The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) has reduced the number of hours that trainee doctors have to hone their skills. As a junior surgical trainee, I find that time in […]
Guest writers
Robin E Moulder: The role of patient engagement in error prevention
Imagine being told you have a devastating illness, only to find out months later it was a mistake? Medical diagnostic errors are profoundly damaging to the patient, the clinician, and […]
Richard Vize: Labour’s recommendations on integrated care and social reform
Labour’s independent commission on health policy has made some welcome recommendations on integrated care and system reform, but could create conflict between the NHS and local government. The commission, led […]
Richard Humphries: A year is a long time in the politics of integrated care
When Andy Burnham set out his vision for “whole person care” at The King’s Fund last year, few would have disagreed with his crisp summation of the need to move […]
Guddi Vijaya Rani Singh: Why the political origins of health inequity haven’t been tamed just yet
Last week saw the release of the much vaunted “Political origins of health inequity” report by the Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health—an analysis of how policies […]
Jonathan M Glass: Blood taking is so much more than phlebotomy
Blood taking is so much more than phlebotomy. It’s so much more than the mere act of putting a needle in a patient’s arm. It’s so much more than filling […]
David Buck: Tackling health inequalities: we need a national conversation
In one of The King’s Fund’s most popular and commented on Time to Think Differently blogs last year, Gabriel Scally questioned whether we had lost the battle to tackle health […]
Wilson Cheng: Misguided messages on safe male circumcisions
Three large randomised clinical trials that took place in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa were published in 2007, and showed that medically performed circumcision is safe and can reduce men’s […]
Colin Brewer: Is addiction a disease?
Last November, The Spectator held a debate on the proposition that drug addiction is not a disease. Former BMJ columnist Theodore Dalrymple was one of the proposers (I was invited […]
Chris Ham: Making general practice fit for the future
General practice represents a paradox. On the one hand, it is widely and rightly viewed around the world as a model of primary care to be studied and emulated. On […]