Last week saw the publication of the implementation plan for the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020. This new challenge aims to consolidate and build on the progress made since the first challenge issued by the Prime Minister in 2012. The challenge has the laudable aims of making England the best place to live well […]
Category: Guest writers
Andrew Guest: Pots from pills
I began making ceramics just over ten years ago, as a counterpart to my main career promoting and creating opportunities for artists and architects. I quickly discovered the allure of casting clay in plaster moulds; first, the precision with which liquid plaster sets to a clean white negative shape, and then the way in which […]
Adam White: Why tackling in school rugby should be banned
Seventy academics, doctors, and public health professionals recently called for a ban on tackling in school rugby. They have called upon “Childrens’ Commissioners to protect children from the risks of harmful contact in school rugby” and for “Ministers to remove the tackle and other forms of harmful contact.” As an executive committee member of England Rugby Schools, […]
Jorge Ramírez on the doctor’s strike in Colombia
Recently junior doctors in the UK have been in the news for taking industrial action in protest at their new contract. A similar situation is happening in Colombia. However it is harder to report on because of the imbalance of Colombian news media reports. (1-3) Doctors in Colombia have gone on strike for a number […]
Jeanne Lenzer: The Backstory—Telling the truth about screening
According to various professional guidelines, if we’re the right age and gender, we’re supposed to have our breasts, lungs, prostate gland, cervix, colon, aorta, [1] liver, [2] pancreas, [3] heart and brain [4] routinely screened for various disorders. And, according to recommendations this year, our minds should be screened too; the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends […]
Sue Hogston: What little progress has been made for neurological services in England is in danger of slipping away
With more than four million people in England* currently living with a neurological condition—such as motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, or Parkinson’s disease—it is very concerning, yet sadly unsurprising, that a new report has revealed neurological care services are simply not good enough. The report, published last week by MPs from the Public Accounts […]
Neel Sharma: Lightening the learning load during junior doctor ward rounds
Educating newly qualified junior doctors to become masters of their trade is not easy. Hospital life is fast paced and typically acute. Rapid patient turnover as well as demands on senior doctors means that teaching time is often at a premium. Therefore, as educators we have the added pressure of ensuring that we sufficiently cover […]
Jane Wells: Meningitis B vaccine—still learning to deal with uncertainty
Another vaccine controversy rears its head, this time meningitis B. The parents of a two year old who died of the disease posted pictures of their desperately ill child online, precipitating a huge response to a petition to the UK Government for all children up to the age of 11 to be vaccinated, which so […]
Jennifer Rohn: Should the meningitis B vaccine be offered to children older than 1 year old?
The advent of quantitative approaches to understanding the patterns of disease ushered in a golden era for public health. From the link between smoking and lung cancer to HIV and AIDS, statistics have been laudably applied to guide societies into tackling life-threatening behavioural practices and infectious diseases. In a nation with a tightly rationed public […]
Beryl De Souza: Spirituality and compassion in medicine
Spirituality can be defined as “the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose, and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature and to the significant or sacred” (1). Studies have shown that spirituality and religious beliefs and practices have […]