Kerala, a state in southern India, has made impressive improvements in its population’s conditions of living. Despite having a low per capita income, its indicators of social development—such as the […]
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Richard Smith: Dumfries and Galloway NHS 6—developing change locally
Richard Smith visited and wrote about the NHS in Dumfries and Galloway in 1980, 1990, and 1999, and this series of blogs describes what he found in 2016. A feature […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Sepsis and septicaemia
A reader of The BMJ has written to the editor to ask for clarification of the terms “sepsis” and “septicaemia”. The answer could be said to be rather creepy. The […]
Simon Wessely on why we shouldn’t close the child refugee scheme
On Tuesday of this week I hosted a dinner at the Royal College of Psychiatrists for a group of medical students who are part of our “Pathfinders”—a scheme to give […]
Will Stahl-Timmins: Learning the TED way of speaking
I don’t think I will ever give a presentation the same way again. A few months ago, I was invited to speak at the TEDxNHS event in London, about the […]
Hannah Barham-Brown: Doctoring with a disability
“Can I ask you a question?” “Of course,” I replied, refocusing my attention across the hospital bed to answer my patient’s inquisitive, middle aged son. “Are you a real Doctor? […]
Sebastian Walsh: Medically fit, awaiting social
“Patient remains medically fit for discharge. Plan: Awaiting social.” On countless times during my foundation year 1 I wrote words to that effect in patients’ notes during ward rounds. It […]
Shaun Treweek: Why is there growing hostility towards EBM?
In an address to oysters, the Walrus in Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter” proclaims: The time has come, [the Walrus said], To talk of many things: Of shoes—and […]
Scarlett McNally: What if the NHS acknowledged that age and class limit the uptake of exercise?
What have we done? We have over-intellectualised health. We—the youthful, affluent, busy, well educated elite—run the NHS as we would want for ourselves. We think of how we would choose […]
David Sanders: Academics boycott US conferences in light of travel ban
What is the medical world to do since president Donald Trump’s executive order, issued on 27 January 2017, banning citizens of seven Muslim majority countries from entering the US for […]