Like a baby throwing their toys out of a pram, Jeremy Hunt is using the blunt instrument of legislation to hit back at patients and campaigners who beat him in the High Courts over his attempt to close Lewisham Hospital. Lewisham was a successful, popular, high quality, and solvent London hospital. A neighbouring hospital was […]
Daphne Jansen: How can we improve care for people with multiple chronic conditions?
Almost everyone knows someone who has a chronic disease. An increasing number of people suffer from two or more chronic diseases (i.e. multimorbidity). Currently, an estimated 50 million people in the EU live with multiple chronic diseases. In people aged over 65 years, multimorbidity can be considered to be the rule rather than the exception. […]
David Pencheon: Climate change—knowing so much and doing so little
Although I like to think I am a rational person who can consider most issues objectively, I know this is rubbish. I am biased, prejudiced, and a prisoner of my experience, although perhaps acknowledging this is better than denying it. Not easy, as the ability to deny is probably our most powerful coping mechanism, and […]
Pranab Chatterjee: Discussing ethics in HIV/AIDS research in India
On 23 and 24 December 2013, the Department of AIDS Control (DAC), India, in collaboration with the CDC and FHI360 organised a capacity building workshop on ethics in HIV/AIDS research with a special focus on the Indian context. The event was attended by a broad spectrum of stakeholders in HIV/AIDS research in India. With such […]
William Cayley: Evidence based medicine and practice change—get out front and push!
We’d hoped evidence based medicine (EBM) would improve patient oriented outcomes and clinical processes, but some fear the “EBM” movement is broken. However, it may not be just “EBM” as a movement that is broken—I am starting to wonder more and more about clinicians’ willingness or ability to apply evidence in practice, when it runs […]
Jim Murray: Some MEPs work very hard
I sometimes feel sorry for MEPs, and not just at Christmas. I’m thinking of those who do a good job as rapporteur on important dossiers, such as the revision of the Clinical Trials Directive. They put this on their website and in their press releases, but in most cases their constituents have no idea what […]
Richard Vize: Are clinical commissioners improving patient services?
Clinical commissioners are beginning to demonstrate how they are improving patient services, countering the lack of attention they are getting from politicians. The health reforms were intended to put clinical commissioners at the heart of the drive to improve quality and reconfigure services. But since they took over from primary care trusts in April, clinical […]
Sean P David: A way forward from ENDS to the tobacco end game
Combusted tobacco cigarette use causes about six million deaths per year and has been projected to cause one billion deaths in the 21st century. [1] The risk of tobacco smoking is very high (50% risk of death before age 70). [2, 3] However, the risk of death from using electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)—or electronic nicotine delivery […]
Simon Chapman: When will the tobacco industry apologise for its galactic harms?
Last week, four US tobacco companies finally reached agreement with the US Department of Justice to fund large scale corrective advertising about five areas of tobacco control. Each advertisement will include the statement that the companies “deliberately deceived the American public.” The case against the companies commenced in 1999 and saw a 2006 judgment by […]
Richard Smith: Doctors and the Hollande affair
It’s hard not to be fascinated by Francois Hollande’s alleged (why do we keep bothering with this word?) affair with an actress with stories of two Parisian love nests, bags of croissants being delivered by security men for breakfast, and the president travelling by scooter for their assignations. But the bit of the story that […]