If the reality of patient care matched the rhetoric of the average “patient-centred” NHS provider it wouldn’t have been necessary for NICE to produce formal guidance on how to improve […]
Latest articles
Martin McShane: Large scale change
Over the last few weeks my reading and listening has made me consider whether we are at a crossroads in understanding and agreeing the purpose and nature of healthcare. Let […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 10 April 2012
JAMA 4 Apr 2012 Vol 307 1394 A special dread settles on me this week as I know I am going to have to write about breast cancer screening. But […]
Richard Smith: Time for medicine to move from “why questions” to “how questions”
A famous paper published in 1993 by Alan Berg of the World Bank asked why the world had done poorly at feeding everybody. Berg had two answers: nutritionists do the […]
Aser Garcia Rada: A good example of transparency for Spanish politicians
On 23 March the Spanish cabinet passed a new draft bill on transparency in public administration, which in other countries is called the Freedom of Information Act. So far Spain […]
Elizabeth Gargon: 2194 visits and 180 days—a challenge and a milestone are hit by the COMET database
Inconsistencies in health research are well documented, affecting anyone trying to use this information to make a choice about healthcare or to cope with the abundance of data generated by […]
Richard Smith: More than a food bank
Food banks in the United States are busy. The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, which I visited last week as part of the University of Arizona’s conference on global […]
Tiago Villanueva: Taking a renewed look at shoulder injuries
I did something very unusual for a GP last weekend, which was to attend a conference on a highly specific topic, namely shoulder injuries. GP’s in Europe usually have a […]
Richard Smith: A people—to fade or flourish?
The symbol of the Tohono O’odham, a native American tribe, is a man in a maze (see below). All of us, they believe, are born into a maze. We have […]
David Kerr: The French Connection—one solution to social care?
Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternative wrote the French actor and singer, Maurice Chevalier. In the UK this week, the government announced a forthcoming White […]