A gamesome piece by Garrison Keillor in this month’s Prospect on, dare I say it, the prospect of living to be 100 and what it might mean to him. It comes on the back of data from the Office for National Statistics suggesting that a third of babies born last year will live to be […]
On Monday, a friend posted a picture of an enormous, triple layered chocolate cake on Facebook. It was, she wrote, a present for her boyfriend—a final year medical student—to celebrate his being awarded his top choice of location for his first job next year. Getting the first choice has meaning beyond simple preference: it enables […]
JAMA 27 Feb 2013 Vol 781 781 Heart failure divides into two broad classes: the first is caused by damage to the myocardium and is associated with reduction in the left ventricular ejection fraction, and we know pretty well how to treat it; the second is associated with stiffening of the ventricles and the main […]
When Willie Ramirez was admitted to hospital in Florida his Spanish speaking family said he was intoxicado. There is no exact equivalent of intoxicado in English. It doesn’t mean intoxicated, but that’s how it was translated by the bilingual person who interpreted for the medical staff. Willie was diagnosed as having taken a deliberate overdose. […]
A few days ago I was having dinner with a group of close friends who are all doctors, and working in the Portuguese public healthcare sector. One of the topics of conversation was the need everyone felt to carry out additional work in the private sector just to earn a decent income at the end […]
Harley Street. Even the name creates a picture. Executive medicine for the elite, cosmetic surgery for the glitterati, healthcare excellence and no expense spared. It’s more than just a street—it’s a brand with international recognition that would be the envy of any marketing campaign. A worldwide reputation that attracts patients from across the globe. As […]
Is a calorie just a calorie? Or is the energy derived from carbohydrates, calorie for calorie, qualitatively different from that derived of fat? Put another way, is obesity a disorder of energy balance in the body, wherein we consume more calories than we expend, or is it a disorder of hormone regulation, one that has […]
NHS competition is back in the headlines, apparently the subject of more tension within the coalition: “Lib Dem pressure forces Hunt to rewrite NHS regulations,” and “New rules on competition to be scrapped.” The background to this is interesting. The Section 75 regulations published earlier this month—which are ostensibly intended to “ensure good procurement practice”—follow […]
The junior doctor’s applications process has metamorphosed from an individual interview process, to modernising medical careers (MMC), to the foundation programme application system. There has been a big push towards centralising services for the majority of NHS training applications. This year has also seen a change with regards to the application itself. A two hour […]
Sir David Nicholson, head of the NHS in England and chief executive of the NHS Commissioning Board, has faced repeated calls for his resignation after publication of the Francis Report inquiry into failing at Mid Staffordshire Foundation NHS Trust. Nicholson was chief executive of the strategic health authority overseeing the trust for a period when […]