What will it take to persuade monolithic health systems to put patient’s priorities at the heart of what they do? As researchers, health professionals, and patients debated this question at the sixth international “shared decision making” meeting in Maastricht last week, the frustration was tangible. A survey to inform the meeting *reveals that while many countries […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 27 June 2011
JAMA 22 June 2011 Vol 305 2525 Our understanding of the causes of the syndrome we label type 2 diabetes comes in dribs and drabs, and this study of the preventive effect of drugs given for rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis on the incidence of diabetes counts as a drib; or perhaps a drab. The most […]
David Kerr: The new prohibition
The NHS and technology have had a quixotic sort of relationship recently. A current source of collective angst for the NHS is what to do about social networking? The behemoth of this new genre in communication is Facebook. Facebook and its micro blogging counterpart, Twitter, have even been implicated as major contributors to the recent so-called […]
Research highlights – 24 June 2011
“Research highlights” is a weekly round-up of research papers appearing in the print BMJ. We start off with this week’s research questions, before providing more detail on some individual research papers and accompanying articles. […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Awardholders responsibility
Daffodils, ribbons, sponsored runs, and elegant balls. Peer pressure appeals to a higher nature and a little tugging at the heartstrings. But, its not all innocent fun, youth, and glamour. When people give to medical charities, they believe money is going to relieve the suffering of others. That little old lady who puts a few […]
Kailash Chand: The Health and Social Care Bill remains flawed and unpopular
The government has set out its stall in detail on the changes it will make to the Health and Social Care Bill. Many of the BMA’s concerns were addressed by the NHS Future Forum and the government’s response. This includes restoring health secretary’s responsibilities, modifying Monitor’s duty to promote competition, and the need for clinicians […]
Richard Smith: Beware journals, especially “top” ones
Dave Sackett, the father of evidence based medicine, used to warn people against reading journals. They took up time that could be better spent and gave you fragments of evidence not the whole picture. This all felt uncomfortable to me when I was editor of the BMJ. […]
Kate Chapman: Is it time to see sense about C-sections?
The UK’s caesarean section rates have risen massively, almost doubling in the past 20 years, so it was with interest that I heard the news that 4 PCT’s in southern England are to stop paying for caesarean sections above the national average rate of 23%. Each caesarean section costs £800 more than a vaginal birth, […]
Douglas Noble on reforming the reforms
The pause ended in dramatic fashion last week with the publication of the NHS Future Forum’s recommendations. Most interesting was the orthopaedic surgeon at Guys Hospital who confronted the prime minster and deputy prime minister in a rage because the camera crew were not suitably dressed for a hospital. It hit home on all sorts […]
Richard Smith: The NHS debate – missing most of what matters
I’ve stayed out of the NHS debate. These days I spend lots of time in countries like Bangladesh, Kenya, and Guatemala, and viewed from those countries – where health workers and essential drugs are often missing – you wonder why the fuss over the NHS. Everybody has a doctor, primary care is strong, and access to […]