This is a serious blog about death, about what can go wrong in the dying process and how it can be put right. It arises out of an inquest where […]
NHS
David Lock: Is this the start of the wholesale privatisation process of NHS management?
The prime minister has picked a new health advisor, Nick Seddon, who poured cold water on the creation of clinical commissioning groups and appears to be focused on moving NHS […]
Penny Campling: The last thing the NHS needs is a compassion “pill”
Reading the Francis Report for many of us is like looking in a mirror. The mirror is at an angle, magnifying the perversities in the picture, but it is all […]
Kailash Chand on NHS 111
It is now more than a month since the BMA first blew the whistle on the gathering failures bedevilling the government’s flagship NHS 111 service—and regrettably the problems show no […]
Richard Vize on the challenges faced by clinical commissioning groups
The mood among clinical commissioners less than a month into the new system is characterised by a determination to move care out of hospitals, frustration at legal and financial impediments […]
David Lock: Should the NHS fund assisted conception for lesbian couples?
Amongst the issues in the in-tray of CCGs, the issue of funding for assisted conception (typically either intrauterine insemination or IVF) for lesbian couples is not highest on the agenda, […]
Kailash Chand: Withdraw section 75 regulations
Last month the UK government released its amended regulations on NHS procurement after considerable outrage from health organisations, trade unions, and parliamentarians, over what appeared to be clear breaches of agreements. […]
Richard Smith: Should the first priority of the NHS be to stop us dying or to help us die well?
Good Friday is an excellent day for thinking about death, but I think about death every day. I find it energising. As I write this blog on Easter Sunday, I read […]
David Lock: Government creates bedblocking headache for CCGs on the day CCGs are created
The fact that 1 April is “April Fool’s day” ought to be enough to warn governments of all shades that it is a bad day to make major changes to […]
Felix Greaves: New beginnings, and new risks in English public health
Ah, spring time. A time of new beginnings. Daffodils sprouting through the snow. And like hesitant young lambs, looking around at their unpleasantly cold surroundings, the new structures responsible for […]