A strong critique just published points to logical inconsistencies in NICE’s consideration of social values, specifically in how it handles quality adjusted life years (QALYs). Since these are key to many of the most controversial decisions made by NICE’s appraisal committees, this matters. It matters all the more that the authors include Tony Culyer, who […]
Category: Columnists
Neal Maskrey: Tipping the balance towards individualised care
I don’t really get the horror genre. Even as a young boy, the flaky plots and a world working to different rules than the one I was becoming more familiar with every day all seemed laughably improbable. Science takes us incrementally and logically from one discovery to another, building on the shoulders of giants. In […]
James Raftery: Sofosbuvir for hepatitis C—moving to country specific prices
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has provisionally approved sofosbuvir (brand name Sovaldi) for the treatment of hepatitis C, a decision that has surprised some commentators given its high price. The drug’s price in the United States of $84k for a 12 week course would be £54.6k at the current exchange rate of $/£0.65. But Gilead […]
Desmond O’Neill: Elective Dreams
With every elective student that joins our unit, I get a vivid flashback of my own electives. No matter how much water has flowed under the bridge since then, something particularly special endures about these less structured educational episodes. Even if undertaken in a local hospital, the elements of summer holiday, change of routine, and […]
David Kerr: Self obsessing health technology
Has the health tech industry and those who fund it lost the plot? Apparently, the next must have technology is the connected toothbrush. A “data driven oral health startup” company in the United States has just received a multi-million dollar investment to further develop a smartphone connected toothbrush. With this toothbrush, an accelerometer measures how […]
Liz Wager: Research integrity—how can institutions balance discipline and support?
The suicide of Yoshiki Sasai is both tragic and shocking. Sasai was deputy director of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, and a co-author of reports in Nature on the phenomenon of “stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency” (or STAP), which were retracted. Although Sasai was not accused of misconduct himself, he was criticised in an institutional […]
Pritpal S Tamber: Understanding what communities really value
There is nothing more convincing than someone citing research, and yet we often don’t know if what’s being cited is any good. Research can be bad if it’s poorly conducted or if the wrong evaluative method was used to answer the question. The methods we use in healthcare are often quite limited, especially when it […]
Mary E Black: Data is really beautiful
My whine of the week, if not the decade . . . Given that data, and in particular big data, is inevitable, exciting, inspiring, unlocks potential, has fabulous hidden patterns, is a game changer, is a huge business opportunity, can mobilise resources, can change our organisations and our lives forever . . . why does […]
Richard Smith: I hate going to the doctor
I hate going to the doctor. Don’t you? My statement is unsurprising as I’m a man and a doctor (of sorts), two groups who are known to dislike going to the doctor. Like most Londoners, I don’t have a doctor. I belong to a practice, but take pot luck on whom I see. Last time […]
William Cayley: Resilience, obstreperousness, and grit
Some people keep going, and going, and going . . . and some don’t. What makes the difference? I’m not sure we know, but I think it has something to do with resilience, obstreperousness, and grit. This week there has been a bit of a debate going on in our department over appropriate blood pressure […]