Wide gaps in life expectancy in the UK by social background have been widely recognised in recent years. With the current state of the economy, the scaling back of public […]
Guest writers
Ike Anya: Tackling imported malaria in the UK
It is a typical busy, Thursday afternoon in the office in central London, as I recall the mental note I made to myself earlier that day: ring GP practice to […]
Ken Taylor: Dr Foster on inpatient hospital mortality
On the Today programme on Radio 4 on Monday morning there was a feature on these recently released data. Two areas were discussed. Hospital mortality is higher out of hours ie […]
David Buck: Obesity and public health – a taxing issue
Obesity, and its control, is high on the public health agenda. Recently the Lancet published a series of important papers on the science and social science of obesity and its prevention. According […]
Martin McShane: Integrated reflections concluded
Here is my third and final blog on the USA trip: After Seattle’s integrated care organisations, we visited CalPERS. They fund $6.7bn worth of healthcare for 1.3 million people (roughly twice […]
Johnny Meldrum: The role of health professionals in UN climate change negotiations
As a medical student with the incredible opportunity to represent the voice of health at the UN climate talks in Durban (COP17), the day before my departure I was confronted […]
Kailash Chand: An e-petition for the NHS
This NHS Health and Social Care bill is radically different to any health legislation since the inception of the NHS. It removes the health secretary’s duty to provide or secure […]
Tom Yates: Is stoicism an important and neglected confounder?
‘Most doctors and nurses will have a deep well of patient stories – examples of great fortitude and its converse. It is clear to any clinician that some patients either […]
Desmond O’Neill: One hundred years of flautitude
No geriatrician could pass up on the opportunity: a performance of a flute concerto written by a living composer in his 100th year by one of the greatest orchestras in […]
Nigel Hawkes: Andrew Lansley on your bedside TV
We know that many people occupying hospital beds ought not to be there, either because their earlier care has failed to keep them out or because they can’t be discharged […]