In August this year, the deaths of over 300 children were reported from the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, a large tertiary care centre in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India—with 60 of these deaths occurring within the space of five days. As news of this story broke, it caused an outcry across the country, with […]
Alongside the history of medicine is another history. The history of the organisation—and reorganisation—of the health service. Both pursuits have as their aim improvements to the care and treatment of patients. However, while medicine has been governed by an evidence-based approach, this has been less the case with the development of the organisation and delivery […]
I have been widowed. It seems surreal to be writing that sentence, and yet it is indisputably true. I was there; I know. My husband, a consultant anaesthetist and intensivist, took his own life on 23 October. He had been suffering from depression, and was three days away from his first appointment with a psychiatrist […]
When eminent senior doctors—who have a keen and known interest in medical ethics—leave a courtroom threatening to quit the General Medical Council (GMC) so that their money can’t be used to scapegoat trainees, it leaves a sense of how little confidence the profession has in their regulator. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health […]
It seems like it really is good to talk. A new study by Jill Maben carefully evaluated the experience of nurses, doctors, and others taking part in Schwartz Rounds. These were introduced to the UK ten years ago from the US, offering a safe, facilitated space for staff (clinical and non-clinical) to share stories about […]
Kamal R Mahtani, Tom Jefferson, and Carl Heneghan reflect on the lack of definitions, and propose a solution […]
In movie lore, zombies are people who have come back to life to reek havoc and kill innocent people. Now there is a proposal to bring Vioxx (rofecoxib) back to life. The question is whether a resurrected Vioxx will behave like a typical zombie or can it actually help people? As a bit of background, […]
Winter is here and with it the annual NHS winter crisis. Lung disease makes a substantial contribution to this, particularly in children and older people. Many respiratory illnesses are seasonal; cold weather, damp homes, and the increased circulation of viruses cause a winter spike in conditions including flu, COPD exacerbations and bronchiolitis. There are 80% […]
This mismatch is the elephant in the room, and the key to understanding the medical profession’s response to the Bawa-Garba case […]
Increased staffing is welcome, but only addressing the crisis in morale can stem the attrition crippling our medical workforce. Many improvements can be made without additional spending […]