A terrible beauty: A short history of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence by Nicholas Timmins, Michael Rawlins and John Appleby. Free download. This story of NICE is […]
Latest articles
Richard Smith: Turning round failing hospitals
The Care Quality Commission has placed 27 health institutions, most of them hospitals, into “special measures,” and so far 11 have emerged. Few jobs can be tougher or lonelier than […]
Suzanne Gordon on the difficult patient
Today it’s hard to find a healthcare professional who doesn’t want to “put the patient first,” practise “patient centered care,” or make the patient “part” or even “the centre” of the […]
Alice Gerth: Junior doctors find their voice
As the strikes continue and the BMA votes to escalate action I have been searching for some of the more positive aspects of the present situation. Over the past few […]
Michelle White on Mercy Ships—providing free and safe surgery to some of the poorest parts of the world
Millions of people face financial ruin to afford surgery. Five billion to be precise, that’s how many people in the world currently have to weigh up the dilemma of financial […]
Michel Kazatchkine: Time to prioritise HIV/AIDS and MDR-TB in Eastern Ukraine as supplies run out
The road to Donetsk from Kramatorsk, the last city in mainland Ukraine before the internal border, is beautifully lined with frosted trees. But its beauty belies the harsh reality of […]
The sugar tax: “Was it The BMJ wot won it?”
“Get something out on social?” urged a colleague in response to UK Chancellor George Osborne’s sugar tax announcement in his Budget speech last week. “I think you can claim that […]
Elizabeth Atherton and Josephine Head: How environmentally sustainable are the UK’s new dietary guidelines?
Last week saw the launch of the Eatwell Guide—the UK’s official food guide to healthy diets. Astonishingly, despite major changes in eating habits and advances in nutrition science, this is the […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—21 March 2016
NEJM 17 Mar 2016 Vol 374 Unnecessary pessary 1044 “This randomized trial showed that placement of a pessary in girls and women who were pregnant with singletons and who had […]
Jeff Aronson: When I Use a Word … Naming biologics—rINNs and pINNs
This week I went to Harrogate to take part in the Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP’s) annual conference “Medicine 2016”, to contribute to a session on biological medicines (biologics). It […]