Any lingering hope that the government had some master plan for exiting the EU was dispelled this week, says Martin McKee. […]
Martin McKee: A plan for Brexit? Some hope
Category: Columnists
Richard Smith: Doctors—the case for professional citizenship
Do doctors have extra duties as professional citizens? What are they and do they ever conflict with self-interest? Richard Smith explores […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Wellerisms
We first meet Sam Weller (picture below) in Chapter X of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, which was published serially between April 1836 and November 1837. “He was habited in a coarse-striped waistcoat, with black calico sleeves, and blue glass buttons; drab breeches and leggings. A bright red handkerchief was wound in a […]
Richard Smith: Can we look forward to a healthier future?
I’m preparing for a BBC Radio 4 debate on whether we can look forward to a healthier future, and I’m cast as the pessimist who must argue that the future will be less healthy. Here is my case. The whole debate could centre on how we define health. WHO may define it unrealistically and ambitiously […]
William Cayley: It’s time for evidence based solutions rather than political healthcare agendas
America needs to set aside ideologically driven approaches to healthcare, argues William Cayley […]
Kieran Walsh: How to be an all star clinical teacher
There is a lot to remember when you are leading a ward round. There’s the patient, the relatives, the junior doctors, the nurses, the physiotherapist, the occupational therapist, the pharmacist, the social worker, and the discharge coordinator. There are also the case notes, the drug charts, the observation sheets, the blood tests, the radiology films, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Gout
Richard Asher once commented, citing Pel Ebstein fever in Hodgkin’s disease as an example, that some clinical manifestations that are regarded as “typical” of certain diseases may be in fact rather uncommon or even non-existent. It is several years since I last saw a patient with gout that presented as podagra, affecting the big toe. […]
Richard Smith: Why has Bangladesh done so well?
How has Bangladesh been so successful in achieving MDGs and good health outcomes? Richard Smith discusses. […]
Billy Boland: How do we become compassionate leaders?
An excessive focus on systems, policy, and performance without talking about the people involved can exclude, undermine, and disillusion those we want to bring about change in the NHS, says Billy Boland. […]
Richard Smith: The ways in which hospitals can destroy health
Spending more and more on hospital care, means that you “crowd out” spending on other activities that do much for health, says Richard Smith. […]