Both the news headlines and the staff working in healthcare report real pressures within the NHS. The reasons for this are multifactorial and include recruiting and retaining a high quality workforce, […]
Latest articles
Living with tinnitus and how it’s helped me identify with my patients
My illness presented itself suddenly in the middle of a summer night when tinnitus woke me up like an unwelcome visitor. I waited a few minutes for it to go […]
Miranda Wolpert: We must set realistic expectations for outcomes in child mental health
The secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, identified Child and Young People’s Mental Health Services as “the biggest single area of weakness in NHS provision at the moment.” Hardly a day […]
Seth Berkley: The new priority in Syria is preventing epidemics
Regardless of how the current ceasefire agreement in Syria came about, it has—to a large extent—brought a welcome halt to hostilities in many parts of the country. But as one […]
Samir Dawlatly: The perfect storm to distract us from a crisis
All over social media recently there has been wailing and gnashing of teeth by GPs, such as myself, at suggestions that the opening hours of general practice are in some way […]
Florence Wilcock: Maternity voices partnerships—“No hierarchy, just people”
“No decision about me without me” has been a key element of NHS rhetoric since 2012. It’s a great idea, however, the current reality is that as a universal principle […]
Reena Aggarwal: Finding a scapegoat for the NHS crisis
A year ago junior doctors in England went on strike for the first time in four decades. Jeremy Hunt, health secretary for England, used statistics on the so called “weekend […]
David Gilbert: “What would a patient led solution to the A+E crisis look like?”
Like many people who spout rhetoric about the NHS, I am guilty of indulging in the blame game. Some professionals and policy makers “blame” patients for “inappropriate attendance” at A&E […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—16 January 2017
NEJM 12 Jan 2017 Vol 376 PROMS and PROs I first went to the Proms in 1966. I enjoyed the queuing, the atmosphere, and the music: young Barenboim playing Beethoven […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Apoptosis
In their landmark paper in the British Journal of Cancer 45 years ago, Kerr, Wyllie, and Currie reported a phenomenon that they described as “controlled cell deletion”. They proposed calling […]