“What makes the current dispute all the more remarkable is that in 1975, only 56% of junior doctors voted in favour of industrial action.” Junior doctors accept their lot with unparalleled stoicism. Since the inception of the NHS in 1948, they have tolerated their long hours of work for one main reason: a sense of […]
Terence Gibson: Pulling through an Ebola outbreak
The King’s Sierra Leone Partnership (KSLP) aims to strengthen Sierra Leone’s health system by working with local partners to improve training, clinical services, policy, and research. Following on from Colin Brown’s (KSLP’s infectious diseases lead) blog post in November 2014, consultant physician Terence Gibson shares his experiences in Sierra Leone before, during, and after the […]
Henry Murphy: The Moderate Doctor
Jeremy Hunt recently told Twitter that “Moderate doctors must defeat the militants,” quoting the title of a Times article about the current war between the Department of Health and the BMA. My first response was to sit back and enjoy a flurry of hilarious responses (the reason I look at the @Jeremy_Hunt Twitter page so […]
Alisha Patel: Why sustainability should be important to medical students
Medical school can feel like a production line of future doctors, equipping us with the skills to diagnose and manage patients with a vast number of illnesses. But if we are not engaging in issues related to sustainability along the way, then will we really be able to fully fulfil our duty as health professionals? […]
Richard Smith: The NHS—a terrible thought
There is great reluctance in Britain to consider any other kind of funding for the NHS apart from taxation, but we are surely close to a time when we will have to consider it. This morning I awoke with the thought, which felt terrible, that funding through taxation is a straitjacket that is causing increasing […]
Meena P: A lack of resources for community health nursing in India
With a shortage of doctors, it is the nurses and other allied health professionals who run the show in many of the primary healthcare settings in India. Nurses make up a major proportion of the health workforce. In this context we need more and more nurses who are capable of addressing the diverse healthcare needs of […]
Peter Killwick: Risks associated with conflicts of interest at CCGs
Conflicts of interest are an inevitable part of the commissioning environment. There are obvious advantages to having local GPs at the heart of commissioning and in many areas they have made a very positive contribution. But the governance challenges associated with commissioning are enormous. In recent months, we have been working with a number of […]
Anita Charlesworth: The impact on health of the comprehensive spending review
On the 25 November the Chancellor of the Exchequer will stand up in Parliament and make a statement that will shape much of the political landscape for the rest of this decade. More substantively these spending review decisions will impact every household in the UK. Given its importance it’s not surprising that, by all accounts, […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—23 November 2015
NEJM 19 Nov 2015 Vol 373 Spooky RSV trial 2048 There’s a hint of Porton Down about this phase 1 study of an oral treatment for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The 62 volunteers trooped in and the steel doors shut behind them. Two days later, masked personnel in white coats proceeded to inoculate them intranasally […]
Samir Dawlatly: Capacity insurance—not being missold
My wife and I have just booked a near extortionate holiday in the UK for the next major school holidays. As usual we were offered “cancellation insurance,” just in case something were to happen with either of us or our children that meant we couldn’t enjoy our rain drizzled fun in the Peak District. We […]