A year ago junior doctors in England went on strike for the first time in four decades. Jeremy Hunt, health secretary for England, used statistics on the so called “weekend effect” to justify a new contract for junior doctors. This was despite warnings from the medical director of NHS England that it would be “rash […]
Category: NHS
Keith Pearson: “I hear and share doctors concerns about revalidation”
When the General Medical Council (GMC) commissioned me to carry out a review—Taking Revalidation Forward—I considered revalidation’s primary function was to assure patients about the quality and safety of doctors. I still believe that, but I have also gained a greater appreciation of the benefits revalidation brings to healthcare organisations and to doctors themselves. People have […]
Martin McKee: A Shared Society? Interpreting Theresa May’s revolutionary vision
Theresa May is an unlikely revolutionary. Yet, on the day she entered 10 Downing Street, this was how she defined herself. She spoke of the need to tackle shorter life expectancy of those born poor, the harsher treatment of black people in the criminal justice system, and low educational attainment among white working class boys. […]
Andrew S Al-Rais: How to avoid handover hostility
Arriving in resus the tension was palpable. A familiar interplay was evolving in the Paediatric bay. The “Handover Standoff.” On one side stood a fatigued transfer team accompanying an intubated toddler with intracranial pathology. The last couple of hours had been spent performing complex tasks in a stressful environment whilst simultaneously organising beds, personnel, and […]
David Lock: Have NHS leaders failed to “speak truth unto power”?
This is blog is not a rant—well not too much of a rant. It is an expression of serious frustration about the way the NHS is run and about the willingness of some senior NHS managers to become complicit in something near to dishonesty. Everyone at the frontline knows the NHS is running on empty. […]
Arnie Purushotham: Multidisciplinary team meetings in cancer care need to change
Multidisciplinary team (MDT) working is one of the cornerstones of our cancer services. MDT meetings are vital for exemplary patient care but it is becoming increasingly clear that they need to be refreshed. Despite the rising incidence of cancer, an ageing population and huge improvements to cancer services and treatment regimens, the format of MDT […]
Nick Hopkinson: NHS humanitarian crisis denial
When I qualified as a doctor in 1993, trolley medicine was completely routine. Post take ward rounds would typically visit people who had been waiting patiently in corridors overnight or longer. I’m ashamed to say it never occurred to me to think of this as a “crisis”—it was just the way things were. The cause […]
David Oliver: Closing more hospital beds—the policy zombie they couldn’t kill
During the silly season over Christmas and New Year, NHS England Chief Nursing Officer Jane Cummings gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph. She advocated better investment in community and primary care services to allow more people to stay well, remain in their own homes, and return home sooner after acute illness or injury. Amen […]
Mary E Black: New Year’s resolution—a smoke-free NHS
My doctor father used to regularly set his trousers on fire. Born in 1924, he started smoking cigarettes as a teenager. He died of a smoking related cancer in 2003. My doctor grandfather served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the first world war and died, when my father was 14, of smoking related […]
Daniel Sokol: The ethics of the on-call rota
A colleague is sick. Someone is needed to cover him tomorrow. There are no locums and no volunteers. Who should be selected? Few issues generate more passion and cause more heartache to doctors than filling a gap in the rota. Over the Christmas period, it is likely that tears have been shed and friendships lost […]