Success in reducing mortality from cardiovascular disease combined with improvements in cancer survival mean that the number of people at risk of being diagnosed, or living with cancer, is increasing. In a few years, half of all Britons will be likely to be diagnosed with cancer at some time in their life. By 2040 a […]
Category: Guest writers
Margaret McCartney on the petition to get Bounty reps out of NHS maternity wards
It’s not just me who is annoyed about the presence of Bounty reps on NHS wards, who pay the NHS to be allowed access to give samples of products to new mothers—and who earn money from selling on parents names and addresses. I wrote in the BMJ that, “The lack of knowledge about what signing […]
Jane Parry: Why real name HIV testing won’t fly in China
Two interesting documents that came across my desk this week got me thinking about how different HIV-related human rights look depending on where you’re standing. The first was a press release from UNAIDS, UNDP, and the International Commission of Jurists about the first ever judicial dialogue about HIV, human rights, and the law. The second […]
Fran Baum on the globalisation of unhealthy lifestyles
Fran Baum is blogging from the 8th World Health Organization Global Health meeting. Read her other blogs here. Sauli Ninistö, President of Finland, opened the conference stressing that health is important for achieving other goals, but also has value in its own right. He spoke of Finland’s huge improvements in health since the 1940s achieved […]
Richard Vize: David Nicholson’s last speech to the NHS Confederation conference
Sir David Nicholson’s last speech to the annual NHS Confederation conference as the leader of the service reflected all the traits of his seven years in control. His passion, commitment, and drive were undeniable, but he failed to acknowledge mistakes which had undermined patient care, gave little time to the role of local clinical commissioners, […]
Fran Baum: From Ottawa to Helsinki—the 8th global conference on health promotion
In 1986 the World Health Organisation held the first global conference on health promotion at which the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion was drafted and adopted. It has become the bible for health promoters with its five strategies of building healthy public policy, creating a supportive environment, strengthening community action, promoting individual skills and re-orienting […]
David Zigmond: Hello, health commissioner. Goodbye, family doctor?
In this new era of GP led NHS commissioning, I saw a young GP on the television. She was interviewed to sample a voice of professional support and enthusiasm for the reformed regime. She spoke with an authoritatively quiet manner and an assured economy of phrase. She said: “GPs know their patients, families, and neighbourhoods.” […]
Deborah Kirklin: Mid Staffs—would you have been a whistleblower?
The latest Medical Humanities poll asks readers a simple but searching question: if you witnessed unaddressed failings in local healthcare provision, would you feel confident and secure enough to whistle blow? Inspired by a series of on-going scandals about the care, or rather lack thereof, provided to some NHS patients, the poll is linked to […]
Charlotte Elder: A call for a bit of honesty
Before a career move to paediatrics I was a GP trainee. Whilst brainstorming what topics we were going to cover in our VTS half day release, I suggested that we develop our skills as reflective practitioners and discuss our imperfections as doctors. It would be a chance to talk about ourselves as fallible humans who […]
Scott Fraser: Do doctors have a responsibility to lead on climate change?
When learning biology for my school exams (longer ago than I imagine but not so many years ago) I clearly remember that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was rounded down to 0.03%. If I gave that answer today it would be marked as incorrect. According to the US government’s Mauna Loa laboratory, atmospheric CO2 has now […]