“See me, feel me, touch me, heal me.” I didn’t recognise the words but the sentiments were familiar. Words of inspiration from a song that helped shape the paintings, drawings, and sculptures of Claire Halliday, a relatively unknown Irish artist. Stumbling upon her work in a far corner of a group exhibition on the ground […]
Category: Domhnall MacAuley
Domhnall MacAuley: The final answer to the breast screening dilemma at WONCA Europe.
Communicating risk is about numbers. If you think of any serious disease, the potential to reduce risk by 50% sounds fantastic. If the incidence is 2/10 and you reduce the risk by 50% you save one life in 10. If the incidence is 2/100 you save one life in 100. If the incidence is 2/1000 […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Storm clouds and research
On an island off the west coast of Ireland, I picked up a discarded newspaper while sheltering in a bar. Browsing through, I came across an article about physical activity and depression. Based on a BMJ paper—a randomised controlled trial on promoting activity in depressed patients—it discussed the findings at length. A few days off […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Research of doubtful relevance
What happened? Remember your first days at medical school —wide eyed optimism and how you were going to change the world, save lives, cure disease, help the sick, make a difference to people lives. Looking at a lifetime dedicated to medical research —how much have you achieved when measured against the ambitions of youth. As […]
Domhnall MacAuley: A visit from the GMC
Revalidation fatigue…there is so much in the news, post, and medical media that I had begun to switch off. But, Niall Dickson, from the GMC, gave us a very reassuring talk on revalidation recently and it all sounded very reasonable, sensible, and non threatening. Revalidation based on appraisal seems fair and we are well used […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Unexpected afterthoughts on the BMJ Group Improving Health Awards
Humbled, unsettled, introspective. Mixed and strange emotions. Not the response you might have expected on such a wonderful evening. But, lets enjoy the evening first before the amateur psychology….. The BMJ Improving Health Awards—a celebration of achievement. Lashings of goodwill and enthusiasm. Tension, excitement, and showbiz. Great people, a great event, and a little sprinkling […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Exporting UK style quality and outcomes to Switzerland
Clocks, watches, mountains, and trains. Clean Swiss efficiency. So, I was fascinated to learn about Swiss primary care when speaking at a recent conference in Lausanne; mostly single handed, still predominantly male, and with limited use of electronic records. Joining me from the UK was Stephen Campbell from Manchester, one of the architects of the […]
Domhnall Macauley: A tongue in cheek letter to consultant colleagues
Dear consultant colleague, The standard of consultant letters is very variable so we have decided to introduce a new proforma for consultant letters to GPs. Patients attend many different outpatient departments and we intend to introduce a different proforma for every department in each of the hospitals to whom we refer. […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The glamour of drink
Early morning and a young lad, hooded, trainers, hugs his bottle as he staggers home. Last night it started early; cider, beer, and tonic wine. Blue bags on a Friday night. Party time in the park as teenage boys and girls huddle drunken in the dusk. Monday morning, at the surgery. Mother fraught and adolescent […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Ernest Hart leaps out of the Raidió
Tootling along in the car on holiday. Brain idling, half listening to the radio when, out of the middle of an Irish language programme, jumped Ernest Hart. A former editor of the BMJ in whose eponymously named room we often have editorial meetings. But, on Raidió na Gaeltachta? A historian recalled the spinning and weaving […]