Between 1991 and 1993 the Finnish economy suffered a deep recession and health and social services were cut by 25%. The result was a fall in mortality. Sweden had the same experience, and both countries thought that the falls in mortality might have been caused by falls in consumption of tobacco and alcohol. Can recessions and […]
Middle-aged; mid-life; mid-career. Party to the blessings – and the curses – of a young family. A sense that some things have been achieved, some are still to be achieved, while some, alas will probably not be. A feeling also that life’s funnel is narrowing. If hope, as I cannot remember who said, makes a […]
After years in obscurity, those of us concerned about chronic disease are about to have our moment in the spotlight—at the United Nations High Level Meeting in New York next September. The last comparable meeting was on AIDS in 2001 and led to the Global Fund. Next year’s meeting is described as a “once in a […]
The First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research ended on a crescendo of upbeat promise on the 19th of November, but amid all of the excellence of organisation, content, energy and enthusiasm, there was a murmur of methodological tension between the positivists and social scientists. […]
Far too few people Tweet. I’ve just been teaching a class on getting published in Buenos Aires, and only one of 60 researchers Tweeted. “Writing and publishing the paper,” I say, “is the easy part. Getting an audience is the hard part, and Tweeting can help, especially if like Ben Goldacre, you can accumulate 50 […]
It is sad that the memory of Lord Denning, the eminent jurist, will always be associated with the unhappy phrase “appalling vista,” pronounced during the appeal hearing of the Birmingham Six. By this he meant that prolonged, pervasive, and systematic wrongdoing by agencies of the state was inconceivable: unfortunately, subsequent scrutiny was to prove him […]
We live in momentous times. Foundations are being shaken; long-held assumptions overthrown. The relationship between citizen and state is being redrawn. Consider only the health service. So much that seemed immemorial put to the sword. PCTs on their way out. Quangos to be torched. All that seemed solid melting into air…Time then for men and […]
The concerns expressed by the new chair of the RCGP about the difficulties which GPs might face, in taking on commissioning, are pertinent. There is always a tension between being the advocate for the patient in front of you and for the population behind them. It does seem odd that PCTs have been exhorted to divorce […]
I must confess that I am at a meeting…again. This time I am at the long awaited First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. I am in Montreux with more than a thousand people from around the globe who do what I do, which is try to figure out how societies can best organise themselves […]
The Ola During Children’s Hospital is close to having the x ray unit up and running. This is very exciting especially since it has been 6 years since the last x ray was taken at Ola During Children’s Hospital. Can you imagine a hospital without x ray services? […]