Never let it be said that doctors are a homogeneous group. Quizzing doctors over the last few months about their hopes, fears, inspirations, and aspirations, the BMJ discovered an infinite […]
Latest articles
Desmond O’Neill: Four helicopters and a string quartet
Unlike last year, there was not a formal cultural event at this year’s European geriatric medicine congress. The organising committee may rightly have considered this superfluous with the glories of […]
Richard Smith: Kissing the hand that Hitler kissed
In the early 80s I kissed a hand that Hitler had kissed. Once I realised what I’d done I felt like spitting, but I didn’t. This is how my physical […]
Vijaya Nath: Making revalidation work—what have we learnt so far?
Revalidation—the process by which licensed doctors demonstrate that they are up to date and fit to practise—was greeted with cynicism by some in the medical profession when it was introduced […]
Tara Lamont: A female Dr Finlay for the 21st century
My weekly run with a GP friend has become a breathless litany of the ways in which she feels she and her practice are failing patients. Last week, she resigned […]
David Kerr: Will smart pills help improve patients’ compliance?
In a recent YouTube video the NHS Confederation highlighted that by 2050 one quarter (18 million) of adults in the UK will be living with a long-term medical condition. In […]
Jett Aislabie: Airport noise and cardiovascular disease
Last week we published a cluster of papers on airport noise and cardiovascular disease. One US based study found a statistically significant association between exposure to aircraft noise and risk […]
James Partridge: Reflections on Niki Lauda: A face from the flames
1 August 1976. A date to remember. Niki Lauda crashes, and the world stops. It stopped me in my tracks and forced me to think back. I had handed in […]
Kailash Chand: Health tourism does not cost the NHS vast sums of money
The government this week announced the first part of its planned crackdown on health tourism, with the Home Office unveiling a host of measures, including plans for a health levy […]
Julian Sheather: To see the world in a grain of wheat
Many years ago I was walking along Kilburn High Road with a sharp-eyed naturalist friend when he spotted an ear of domestic wheat growing in one of those squares of […]