Medicine is an art more than a science and the canvas is communication. This week the UK supermarket giant Asda announced that it would no longer stock landline telephones as they are becoming as obsolete as white coats and necks ties for hospital doctors. According to one Asda mobile buyer “standing in one place to […]
Daniel Cauchi: Medical innovation
At the 14th European Health Forum Gastein (5-8 October 2011), a group of “Young Gasteiners” blogged live from the talks. A selection of their blogs are on the BMJ blogsite. Apparently many people no longer trust scientists – this may be one of the reasons why educated youngsters are losing interest in studying science. We need to […]
Michael West: Health 2020
At the 14th European Health Forum Gastein (5-8 October 2011), a group of “Young Gasteiners” blogged live from the talks. A selection of their blogs are on the BMJ blogsite. The Health 2020 session at the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), sponsored by WHO Europe, provided a chance to discuss and contribute towards WHO’s developing […]
Vidhya Alakeson and David Coyle: Personal health budgets
Last week the Secretary of State for Health announced that from 2014 onwards, all individuals receiving continuing healthcare will be entitled to take control of that support through a personal health budget. Based on figures for 2009/10, that’s more than 50,000 people. The government has made no secret of its commitment to personal health budgets […]
David Payne: Best death scenes in literature
Our 19th century ancestors were no strangers to death. So why were they so terrible at writing about it? At a Cheltenham Literary Festival panel discussion on death scenes in literature, science broadcaster Vivienne Parry confessed to “being ready to shoot “ the ailing child heroine Little Nell long before Dickens killed her off in The […]
David Kerr: Loose lips sink ships
Loose lips sink ships was coined as a slogan during WWII as part of the US Office of War Information’s attempt to limit the possibility of people inadvertently giving useful information to enemy spies. Unguarded comments by healthcare professionals hit the headlines in recent weeks after medics were reprimanded for using derogatory terms about hospital […]
Martin McShane: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
There are about 38,000 primary care contracts. They are worth over £12 billion. All of them are going to be the responsibility of the National Commissioning Board. By 2013 every PCT cluster will have had to scrutinise every contract, blow the dust off the ones that no one has looked at in years, and make sure they are […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: You are invited—and a thank you
It is hard to follow up from my last blog about the Colonel’s unexpected death on the streets of Jakarta so rather than charging into a vaguely academic or policy related blog, I want to pause and give thanks. Thank you to everyone who posted a comment to the blog for your willingness to so […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Medicine, marriage, and a bright future
There were enough doctors to run a medium sized hospital. Doctors in training in almost every specialty- I could identify those in paediatrics, obstetrics, cancer care, and ophthalmology, but most were from general practice. There was an overall air of understated professional competence and they were comfortable in each other’s company; as might have been […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 10 October 2011
JAMA 5 Oct 2011 Vol 306 1461 American medicine is a mass of quirks and contradictions: like medicine anywhere else, but magnified by huge financial forces pulling in different directions. There is a big financial incentive for cardiologists to do percutaneous interventions in elderly patients with stable coronary disease, for example, though the evidence suggests […]