Transport is the invisible glue that holds our lives together, an under recognised contributor to economic, social, and personal wellbeing. Unfortunately, in public health terms, our profession has allowed itself to focus almost exclusively on the downsides of transport. The chapter on transport in Marmot and Wilkinson’s otherwise excellent Social Determinants of Health makes for […]
Category: Columnists
Richard Smith: A paperless NHS by 2018?
Cognisant of the short time that ministers are in post, Jeremy Hunt, decided when he became Secretary of State of Health, that to make a difference he should have only four priorities. They are, he told the Cambridge Health Network on Wednesday night, improving the quality of care, putting dementia higher on the agenda, reducing […]
Kieran Walsh: Are medical school assessments becoming a tick box exercise?
“You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” One of the most enjoyable things about listening to George W Bush torturing the English language is that no matter how confused his sentences get you can still understand almost exactly what he means. Widely derided as […]
Richard Smith: A jolly afternoon with Dying Matters
Dying Matters is an organisation that aims to raise awareness of dying, death, and bereavement, and this is Dying Awareness Week. The organisation exists because of the mass denial of death in our society that leaves people ill prepared for dying and death and contributes to so many people dying badly. I’ve joined Dying Matters […]
Richard Smith: Buggered about by the NHS Sustainable Development Unit: a story with a moral
I’m an enthusiastic follower of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, its director, David Pencheon, and its important mission of reducing NHS carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, but like all organisations it needs to pay attention to small as well as big things to succeed. That’s why I tell this (not very) sad story. I […]
Julian Sheather: On death, dying, and “Departures”
Dead bodies do not seem to have a place in the modern world. Death, dying, the dead—if they can be so unceremoniously bundled together—lie in our culture somewhere between the unmentionable, the ineffable, and the simply ill-mannered. (Shades here of La Rochefoucauld: neither death nor the sun can be looked at directly, both presumably having […]
Richard Smith: The editor thinks your paper is nonsense but will publish anyway
“If you want to get on in life, dear boy, don’t be too original. Originality is a curse. People won’t understand you. They’ll feel threatened. You may end up burnt at the stake.” I tried to find a quote from a sage making these points, but I couldn’t—so I made one up myself. I’m meditating […]
Desmond O’Neill: A grave beauty
When visiting a city for the first time, graveyards rarely feature high on my agenda. So, little did I suspect that a very beautiful graveyard would be one of the aesthetic highlights of a recent short stay in Portland, Maine, a compact and attractive port city with interesting French influences. My host, the founder of […]
Julian Sheather: Medicine, Strasbourg, and conscientious objection
The media made quite a fuss recently about the European Court of Human Rights finding that British Airways had unfairly discriminated against an employee, Mrs Eweida, in refusing to let her visibly wear a crucifix. Apparently David Cameron tweeted his delight with the judgment. But by the time the case reached Strasbourg, British Airways had […]
Richard Smith: A variation on the theme of the importance of publishing
I fully support the Alltrials campaign to see all clinical trials published, and I’m a signature to the letter of people who have participated in trials and are horrified that their trial might not have been published. The results of my trial were published, but signing the letter caused me to remember projects that I’d […]