The argument over whether the NHS should fund Bexsero, the new meningitis B vaccine from Novartis, raises a global issue about the price of the new vaccine, as well as questions about the role of cost effectiveness analysis in setting prices for vaccines, and the processes of the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI), […]
David Wrigley: Standing up against the fragmentation of the English NHS
On a little known website an advert popped up recently that didn’t catch the eye of many people. Those that did see it realised the implications of it when they read the details. The website is called Supply2Health and is the location for all outsourced tenders for services in the English NHS. It is a […]
The BMJ Today: Einstein’s theory of data, climate change and the “threat to human survival,” and New York facing legal challenge over e-cigs ban
“Information is not knowledge,” was Einstein’s cautionary take on the power (and limitation) of data. In healthcare, the collection of patient feedback and other data is regularly hailed as the panacea for all ills, physical or otherwise. In an analysis published on bmj.com today, Angela Coulter and colleagues argue that in the UK, the NHS […]
Veena Rao: Wanted in India—a national programme to address malnutrition
There has been an unexpected and welcome development in the public discourse on India’s malnutrition. For the first time, the subject is a talking point in the pre-election political debates, as a determinant of development. Other significant shifts in perception have also taken place among those working in this sector. I recently attended a consultation […]
The BMJ Today: Farewell to traditional public health services and to our GP columnist
There’s a new vocabulary being used to describe the NHS in England that conjures up images of the American Frontier; of battles over territories, conquests, and survival. GP and former chair of the RCGP Clare Gerada started it when she described the changes brought in by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 as “the wild […]
David McCoy: The science of climate denialism
In a previous posting, I argued that it is important for everyone to have some understanding of climate science—which is why Medact produced a summary and discussion of the latest UN report about the physical science of climate change. I also questioned the scientific understanding of Owen Paterson, minister for environment, food, and rural affairs, […]
The BMJ Today: From mental asylums to cognitive behavioural therapy
“The mental asylum belongs to a vanished era,” begins the obituary of psychiatrist Henry Rollin in The BMJ. Despite working in asylums until their closure, there is no implication that Rollin himself belonged to that vanished era. After Enoch Powell’s Hospital Plan of 1962 brought about the closure of mental hospitals and moved care into […]
Sue Macdonald: A parent’s view of cerebral palsy—20 years on
The other day I came across a personal view that I wrote 20 years ago just after learning that my baby son, Dominic, had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The article made me cringe a bit, in the way that something written by your younger self invariably does. But the emotions I was trying to […]
The BMJ today: From head to toe
Despite affecting opposite extremities of the body, two conditions examined in clinical reviews in The BMJ this week share a number of characteristics. Chronic migraine and fungal nail infections are both relatively common conditions, and both have a considerable impact on patients’ quality of life. Chronic migraine affects around one in 50 people, and places […]
William Cayley: Medicine—too fast, too slow, or just right?
“Slow Medicine” is getting more and more attention. The authors of several recent books have got readers thinking more and more about taking time, truly listening to the patient, focusing again on the thorough history and physical, and building relationships—among the good (and inspiring) reads on this are God’s Hotel, Out of Practice, and What […]