Under the theme “Together for health. Stand with science”, World Health Day (7 April) launched a year-long campaign highlighting the power of scientific collaboration to protect the health of people, animals, plants, and the planet through the One Health approach. Speaking to countries across the South-East Asia Region, Dr Catharina Boehme emphasized WHO’s leadership not […]
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If people cannot interpret research, should they trust it? By Lisa Bunn
Introduction The public are increasingly encouraged to trust evidence-based health and social care but are rarely engaged with complex interpretation of research that informs practitioner decisions. In everyday practice, professionals integrate research alongside experience and individual patient factors, yet this reasoning often remains invisible. As access to health information expands and patients take a more […]
Shift the Seat, Shift the Influence: A New Four Seat Approach to Patient Partnership. By Dr Kate Pryde, Dr Christina Rennie and Emlyn Marshall
Healthcare uses many metaphors, but few help us speak honestly about power. Leaders often aspire to stronger patient partnership, yet real practice varies widely. In some settings patients shape strategy; in others their influence appears only through complaints or litigation. Co-production literature shows that although it is increasingly valued, practice remains inconsistent and often unclear […]
Tyranny under bombs: condemnation of the Iran war must also include condemnation of the regime. By Rammina Yassaie
Wars are, without doubt, public health emergencies. They have lasting implications on the physical and psychological wellbeing of those affected. The extensive health harms from conflicts are notably exacerbated when essential infrastructure is (either intentionally or unintentionally) destroyed during conflict, risking civilian access to healthcare, energy, food supplies and more.1 As such, the Iran war […]
When silence becomes the default: what the Kent meningitis outbreak reveals about outbreak governance. By Vsevolod Shabad
Two young people died in Canterbury this month. Fifteen cases of invasive meningococcal disease have now been confirmed. UKHSA issued a public alert on 16 March, directing anyone who had visited a Canterbury nightclub in early March to seek antibiotics. Elective procedures were disrupted. Antibiotic supplies were mobilised. Staff were redeployed. The public controversy focused […]
Leading from Sickness to Prevention: Maximising the Potential of Allied Health Professionals in Neighbourhoods. By Julie Lowe
Health and care systems in England and across the world face growing pressure from an ageing population, rising multimorbidity, workforce shortages, and increasing public expectations. Reliance on reactive, episodic models of care has contributed to long waiting times, variation in quality, and persistent inequalities in health outcomes. These challenges strengthen the case for prevention as […]
Why the NHS cybersecurity culture cannot be audited into existence. By Vsevolod Shabad
In June 2024, a ransomware attack on Synnovis — the pathology firm jointly owned by Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital foundation trusts — left blood testing services across south east London inoperable for months. More than a thousand operations were cancelled. London’s blood stocks were depleted to the point where a national […]
Clinicians as inventors: what microsurgery teaches us about NHS innovation. By Allan Ponniah
Microsurgery is not a niche specialism. It underpins cancer reconstruction, trauma care, and the treatment of conditions affecting patients across every demographic. Every day, surgeons perform one of the most technically demanding procedures in modern medicine: repairing blood vessels smaller than a matchstick head, under a microscope, by hand, with sutures finer than human hair. […]
Moving from Burnout to Leadership: A ‘Six Rs’ Roadmap for Physician Well-Being. By Alexios-Fotios A. Mentis
Physicians worldwide face relentless clinical demands, balancing critically ill patients, distressed families, and administrative burdens.1,2 Many of us recognize this daily tension. Paradoxically, though, society expects physicians to safeguard public health, even while workforce shortages, bureaucracy, and documentation undermine our own well-being, leadership, and autonomy. It is no surprise that morale collapses under chronic stress, […]
Environmental Physiotherapy and practice-based learning. By Danielle Munford, Christie Robinson, Alex Holly, Richard Harper and Jaimie Osborne
Due to the interconnections between climate change and worsening human health, it is essential that Physiotherapy graduates are equipped to manage the effect on patients. Meanwhile, healthcare is a significant contributor to carbon emissions and it is essential that physiotherapists lead environmentally informed clinical practice (Li et al, 2024). Internationally, there is an urgent need […]