I had only three patients left to see at the end of my morning surgery. It was 12.30. I had started at 8am, taking urgent phone calls for an hour before starting face to face appointments. It had been a typically challenging morning. Many patients had complicated mixtures of physical, mental, and social problems which […]
Arima Mishra and Sandesh Kotte: Where does the healthcare of Indian people figure in political parties’ election manifestos?
In their recent book, Uncertain Glory: India and its contradictions, Sen and Dreze lament the fact that despite India’s consistent economic growth, the country falters on basic social indicators like health, nutrition, and education. This is partly because these issues have never figured prominently in the political and public spaces. The […]
Azeem Majeed: General practitioners should give up their independent contractor status and become NHS employees
General practitioners (GPs) have worked as independent contractors since the NHS was first established in 1948. However, we now need to review whether this model of general practice is what the NHS needs in the 21st century, and consider an alternative model in which general practitioners become NHS employees. In many ways, GPs are already de […]
The BMJ Today: Let’s talk money
Some politicians would have us believe that the UK recession is soon to be a thing of the past, and that an economic recovery is well and truly under way, with all the glorious money that that promises for our public services. But two news stories by Gareth Iacobucci paint a very different picture. The […]
David Oliver: Older people in nursing homes—from “hard hitting exposés” to constructive solutions
Last night BBC One’s Panorama: Behind Closed Doors was the latest in its series of programmes on appalling care for frail older people. For someone like me, who works day in day out in frontline services, it was disturbing viewing and a hard watch. The producers picked three care homes identified as problematic by whistleblowers, residents’ […]
Neal Maskrey: Learning the patterns to unlock decision making
The hardest of hearts must have been softened by the improvement in Anglo-Irish relations in recent years. The Queen’s speech in 2011 at the state dinner in Dublin Castle, with its apology for “things we wish had been done differently or not at all,” was a remarkable occasion. Think about an Irish television audience of […]
Richard Smith: Why doesn’t the obvious happen?
It’s obvious to me that all scientific research should be available free to everybody everywhere, the polypill to prevent heart attacks and strokes should be offered to all those over 55, and patients not health institutions should control their records. Why don’t these obvious things happen? The core arguments for making all research free are […]
The BMJ Today: Going deaf for a living
There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that the hedonistic lifestyle favoured by musicians— particularly those of a rock ‘n’ roll persuasion—is not conducive to good health outcomes. But leaving aside such vices as alcohol and narcotics, professional musicians are also almost four times more likely to develop noise induced hearing loss than the general public, according […]
K M Venkat Narayan: Global non-communicable diseases—a series of reflections
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)—such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and poor mental health—are major and growing public health threats for all regions of the world—rich and poor, urban and rural. Left unchecked, the impact of these conditions on the health and economies of nations, families, and individuals can become devastating. Rightly, therefore, […]
The BMJ Today: Prisoners and medical professionalism
Sarah Kimball and Stephen Soldz’s editorial on The BMJ’s website today raises important questions about medical professionalism when dealing with prisoners. A recent report into the role of doctors in prisons such as Abu Ghraib in Iraq presented some disturbing findings, the authors say. […]