Bullying is a patient safety issue and often a signal of wider cultural issues within an organisation. Compassionate leadership can change culture, empower staff to speak up, and address bullying and undermining behaviours in an organisation, say Iona Thorne and Zoe Oliphant […]
The public still have high levels of trust in doctors as a profession, but we must not take that trust for granted […]
As a recently trained GP, I am well versed in the ways of evidence-based medicine. It is the bedrock upon which my medical training was based, and one of the key standards upon which my clinical practice is judged by my peers, and more importantly by my patients. Practising medicine based on the best available […]
Telephone triage has been hailed as a way to let GPs work smarter, not harder, but is its widespread diffusion justified? […]
We often hear about the importance of “bench to bedside” medicine, how basic science research is translated into novel treatments. But this paper demonstrates an equally important concept: how anonymised health records provide a rich data source to address clinical questions, which in turn improves patient care. I work as a clinical academic, undertaking outpatient […]
For too long, we have allowed unnecessary variation to occur in critical processes across the NHS. This is particularly evident in the assessment of patients admitted with emergency conditions, and during communication and handover, as patients commonly traverse multiple healthcare settings. Currently, hospitals across England don’t use a standardised early warning system (EWS) to identify […]
New to a GP practice, I was recently asked to spend an afternoon with our practice receptionists. I wasn’t sure what to expect. But that day gave me a new understanding of what they really do—and a realisation that it’s one of the hardest jobs in primary care. I must admit I hadn’t given […]
Is a doctor convicted of gross negligence manslaughter always an unsafe doctor? Who should decide—the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, or the Courts? Recent high profile cases, not least the appeal case involving trainee paediatrician Hadiza Bawa-Garba, have generated much debate about whether the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (The Tribunal), or the Courts, are best placed […]
The Bawa-Garba case shows how outdated medical culture is in a society that won’t face up to the crisis in healthcare […]
Poor old Great Ormond Street Hospital! The hospital, along with several other hospitals and charities, recently found itself prominently highlighted in a rather tawdry debate about the events at the Presidents’ Club where allegations were made of groping and sexual assault at a men-only fundraising gala. And this despite the fact that the event had […]