In the past few months I have thrown myself into opposing the junior doctors’ contract that Jeremy Hunt has threatened to impose from August 2016. Along with a small team I arranged a 20 000 people strong protest in London, and I have contributed to a series of national news stories highlighting the truth behind the […]
Katherine Sleeman: The best place in the world to die? Let’s make it better
The UK is officially the best place in the world to die. So said a report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit in October, which revealed that based on the 2015 Quality of Death Index, a measure of the quality of palliative care in 80 countries around the world, the UK comes top. This is […]
Chris Ham: Learning from others—devolved governance in the Australian state of Victoria
I spent a week working in Australia earlier this month and it made me reflect on similarities and differences with the NHS in England. The funding context feels quite different, with healthcare spending in Australia having risen by 5% per year in real terms over the past decade. On the day I departed, a report […]
Neville Goodman’s Metaphor Watch: Pandora’s box and double-edged swords
From the Holy Grail (qv) to Pandora’s Box. Pandora’s Box has mutated. When Pandora opened her box, the evils flew out and could not be put back in. All that remained when she closed the lid was Hope. But the dictionary definition (COD) is “a process that once begun generates many complicated problems.” A good […]
Richard Smith: Big data, Twitter, the NHS, and the junior doctors’ dispute
Big data, as we all know, is going to save us. Used well it will make health systems solvent, introduce immortality, cool the planet, bring peace in the Middle East, and create a global pandemic of love, health, and happiness. But not yet—as we are still at the beginning. For now its achievements are more […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—30 November
NEJM 26 Nov 2015 Vol 373 “Artificial cell” for diabetes 2129 “Home use of an artificial beta cell in type 1 diabetes” conjures up a vision of some huge cellular blob taken home in a glass tank and connected up with the circulation, probably by Peter Cushing in a white coat and half-moon spectacles. In […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Conciliatory
The junior doctors (pictured) vote to strike. The BMA seeks to resolve the dispute with Jeremy Hunt through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service Acas. Not before time. He rejects the suggestion. Brinkmanship, perhaps, or fear of something (losing votes?), or perhaps hoping to destroy the system as an excuse to privatize the NHS? Then […]
Alice Gerth: Strike action is not the answer
The strength of feeling of anger within the healthcare profession is so strong that those not planning to take industrial action are reluctant to speak out. I want the public and my colleagues to know that I will be at work, not because I support the new contract, but because I do not support striking […]
Arun Jithendra on reducing tobacco production in India
India is the third largest tobacco producer and exporter of tobacco globally. Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco, which is used in the manufacturing of cigarettes, is one of the main varieties of tobacco grown in the country. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the largest FCV tobacco growing regions. Fifty percent of FCV that is grown is […]
Latest spending review: Hail to the chiefs . . . but major challenges remain
As the details of the spending review were announced this week, the scale of the achievement by Jeremy Hunt and Simon Stevens in securing a frontloaded NHS settlement became clearer. The spending review is, in the words of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, “one of the tightest in post-war history.” Unprotected departments will see cuts […]