Payne
David Payne: Homoeopathy and the Royals
At a recent BMJ planning meeting we talked of commissioning an article about how the Murdoch family business had shaped public policy in countries where its newspapers and broadcast channels are major players. […]
David Payne: Nostalgia for closed hospitals
We have too many metropolitan acute hospitals and failing ones should be closed, said UK nursing leader Peter Carter in a front page story in Friday’s Times newspaper. He is […]
David Payne: Competition and the NHS reforms
With the pause button still firmly pressed on the NHS reforms in England, one former Tory health secretary claims this week that the debate is losing touch with reality. Stephen […]
David Payne: Safe planes and the night handover
Patient safety conference organisers are fond of the analogy between aviation and medicine. Former F18 pilot Steve Kreister addressed delegates attending the paediatrics day of Risky Business 2010 in London […]
David Payne: Does London need the City?
A young woman started work in London this week and her starting salary is the same figure paid to her aunt when she first moved to the capital after college […]
David Payne on Florence Nightingale
Today, 100 years ago, Florence Nightingale died aged 90. Much has been written about the Lady with the Lamp, who left behind her aristocratic life to nurse wounded soldiers in […]
David Payne asks: Should forensic medicine be female-led?
Since 2000 the Havens centres in London have helped more than 11 000 people of both sexes who have been raped or sexually assaulted. Like many sexual assault referral centres […]
David Payne on Colin Blakemore’s childhood
The UK coalition government’s Academies Bill was rushed through Parliament this week, giving the green light to parents to set up their own schools. Critics argue that it’s a backward […]
David Payne on Raoul Moat and Desert Island Discs
The sorry saga of fugitive gunman Raoul Moat has no doubt triggered countless watercooler conversations about the extent to which he was “mad, bad, or just plain evil.” A colleague […]