While I was reporting on a study for The BMJ, I suddenly felt as if I’d walked through Alice’s Looking Glass. You’ve possibly heard about the study by now: researchers […]
Guest writers
Miriam Saey Al-Rifai: Midwestern adventures into the mind
My induction was interrupted by a loud siren bellowing out across County Buchannan. My supervisor, consultant forensic psychiatrist, Dr Reynolds, ran me out of the hospital into the courtyard shouting […]
What, if anything, does the EuroHealth Consumer Index actually tell us?
Since 2005, the Health Consumer Powerhouse has produced its annual EuroHealth Consumer Index, ranking European health systems according to their performance on a host of indicators around (i) patient rights […]
Chris Ham: The proposed NHS and social care commission should report quickly and engage with staff and the public
After the government’s spending review, the NHS has just over two years at best to stabilise rapidly deteriorating finances and declining standards of patient care. At that point the harsh reality […]
Aeesha NJ Malik: Improving children’s eye health in Pakistan
1.5 million children in Pakistan are blind. Many from eye diseases which are preventable and treatable. Often children don’t know they have a vision problem because they assume they see […]
Tim Lobstein: Community interventions for healthy bodyweight—can we make them work?
Groups like mine which advocate for market interventions to restrict advertising, raise taxes, control fast food outlets and the like, are having a tough time making progress. Governments prefer to […]
Jeanelle de Gruchy: Should David Bowie have spoken out about the cause of his cancer?
David Bowie has died. From cancer. So much outpouring of grief. And yes I participated, posting #RIPBowie tweets and reminiscing about seeing him in concert in Montreal as an 18 […]
Paul Sooby: The last of an endangered species? The view of a LAT trainee
In January 2016 NHS employers withdrew locum appointed for training (LAT) posts in England. The numbers of doctors undertaking LATs has fallen since 2014 and there were vacant posts last […]
Elizabeth Wortley: Please refrain from using that kind of language
We talk a lot about communication in medicine and try to teach the right skills to students, such as the importance of body language and simplifying medical terminology. But how […]
John Fabre: The absence of a national leadership structure within the NHS
The strike by junior doctors illustrates a fundamental fact about the National Health Service: the de facto chief executive is the minister for health, and there are no advisory or […]