It’s Dying Matters Awareness Week, an opportunity to place the importance of talking about dying, death and bereavement on the national agenda and to share Cochrane evidence that may help […]
Guest writers
Jo Waller: Could a leaflet help catch cancer earlier?
We’ve written before about the difficulty of recognising symptoms that could be signs of cancer, and knowing when it’s appropriate to go to the doctor about them. There’s lots of […]
Patient and public involvement in basic science research—are we doing enough?
In the past decade, medicine has seen a dramatic shift: from a paternalistic approach to one in which patients and clinicians make shared decisions. In parallel, there is a drive […]
Ellen Broad and Tom Sasse: Google deep in trust issues around use of UK patient data
We all need different kinds of medical care at different points in our lives. When we interact with our GPs and healthcare providers, we hope that our doctors and nurses […]
James Partridge: A new dimension for treating acne
I was recently invited to speak on “new models of care” at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin at the House of Commons. I chose to […]
How do the healthcare systems in the UK compare with others internationally?
Two years ago I wrote about how health systems in other countries were grappling with the problems of how to support an ageing population with high rates of comorbidities. I […]
Kawaldip Sehmi: The patient-centred approach of the Hillsborough inquest
Respecting the families’ euphoria and personal grief, I delayed this blog post on the Hillsborough inquest verdicts (the verdict came at lunchtime 26 April 2016). Let them savour their day […]
Jane Parry: Organ donation is an emotive topic, and rightly so
Recently, there was a very moving piece in The Guardian about a doctor’s experience of a family donating their dead child’s organs for transplant. It got me thinking about organ […]
Steve Ruffenach: Footprints old and new
A recent discovery of ancient footprints on the beach in Happisburgh, UK has set the archeological world aflutter. Scientists working at the scene have discovered pre-historic footprints left by our […]
Natalie Blencowe and Jane Blazeby: Beyond Buxton—establishing when the time’s right for a surgical trial
In 1987 Martin Buxton observed that “it’s always too early [to evaluate] until suddenly, unfortunately, it’s too late.” This is particularly true in surgery. In most countries, there is rapid […]