Recently, Jeremy Hunt said that GPs are undergoing penance for the 2004 contract. To quote, he said: “Labour signed a disastrous contract in 2003 and since then, in penance really, […]
NHS
Richard Smith: How global health can help the NHS
Africa has 25% of the global health burden and 2% of the health workforce. In contrast, North America has 2% of the health burden but 25% of the health workforce. […]
John Hughes: The UK will slip from world leaders in palliative care if complacency replaces progress
The Quality of Death Index report from The Economist Intelligence Unit once again ranks the UK as providing the best “quality of death” and “quality of palliative care” as compared […]
Emma Ladds: Remembering to care
There is something both heartwarming and heartbreaking about the sight: an older man, so stooped he is bent almost double, pushing an empty wheelchair down the pavement. His wristband marks him […]
Saffron Cordery: Spending review—time to do the maths
I can’t think of a time when the machinery of government has had to work harder. Austerity is a tough call for everyone. Looking out of the windows of NHS […]
David Zigmond: Competence or compliance? The corrosive cost of professional practitioner appraisals
Current appraisal systems sacrifice more of value than they can assure. Clarifying why and how this happens gives us wider insights into our ill faring welfare systems. “The more laws, […]
Samir Dawlatly: Why bother with my cholesterol?
For reasons that I have previously written about, I have to have my blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose checked every year. These measurements have always been normal. Of these, […]
#imajuniordoctor: Junior doctors respond to the new junior doctor contract on social media
An online petition has already collected over 50,000 signatures calling for the BMA to support doctors taking strike action against the planned introduction of new junior doctor contracts. Doctors are concerned […]
Hugh Alderwick: Is the NHS delivering enough things right?
Recently, I’ve written blogs about overuse and underuse in the NHS—the problems of doing too much of the wrong things and not enough of the right ones. The final chapter […]
Edward Ng: Quality assessments in general practice—have we gone too far?
UK general practice receives an unprecedented level of scrutiny to verify that quality is maintained. We have the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) to incentivise GPs to provide better quality […]