The first time you experience the NHS as a patient or a carer you realise that a single national health service is no more than a beguiling myth. In fact, it is a health and care system that is as fractured and discontinuous as any other in the world. For me, this became distressingly obvious […]
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What the Covid-19 pandemic taught me about our human coexistence by Jamiu O. Busari
The Covid 19 pandemic has taught us several lessons. One of them is the importance and need for (harmonious) co-existence among human beings. The pandemic showed that human beings are resilient. It revealed our collective strength and generosity of heart, while at the same time exposing our limitations and vulnerabilities. While we saw extraordinary acts […]
You can’t control a network you need to motivate it – lessons in network leadership by George Dellal
Networks are increasingly important in addressing many of the challenges we face across health and care. I first started to realise the power of networks about ten years ago. At the time, I had been recruited by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to manage a research project to study how network approaches could be used to improve […]
Leadership for what? by Brigid Russell
I am struggling with what leadership development in health and care is really for. While it might seem risky for someone who ‘delivers’ leadership development to admit to such a struggle, I want to share some critical questions I have about the purpose of leadership and how we approach its development. So, my first […]
‘Magical Meander’: Pillar Boxes
This is the seventh part of the BMJ Leader blog series written anonymously by “Magical Meander”, a medical manager working in the NHS, to help align perspectives and build understanding of medical management across these two professions. A funny thing has been happening near where I live. On one single road in a short window of […]
Are doctors leading many of ‘World’s Best Hospitals’ in 2021 by Amanda Goodall and Toby Houston-Sime
We all love to hate rankings. But we also love to use them, whether we are purchasing a hair dryer or health care. Media outlets know this, which is why US news magazine Newsweek launched an annual ranking of the World’s Best Hospitals. Rankings are problematic for many reasons, but mainly because they create perverse […]
Cakes, cohorts and card games by Ammara Hughes
This is the eighth blog by Dr Ammara Hughes on Primary Care Leadership and COVID vaccination. Read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh blogs in the series. Last week, we reached a milestone. 6 months of operating as a vaccine hub. We hit 20,000 vaccines administered across the Primary Care Network. An upgrade from doughnuts to a […]
“Is it IMG friendly?”: Facing the truths you won’t want to hear by Kim Nurse
This last month, thousands of hardworking junior doctors across the country found out whether they had secured national training numbers. Now understandably, trainees have many questions; where’s good for training, teaching or social life, yet surprisingly the question seen all too commonly across numerous social media channels was: “Which hospitals are IMG friendly?” International Medical […]
A marathon not a sprint: The endurance of Physician Associates by Ammara Hughes
This is the seventh blog by Dr Ammara Hughes on Primary Care Leadership and COVID vaccination. Read the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth blogs in the series. Three years ago, I ran my first marathon. As runners will know, this generally comprises of a four-to-five-month training programme, which becomes all consuming. You fit the runs around […]
What have I learnt from Oliver’s story by Jim Thomas and Paula McGowan
Jim Thomas On my bookshelves there is a book titled Psychotherapy and Mental Handicap, the title of the book made me cringe when it came out in 1992. Thankfully and rightly we have now mainly moved past using those sorts of old-fashioned descriptions, but when I got beyond the title I found there were a […]