It’s the end of September 2020 and my colleagues Leslieann Osborn, Director of Wellbeing and Community Engagement and Cintia Bailey, Senior Communications Manager, are suggesting activities to celebrate Black History Month in October. We agree to hold a virtual Book Club and one of the suggested books is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by […]
Latest articles
Diversity must be underpinned by inclusion and psychological safety by Roger Kline
Following on from the powerful blog “After the speeches…” that outlined actions needed to reduce discrimination, we are delighted to publish part seven of a ten part blog series by Roger Kline with suggestions on how to tackle structural racism in the NHS. In 2012 Google set out to answer a simple question “What makes […]
Leading towards a mentally healthier world by Dr Tim Ojo
Today, the 10th of October, is World Mental Health Day. It is the day we are encouraged to raise awareness of mental health issues and advocate against social stigma surrounding mental health issues. Considering the state of the world now, it is perhaps more important than it has ever been to highlight the need for […]
Backing the frontlines during COVID-19 by Amir Jehangir
When I qualified in August 2019 as a new consultant, I was confident that my training had put me in good stead to lead a team in acute medicine. Of course, there was no way to know that the expectation would be to lead far beyond my medical experience. To meet the demands of the […]
Reframing imposter phenomenon by Rageshri Dhairyawan
“Imposter phenomenon” – the phenomenon of feelings of persistent self-doubt, or fear of being found out as a fraud – has attracted much attention in recent years. It encompasses a wide range of experiences and is said to be commonly experienced by healthcare professionals. Solutions to imposter phenomenon frequently emphasise ways in which individuals can […]
A lesson from a pandemic by Kelly Lockwood
Whilst the rest of the world reals in resentment, fear and anger at the novel coronavirus rampaging through our communities, as someone with a lifelong degenerative health condition, it has served as an intriguing moment of reflection for me. The maze It is often extremely difficult, if not impossible, to explain to someone who is […]
Don’t call me a hero… by Kate Atkin
The accolade of being a “hero” has sat uncomfortably on some people’s shoulders within NHS staff and other key workers. High accolades such as “hero”, “amazing”, “awesome” etc while intended to show appreciation, acknowledgement and praise are not always received in that way, and there could be an underlying reason… Maybe ‘heroic’ accolades invoke feelings […]
‘Magical Meander’: How to encourage change
This is the third 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. Change is hard. Habit is comfortable. But to misquote the iconoclastic work of fiction -The Leopard: “if you […]
More Plan than Action? by Roger Kline and Joy Warmington
Following on from the powerful blog “After the speeches…” that outlined actions needed to reduce discrimination, we are delighted to publish part six of a ten part blog series by Roger Kline with suggestions on how to tackle structural racism in the NHS. The NHS is currently awash with race equality Action Plans but many […]
Escaping the past by Rich Taunt
The sun shone on our visit to the world’s most expensive hospital. Being part of a conference nearby, those of us who wanted an early start were bussed up the road to the Karolinska Solna Hospital to see what an estimated 60 billion kronor (£5.27bn) buys you in medical real estate. Wearing hard hats we […]