A recent episode of File on 4, entitled “Treating Stroke: The Doctor’s Dilemma,” discusses the latest on the only clot buster for ischaemic stroke—alteplase—and touches on broader debate that will be familiar to the medical community, but less so to a lay audience. Alteplase is currently being examined by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) after […]
Category: Editors at large
Annabel Ferriman: Dis-integration of the NHS
Local services are being sacrificed on the altar of competition. Why does anyone think we can integrate health and social care when we can’t even integrate healthcare itself? This week’s case of the “unmitigated disaster” in Nottingham illustrates the point. […]
Georg Röggla: The political culture on refugees has tilted
David Berger and Kamran Abbasi wrote an important editorial about refugees, saying that it is time for moral leadership from Western democracies. I cross the border between Italy and Austria by train every weekend. Italian, German, and Austrian police catch at least ten, and sometimes many more, migrants heading northwards out of each train. I […]
The BMJ Today: “Rapid responses are wonderful”
Michael Stone praises The BMJ’s article based post publication peer review in a weekend rapid response to my feature marking the 20th anniversary of the journal’s website last week. They “allow for an almost immediate analysis of “intricate and technical issues” which arise from the original paper,” he writes, adding: “It is possible to effectively “debate a point […]
Tessa Richards: Fewer tablets, more self management support
It’s easy to lose confidence and withdraw from life when you become ill and lose your job. “Anne” struggled for 20 years with multiple long term conditions and a drug regimen of 28 tablets a day before going on a six week self management course which “turned [her] life around.” She and other patients spoke […]
David Payne at Health 2:0 Europe 2015
Is the Uber minicab model fit for healthcare? Why are doctors terrible digital adopters? And can the medical workforce benefit from using applications which promise virtual doctors on demand? These questions and others were debated at day 1 of technology conference Health 2:0, an annual event which profiles “international innovation in patient-provider communication, consumer health, […]
Sally Carter and Emma Parish review Who Cares?
A whirlwind of real voices from the NHS by Sally Carter, technical editor, The BMJ. “It’s a parade performance,” said the woman at the box office, “but some of it is outside so I’d keep your coat on if you think you might get chilly.” I had never been to a parade performance before and […]
David Payne: Top nurses with a tamed Hound
Spare a thought for the comedian asked to host a professional awards ceremony within a week of the UK general election. Oliver Reed lookalike Rufus Hound (pictured) showed all the signs of having his comic wings clipped as he took to the podium at London’s Savoy Hotel last week to present the Nursing Standard Nurse Awards. […]
The BMJ Today: A healthy NHS, preventing SIDS, and more on Nepal
• A letter to the next secretary of state for health In an open letter to the politician who will become secretary of health after the UK general election on 7 May, The BMJ provides a checklist for a healthy NHS, with funding the key issue. “History will not forgive another health secretary whose actions […]
The BMJ Today: Watch, read, listen, do
If you watch one thing today . . . See the two video clips embedded in the “Comptetent Novice” paper “A quick ward assessment of older patients by junior doctors,” and see if you agree with the weekend response posted by Birmingham doctor Yousuf Ansari. If you listen to one thing today . . . The […]