• The stretch on NHS resources may reach patient’s own pockets, the health secretary has announced. Speaking on BBC1 Question Time on 2 July, Jeremy Hunt emphasised that the introduction of greater patient responsibility was paramount and that those who missed their appointments should be informed of how much it cost the NHS and they […]
Richard Smith: Do dreams have meaning? The great divide
The other night in a dream I saw my father, who died 11 years ago. He was very clear, recently shaved, with his hair combed and in full colour. He was perhaps 60, although he was 81 when he died. Smiling, he hugged the person beside me (I don’t know who that was), and then […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Breaking bad
Metanalysis is when you break a word badly. It’s defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the reinterpretation of the form of a word, resulting in the creation of a new word; esp. the changing of the boundaries between words or morphological units.” Pea and cherry fit the first part of this definition; they were […]
Tom Moberly: Showing patients what they are worth
Printing the cost of drugs on their packaging is one of Jeremy Hunt’s latest ideas for helping the health service save money. Arguing that patients need to use NHS resources responsibly, the health secretary said that ministers “intend to publish the indicative medicine costs to the NHS on the packs of all medicines costing more […]
The BMJ Today: The heat is on
• Amid record breaking heat across the globe, including Europe and the UK, Fiona Godlee’s editor’s choice on climate change could not have been timed better. Citing the Pope’s recent encyclical on the environment and the report from the Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change, she calls upon the main funding bodies for research to join […]
Samir Dawlatly: When is a deal not a deal?
One of the questions I was taught to ask as a GP trainee when someone came to see me with symptoms that had been ongoing for a while was, “Why now?” What is it that has tipped the balance for the patient to make an appointment about something that has been bothering them for weeks […]
William Cayley: Planning for uncertainty
Martin Marshall could not have said it better in his recent blog—the idea of the 10 minute consultation is a travesty . . . except that sometimes it is not. With the increasing demands on and increasingly complex expectations of GPs and family physicians, expecting everything to fit into a 10 minute visit is simply […]
Nicola Bedlington: Patient involvement in medical devices—an opportunity we may be missing
Patient involvement in health and social care is a fundamental right, and an operating principle of European healthcare systems. In the area of medicines patients are recognised as experts and are participating in many aspects of access, innovation, safety, and transparency, thanks, not least, to the commitment to patient involvement of the European Medicines Agency. […]
Marika Davies: Standing up to disrespectful doctors
Media reports that chip away at the confidence the public has in doctors occur regrettably often. A recent case in Virginia, USA, in which a patient recorded offensive comments made about him by the medical team during a colonoscopy, will make depressing reading for all those who work hard to earn and maintain the trust […]
The BMJ Today: Too much of a good thing?
• A new research paper shows that 110 highly prolific authors contributed to one third of the evidence base for glucose lowering treatment; of these, 44% were company employees and 56% were academics who work closely with pharmaceutical companies. The authors urge that the burden of authorship be distributed more equitably in future, so that we can […]