Social media is now seen as a tool with potential in healthcare leadership, and some of the online learning at the NHS Leadership Academy is devoted to this. Like most people I’ve messed around with social media over the years. But whilst I usually style myself as ahead of the times, it took me a […]
The BMJ Today: Teenage pregnancy and breastfeeding
Good news from the US—pregnancies, births, and abortions among US teenagers aged 15 to 19 have fallen to historical lows. This news comes from a report by the Guttmacher Institute, which found that although teenagers were more likely to engage in sex, they are less likely to get pregnant. This trend is similar in the […]
Mary E Black: Essential reading for new NHS Executives
I have just joined the NHS Executive fast track programme. There will be 51 of us in total—36 clinicians from within the NHS and 15 application from outside the NHS. We will need to get up to speed fast on understanding the NHS in England. Here is my starter list of ten key sources of information […]
Tim Rudin: Ethical Sourcing—how organisations can learn from other public sector bodies
Transport for London (TfL) has been implementing ethical sourcing into our procurement practices since the launch of the Greater London Authority (GLA) Responsible Procurement Policy in 2006. When we first started, very few other public sector bodies in the UK were looking at ethical sourcing. It had traditionally been the preserve of the private sector, […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—12 May 2014
NEJM 8 May 2014 Vol 370 1799 The idea that malaria was spread by mosquitoes was first mooted in the 1870s, but it took twenty years to work out what really went on in the parasite’s life cycle. As far as I can tell, this was first achieved by Giovanni Batista Grassi, though Ronald Ross […]
The BMJ Today: Late nights with Iain Chalmers
“Tired” pupils aged over 16 at a private school in Surrey are to start lessons at 1.30pm. The school’s headteacher Guy Holloway says the move is based on research by neuroscientists which says that teenagers have a biological predisposition to go to bed later and get up later, and better sleep in teenage years is […]
Neethi V Rao: Corporate social responsibility in India
India’s new Companies Act with its rules mandating corporate social responsibility (CSR) came into effect on 1 April 2014. The objective of CSR is for businesses to exist as responsible citizens of their socio economic milieu and contribute to social good. As such, CSR pervades every aspect of a corporate organization’s functioning. How then do […]
Tara Lamont: On failing well—Archie Cochrane’s legacy
I have been reading Archie Cochrane’s account of his life and work (not in general print, but I got it from the Cardiff University archives for £14.99). It is not at all what I expected. Although there are elements of autobiography in the classic, seminal monograph Effectiveness and Efficiency, these are anchored to the main, […]
The BMJ Today: Crises—each to their own
In Crimea, heroin users have more to worry about than disputed referendums and suspended bank accounts. Since 1 May, the 803 clients of a methadone programme must go cold turkey, given the region’s policy on harm reduction has now aligned with that of Russia. “A blatant example of health policy being hijacked for political ends […]
Tim Ballard: The wider consequences of healthcare delivery
In January we saw the launch of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit’s (SDU) strategy for the NHS. Since its inception, the SDU has tirelessly promoted the wider responsibilities that we have when providing healthcare and social care. At its heart, this strategy reminds us that we need to act if we wish to decrease the […]