One of the worries about medical students is that they are not well connected to the real world. The come mostly from privileged backgrounds, enter the monastery of the medical school at 18, and spend the next 10 years focusing on passing exams and learning basic clinical skills. It’s not surprising that many come to […]
Last year I blogged about the commission set up by Lord Falconer on assisted suicide. It was clear from the outset that this commission was fatally flawed, not least because of the pro-assisted suicide stance of almost every member of the committee. Unsurprisingly the collection of evidence and hearings was unlikely to have a major impact given […]
Does it make sense for the state to pay tens of thousands of pounds for a drug that might keep a patient with cancer alive for another six weeks and leave frail elderly people alone and lonely? Is it the right use of resources to keep a 23 week old fetus alive and probably severely […]
January is the month that heralds the end of procrastination. The New Year is traditionally the time that individuals and organisations look ahead and plan for the future. Among the usual resolutions to do more, eat less, and be more productive, there is also the ubiquitous past-time of predicting the near future. For healthcare the […]
In healthcare we are much concerned about privacy, but Sainsbury’s, the supermarket chain, knows how much toilet paper I’ve bought in the past 20 years, how many chocolate éclairs I eat a month, that I love smoked fish, whether I eat white or brown bread, and much more. It could probably do a better job […]
The year ahead will be important for the NHS. It will be a year that determines if the leadership across the system inverts and changes. Currently it is based on compliance. Instructions are issued from the centre and the expectation is that they will be followed. Targets are set, with an implied threat that, if […]
This week I have had the pleasure of attending a workshop in Honolulu with the centre for excellence for disaster management and humanitarian assistance (CoE-DMHA). The CoE is interested in thinking about resiliency and support for relief and rebuilding from a multi-lateral perspective. With its partners from the Oak Ridge and Argonne National Laboratories, the CoE is […]
“We need to think about networks and define if they are commissioner or provider led.” I heard this said a few weeks ago. I also heard it said 3 years ago. I think the first time I heard it said was well over 10 years ago. Creating a taxonomy for networks seems to be a […]
Opening up NHS data to all will bring jobs, economic growth, innovation, a better health service, reduced health costs, and a new age in science. That was the heady message heard by a long dinner table of the good and the great in the House of Commons last week. Most of them seemed to be […]
Bad news makes good press. Last week the main medical news item was the release of the National Diabetes Audit figures for England and it made grim reading. The audit collected data from 152 Primary Care Trusts covering almost 70% of the population of people living with diabetes. The bottom line was that there are an […]