Back in June, I was putting the finishing touches to my application for the NHS Leadership Academy. A new and ambitious venture, it aims to bring leadership and management development […]
NHS
Tara Lamont: A female Dr Finlay for the 21st century
My weekly run with a GP friend has become a breathless litany of the ways in which she feels she and her practice are failing patients. Last week, she resigned […]
Kailash Chand: Health tourism does not cost the NHS vast sums of money
The government this week announced the first part of its planned crackdown on health tourism, with the Home Office unveiling a host of measures, including plans for a health levy […]
Mark Taubert: Palliative care—a “depressing” specialty?
As part of the Dying Matters Awareness Week in the UK, we were all encouraged to talk openly about dying in an attempt to be more ready for it. [1] […]
Richard Cook: 1984
1984 was a great year—and not just for George Orwell lovers, or for me as I embarked on my medical education. Daley Thompson won his second Olympic gold medal in […]
Anna Smajdor: Should we incentivise compassion in the NHS?
In response to the details of catastrophic failures in Mid Staffordshire NHS trust, David Cameron recently suggested that nurses’ pay should be dependent on their compassion. The idea that we […]
Richard Cook: Twitter, doctors, and rules
Ever get frustrated during a consultation? How should doctors deal with that? The patient comes first of course—we, as doctors, know that and have that mantra at the centre of […]
Mike Hobday: Understanding our growing cancer population
All areas of healthcare are rich in data, some more so than others. Take intensive care. As patients are constantly monitored; the intensive care unit (ICU) is one of the […]
Roger Taylor on how to use data to improve healthcare
Don Berwick’s report on patient safety in the NHS, published last week, adds another viewpoint to the question of how we tackle poor quality in health services. It supplements the […]
Kailash Chand: How can we resource a 24/7 NHS?
The secretary of state for health in England Jeremy Hunt, has on numerous occasions expressed that he would like to see a seven day a week NHS, where patients get […]