The University of Antwerp, Belgium, recently hosted the 75th meeting of the European General Practice Research Network. Paul Van Royen, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Antwerp spoke about the challenges for primary care research, namely innovation, transferability, interprofessionalism, social impact, and partnership. In terms of innovation, he […]
Pat Hughes: Non communicable disease and the first 1000 days of life
The links between the global challenge of non communicable disease (NCD) and what happens to people in the first 1000 days of their lives are not new but are gaining increasing acceptance and attention. They were discussed earlier this month by thousands of those involved in maternal, newborn, and child health at the world congress […]
Anna Allan: Acclimatisation to the NHS
My fellow FY1s and I have been flying solo for over three months now. It has been filled with “firsts.” First day of work, first night shift… first pay cheque. All exciting milestones in their own right, and each followed, perhaps naïvely, by a sense of achievement having surmounted such momentous obstacles. Time has sprinted […]
Muir Gray: Setting objectives for systems of care
Read the rest of this series of blogs about designing and planning population based systems of care here. Step 3: Setting objectives Having defined the scope of the system and agreed the population to be served, the next step is to set objectives. […]
Gabriel Scally: If it isn’t controversial it isn’t important
A standing ovation greeted every paper delivered at one of the sessions I attended at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in San Francisco. I thought the first paper or two were good, but the standing ovations seemed generous to a fault. Then it dawned on me that the session was organised by the […]
Nicola While: Time is running out for EU health legislation
The end of 2012 is the unofficial deadline for all legislative proposals to be published if EU decision makers stand any chance of finalising debate on the issue before the end of the current parliamentary term in mid 2014. This arbitrary cut off date means that any dossiers not published or not progressing rapidly by […]
Richard Smith: We need more doctor entrepreneurs
The NHS, UK PLC, and the wider world will all benefit if we have more doctor entrepreneurs willing to take risks and start up companies. Starting up a company can be exhilarating, but it’s also complex and exhausting. Healthbox has been founded to help health start ups, and last week it’s managing director, Nick Rosa, […]
Michael Dixon: The quest for healthy ageing
Without adequate focus from commissioners, ageing risks becoming an unsustainable burden for the UK. Achieving “healthy ageing” is one of the UK’s most pressing challenges. With an ageing population experiencing multiple long-term conditions and pressure on public spending, the need to promote healthy ageing across the continuum of care has never been so great. […]
David Kerr: Pooky night
When I was growing up in Scotland, celebrating Halloween was a major event in the calendar and something to look forward to at this grim time of year. Everyone got dressed up (to go “guising”) and participating households carved lanterns out of turnips (a Scottish turnip is an English swede) rather than the now ubiquitous […]
Richard Smith: Meet and learn from Dr Twitter
At a meeting in Copenhagen earlier this week Bertalan Mesko was introduced as “the world leader in social media and medicine.” After listening to him and looking at some of his websites I decided that this was not an exaggeration. If you want to be up to the minute on social media and medicine you […]