In the midst of a blizzard of reports about the overuse of general practice it may seem inappropriate to highlight the problem of underuse, but many people are still presenting to general practice too late, or only presenting as an emergency. Most of us are aware of the challenges that an ageing population—or more specifically […]
It is time to do better, says Amitava Banerjee […]
One noteworthy feature of the innovation of the organisation of services in the English NHS is the fascination with the US and the borrowing of its ideas, models of care, and terminology. At the same time, there are plenty who caution against this simplistic importation because of the huge differences between the two countries in […]
Campaigners have launched judicial reviews of a proposed contract designed to enable NHS commissioners to procure care from accountable care organisations. The contract would allow these organisations to take responsibility for budgets and services in their areas and there are worries that this will open the door to private companies to compete to deliver care […]
Helgi Johannsson and William Rook Hadiza Bawa-Garba, a trainee paediatrician who was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter over the death of Jack Adcock, a 6 year old boy, was struck off the UK medical register last week after a High Court ruling, in order to maintain public confidence in the profession. In the past ten […]
One of the earliest adages drummed into trainees in paediatrics is the advice and warning: “children are not small adults.” The implication is that we cannot simply scale down what we have learned in adult medicine to apply to children, who are different beings entirely with respect to physiology, pharmacology, and psychology. I would suggest, […]
Medical students have similar asks to their senior colleagues: to have adequate time and resources to look after patients in the way they deserve […]
What, as patients, are we to make of the re-appointment of Jeremy Hunt, yet again, to the government’s health brief? […]
Jeremy Hunt remains at the helm of the Department of Health—an announcement that last week generated a largely predictable and mostly tribal response. By making Hunt the secretary of state for health and social care, prime minister Theresa May has put a political premium on making progress on longstanding questions about how we pay for […]
Carillion, an outsourcing company that had become a major provider of support services in the NHS and other sectors of the economy has joined a select group of once great corporate players, including Enron, Lehman Brothers, Northern Rock, and Royal Bank of Scotland. All, in their times, fell into the category considered “too big to […]