We know that many people occupying hospital beds ought not to be there, either because their earlier care has failed to keep them out or because they can’t be discharged for lack of anywhere to go. But is it quite fair to hasten their departure by subjecting them to all-day Andrew Lansley on their bedside […]
Category: Guest writers
Aser Garcia Rada: Co-payments and privatisation in Spain
Some time ago I wrote a letter to the Spanish daily El Mundo, saying that co-payments –an extra charge for accessing medical services in the public healthcare system, should be considered as a measure to help the public system. Co-payments have traditionally been a forbidden issue among politicians as they amount to paying twice for something we […]
Neil French: A new source of hope for children in Malawi – the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines
Pneumococcal disease causes probably at least half of the pneumonia cases in Malawi. It also causes meningitis, blood poisoning, and otitis, which if it doesn’t kill can leave a child disabled, deaf, and disadvantaged for the rest of their life. Vaccination is one of the most straightforward health interventions we have. The pneumococcal vaccine introduced […]
Norman Lufesi: Malawi’s aggressive response to childhood pneumonia
World pneumonia day this year was occasion for a huge celebration in Malawi, as we had chosen the day to introduce pneumococcal vaccines, which will protect our children from the leading cause of pneumonia. In Malawi, pneumonia contributes to 14% of all hospital admissions and 18% of hospital deaths in children under five. The introduction […]
Tom Yates: Lies, damn lies, and epidemiology
“Dear sir, I have completely failed to understand a simple criticism of our work, please tell everyone, yours, BBCnews“ Tweet by @bengoldacre, 4 November 2011 The misuse of epidemiology is everywhere. Lets look at two prominent culprits. ”Three fold variation’ in UK bowel cancer death rates’ splashed a recent BBC News headline. […]
Melanie Calvert: CONSORT quality of life extension under development
In the past decade, recommendations and user’s guides for evaluating, reporting, and interpreting health related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes from randomised controlled trials have been published, but disappointingly few of the standards are translated into practice. In a recent review of 794 trials that reported HRQL outcomes across a range of clinical areas, only […]
Jim Dobbin: The rise of vaccine coverage in Bangladesh
I am in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to mark world pneumonia day and also to learn more about how the UK’s financial contributions to Bangladesh and the GAVI Alliance are helping to change lives on the ground. Since 2010, I have chaired the all party parliamentary group for global action against childhood pneumonia and have particularly focused […]
Caroline Boobis: All day dialysis
I’d like to tell you about my mother, Doris.* She is 87 years old and has been on haemodialysis for nearly 25 years (is this a record?). She has dialysis three times a week for four hours, has a heavily restricted diet and fluid intake, and cannot go on holiday. But she doesn’t complain about any […]
Desmond O’Neill: Donizetti and the GP
It is almost certainly the most unique operatic experience in Europe. As you walk up a narrow street of terraced houses in a small coastal town in south-eastern Ireland, you enter a modest entrance and are suddenly in the middle of a sophisticated walnut-clad atrium. This in turn leads into a striking marriage of smart […]
Vivienne Bachelet: Medical editorial and publishing worlds – are they working together or not in the Chilean outback
I am writing from London and due to get back home in a few days. Home for me is Santiago, Chile, a beautiful place to live in and to visit. My stay in the UK has been extremely fruitful, and it all started on a medical editor’s course held last week in Oxford. You may […]