Tuberculosis used to be (and sometimes still is) the great scourge, causing death and disease on a global scale and changing the course of human history over millennium. It is often called consumption—partly because the disease seems to “consume” the body. Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. The evidence […]
Richard Smith: Supporting high quality children’s heart care in China
In 2007 I arrived in Beijing at the start of a philanthropic exercise, and as I was driven into the city and stared at the modern buildings I thought: “Why are we funding something here? This could be Minneapolis.” Later I learnt that there are at least three Chinas: western China, which is as undeveloped […]
Lisa Hallgarten: Does midwifery have to be privatised to achieve continuity of care for women?
Earlier this year we received news of a social enterprise, Neighbourhood Midwives, providing midwifery services in the community in London, and a private company providing midwifery services for NHS Wirral Primary Care Trust. One to One, in the Wirral, promotes itself as offering the kind of continuity of care in pregnancy and maternity that midwives […]
Richard Vize: Integrate
Integrating care across the NHS and social care holds the promise of giving patients a better service at the same time as cutting costs. But a study for the government of 16 integrated care pilots shows just how difficult it is to do. The dream of happier patients, greater productivity, and lower costs never materialised. […]
David Kerr: Medicine and the new media
“We’re doomed” was the familiar catch phrase of Private Fraser—the dour, Scottish ex-undertaker turned home guardsman from the popular BBC television series Dad’s Army. According to his Wikipedia page, Fraser was also president of his local Caledonian Society but was the only member. I was reminded of Private Fraser during my daily ritual of perusing […]
Richard Smith: Burnt or buried?
Some things divide us fundamentally. Are you male or female, gay or straight, right wing or left wing? Another fundamental division, I suggest, is whether we want to be burnt or buried. It’s important to get this clear with your loved ones. John Lanchester begins his memoir about his parents with the realisation just after […]
Ryuki Kassai: The first anniversary of the Japanese tsunami
According to the plan, we should be well along the path to rebirth, but in reality, foolishness has continued, and nihilism and despair have only spread. Hayao Miyazaki: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1994) (Translated from the Japanese by Matt Thorn) In the afternoon on the 11 March 2012, I was standing on […]
Lord Ashcroft: Anti-NHS Bill candidates would boost the Conservative Party
A group of doctors is threatening to stand candidates at the next general election in revenge for the Health and Social Care Bill. The anti-reform medics plan to target at least 50 senior Liberal Democrats and Conservatives with small majorities, running on what Clive Peedell, co-chair of the NHS Consultants’ Association, describes as “the non-party, […]
Tiago Villanueva: Medical mission in the Philippines
I’ve recently returned from a medical mission in the Philippines. Despite the frequency of natural disasters striking the country (typhoons, earthquakes, floods) and the reputation for being an extremely unsafe country, it has an enormous natural appeal to me due to my Filipino roots. I was very eager to go this year since the demands […]
Martin McShane: A new dynamic?
The political ambiguity is, mostly, resolved. Very shortly, appointments will be made to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). At the same time appointments will be made to the local arm of the NHS Commissioning Board (now to be known as the “Area”), the NHS Commissioning Board Sectors (formally known as SHA Clusters), and Commissioning Support services. […]