In the past 50 years mental healthcare has been transformed in ways few could imagine in 1964. Fifty years ago Broadmoor Hospital had nearly 1000 patients who stayed an average […]
Guest writers
James Partridge responds to the government’s review of cosmetic surgery
There was more than a little bit of déja vu about the government’s response to the Keogh review of cosmetic surgery when it finally saw the light of day, early […]
Martin Carroll: Thinking of working in the NHS?
In 2013, the National Health Service (NHS) celebrated 65 years of providing comprehensive healthcare, free at the point of delivery to UK citizens. There are a number of factors contributing […]
John Appleby: Care.data—your bits in their hands
Over the past few months there has been considerable debate and argument about plans by the NHS to collect and centrally collate details of individual patient records from general practice […]
Catherine Foot: Can the Care Quality Commission live up to expectations?
This week marks one year since Robert Francis published his second report into failures of care at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust. Mid Staffs director of quality and patient experience, Julie […]
Kate Granger: Why compassionate care is so important
Having terminal cancer is rubbish. There is no way of getting around that fact. I’ve just spent nearly a week in hospital feeling exceptionally unwell and at times wondering whether […]
Ahmet Ozdemir Aktan: Criminalising doctors in Turkey—an update
Professor Aktan has written an update to his previous blog about a new Turkish law which forbids medical treatment of injured protesters without state permission. The law is now signed […]
Kieran Walsh: Medical education—high value but high cost?
Medical education has undergone many reforms over the past thirty years. Medical students of the past spent much time learning things they didn’t need to know—today medical education is curriculum […]
Billy Boland on quality improvement at the NHS Leadership Academy
The first residential for the NHS Leadership Academy felt barely five minutes ago, so I balked as I realised how much there was to do for the next. The reading […]
Robyn Evans: A crucial time for global surgery
Mid morning on Saturday 18 January, in a dark, slightly indie London theatre, a crowd of distinguished surgery and anaesthesia colleagues gathered to eat Mexican food and talk safe surgery. […]