Corruption is “the abuse of power or position to acquire a personal benefit.” For individual doctors corrupt behaviour would include ordering unnecessary tests, prescribing irrelevant medication, or performing unwarranted operations in order to make money. Such corruption may be commonplace in many countries where doctors charge patients real money for their services. Surely such things […]
Category: NHS
Jo Habben: Reducing pressure damage is everybody’s business
Pressure damage isn’t new, Florence Nightingale herself identified that in some circumstances pressure ulcers could be attributed to deficits in nursing care. We have known about pressure damage for a long time, and although we have learned an awful lot about how to prevent and treat it, we still have a long way to go […]
David Wrigley: A seven day NHS? My seven point plan for Mr Cameron & Mr Hunt
The media have called this the “first major speech” in this brand new Conservative majority government. Prime Minister David Cameron, with five years of power ahead of him, decided to focus on the NHS, and, in particular, he focused on one particular aspect—seven day working. Trailed in the Tory manifesto and now offered to the […]
Sue Hogston: “We only have one chance to get it right, so why are some still getting end of life care so wrong?”
Today’s report by the parliamentary and health service ombudsman demonstrates that end of life care could be improved for up to 355 000 people a year; highlighting tragic cases where people’s suffering could have been avoided or lessened with the right care and treatment. Issues identified in the report as the most common within end […]
David Oliver: Do bring me problems
In her book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World, Barbara Ehrenreich brilliantly deconstructed this cult. Her starting point was her own diagnosis of breast cancer and the bullying attitude that if you don’t “fight” the cancer and stay “positive” in the face of distress and worry, then your demise is […]
Daniel Barrett: Will a seven day NHS push primary care recruitment from crisis to catastrophe?
I listened with personal interest as the new conservative government re-launched its grand plan to deliver a “seven day health service.” In a little over a year I will be beginning life as a junior doctor along with thousands of others, all starting to question where our careers are heading. The answer for many of […]
Samir Dawlatly: A sideways look at the seven day working idea for GPs
Letter to the education secretary: Dear Nicky Morgan Congratulations on being appointed education secretary. Following on from your predecessor will either turn out to be really easy, as you can’t be as bad as all my teacher friends tell me he was, or will be very difficult if he has left everything in a bit […]
David Zigmond: “Curing” dementia—medical possibility or political rhetoric?
Talk of “curing” dementia can seriously distract us from the very difficult—yet humbly rewarding—tasks of pastoral care that are bound to increase. “David Cameron has said he wants dementia cured by 2025.” Of course, politicians must continually and publicly ply not just concern, but visions of positive assertion. A campaign trail intensifies the appetite and supply. […]
Sally Carter and Emma Parish review Who Cares?
A whirlwind of real voices from the NHS by Sally Carter, technical editor, The BMJ. “It’s a parade performance,” said the woman at the box office, “but some of it is outside so I’d keep your coat on if you think you might get chilly.” I had never been to a parade performance before and […]
Richard Smith: Keeping the NHS alive
The NHS has to change radically if it is to survive. All those who study the NHS closely know that, but I’m not sure that all those who work in the NHS know it. And the necessity for radical change—as opposed to more money—features hardly at all in our depressingly shallow election. But how do […]