No more sad/happy movies for me. I hate the thought that someone might see me blubbering in the cinema. Alpha males shouldn’t cry. Tonight it was The Well Digger’s Daughter. I will not spoil it for you by telling you what happens. Lovely scenery, good acting, nice story. But, I had to pretend I didn’t […]
Category: Domhnall MacAuley
Domhnall MacAuley: Leaving Christmas behind
Dark, quiet, and desolate. At 7.45 am on the mornings after Christmas, the streets look sad and neglected. A few Christmas lights blink unconvincingly. No traffic, no pedestrians, no kids going to school, and no radio except the news. But, the surgery lights are on, cars parked outside, shutters open, patients waiting… […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Chicago. General practice, and all that Jazz
Chicago. A compelling show. An intriguing narrative based on real events. Posters advertising the musical, with its ever changing cast, greet me like an old friend on the escalators of London’s underground as I travel to the BMJ office. My first visit to the city recently was equally enthralling. The modern glass skyscrapers, amazing art institute, […]
Domhnall MacAuley: If Ryanair ran the NHS….
No frills: Basic services. Fast, efficient, and result driven. If you want business class comfort, you pay for a business class hospital. The NHS would provide hospital not hotel service. No optional extras—no lifestyle, cosmetic, or non core surgery. A non negotiable list of essential medications generated centrally. If you want medications not on the […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Science, shoeless, and a syringe culture. Some highlights from UKSEM
The major UK sport and exercise medicine conference (UKSEM) took place this week in Excel. It was huge event that attracted most of the world figures in sport and exercise medicine. We at the BMJ are also keen to address the important issues that link health, sport, and exercise. While the sports media focus on […]
Domhnall MacAuley: NAPCRG and the relevance of evidence based medicine
Trisha Greenhalgh (London) was always going to challenge the current paradigm. And, she didn’t disappoint. Her keynote at NAPCRG was elegant, persuasive, and beautifully crafted. Drawing from literature and philosophy she explored aspects of care beyond medicine and, in particular, the limitations of evidence based medicine (EBM). Her first assertion was that we get so […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Seduction, hubris and medical editing
At the annual course for new medical editors there were visitors from 25 medical journals around the world. When delegates fly in from Australia, New Zealand, and Chile, it seems like those from Sudan and Saudi Arabia are our next door neighbours. The common interest is their job – newly minted editors of specialist medical […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Ghosts in the consulting room
My consulting room is full of ghosts. Shadowy figures whose tears or trauma hover over the patient’s chair. The room has a memory and sometimes shares its thoughts. A word on the computer screen or a half remembered name brings back images, voices, fragments of forgotten conversations. I can see the faces of old friends […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Floundering in the deep end – reflections on the RCGP conference
The deep end. Floundering, treading water, trying to avoid drowning in the multiple morbidity, clinical complexity, and long, detailed, and difficult consultations in areas of deprivation. At the shallow end, GPs also work hard but can feel the bottom. Graham Watt (Glasgow) described his work with GPs working in the most deprived areas of Glasgow […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The high metal fences at work
There are high metal fences around both my places of work, at the BMJ, there is a lovely commemorative ornamental railing. At our surgery, a security barrier. Two places far apart both geographically and economically. David Taylor-Robinson (Liverpool), highlighted the socioeconomic differences within the UK in his recent talk at the Centre for Excellence in […]