Conflicts of interest are an inevitable part of the commissioning environment. There are obvious advantages to having local GPs at the heart of commissioning and in many areas they have […]
Latest articles
Anita Charlesworth: The impact on health of the comprehensive spending review
On the 25 November the Chancellor of the Exchequer will stand up in Parliament and make a statement that will shape much of the political landscape for the rest of […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—23 November 2015
NEJM 19 Nov 2015 Vol 373 Spooky RSV trial 2048 There’s a hint of Porton Down about this phase 1 study of an oral treatment for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). […]
Samir Dawlatly: Capacity insurance—not being missold
My wife and I have just booked a near extortionate holiday in the UK for the next major school holidays. As usual we were offered “cancellation insurance,” just in case […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Terrorism
The Latin word “terror,” from the hypothetical Indo-European root TER, implying trembling, meant “the fact or quality of inspiring terror” (Oxford Latin Dictionary) and a person or thing that causes […]
John Middleton: Why is there acute hunger in the UK and what is to be done about it?
Every day family doctors face the struggle of being custodians of entitlement to food bank help and backstops for the failures of the welfare system, while at the same time […]
Sarah Walpole: Health through peace—mixing stories and science, and grabbing rays of hope
“We were deployed to attack civilians in their homes.” He stood in front of our 700 strong audience, bared the horrors of his experiences, and shared the pain of his […]
David Zigmond: Arguments about money are often about much else
When partnerships break down, money is an expected battleground. One of the most public and fiercely destructive examples is in the disintegrated marriage. Charge and countercharge escalate; then these are […]
Alisha Patel and Emma Pearson: Volunteering in rural South Africa
After two years of medical school and miserable weather, we decided it was time to take our newly found skills to a warmer climate. In summer 2015, we spent three […]
Richard Smith: What causes cholera? A Victorian debate
Yesterday I was in The Cholera Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh; today I’m reading about a highly emotional debate about the causes and treatment of cholera that took place in India […]