“Much poor research arises because researchers feel compelled for career reasons to carry out research that they are ill equipped to perform” — Douglas Altman 1994 The research literature has […]
Guest writers
Urgent action is needed to reduce widening inequalities in childhood obesity
A recent Public Health England (PHE) report on childhood obesity trends in England up to the 2018-2019 academic year makes for uncomfortable reading. [1] The report draws on data from […]
We must rapidly learn lessons from Leicester’s local lockdown to prevent further outbreaks
The residents of Leicester are devastated that their city has become the first city in England to be put under a strict local lockdown. It was imposed due to the […]
Unimaginable loss during unprecedented times—reflections of a bereavement midwife
Staff caring for bereaved parents have had to adapt quickly so they can continue to support people during one of the most difficult times of their lives, writes Sarah Cullen […]
Miriam Fine-Goulden: In the eye of an inflammatory storm
When the pandemic started, paediatricians expected to be the spectators or the understudies. We knew from China that covid-19 appeared to spare children, though we didn’t know how or why; […]
David McCoy: Restoring trust and confidence in experts and science is an urgent priority
The word trust has received a considerable airing in the UK over the past few months with covid-19. Much of this relates to the erosion of public trust in the […]
Covid-19 and ethnic minority communities—we need better data to protect marginalised groups
A recent ONS report on religious groups has shown that Muslims have the highest age standardised mortality rate. The disproportionate impact of covid-19 on ethnic minority communities in the UK […]
Advance care plans—back to the future?
In the noughties, as an attempt to improve care for the dying across healthcare, there was a wholesale adoption and rollout of a pathway to systematise and quality assure care […]
Virtual trials: looking beyond covid-19
The covid-19 pandemic has caused widescale disruption to global biomedical research activities. These have been acutely felt within clinical trials which were otherwise active, with most research on other conditions […]
Reducing barriers to data access for research in the public interest—lessons from covid-19
The covid-19 outbreak has sparked increased awareness of the importance of timely, system-wide data for examining trends and modelling different scenarios to inform policy response. [1-5] The scale and speed […]