Suddenly Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s proposals to “reform” the NHS look safe. For more than nine months, since the publication of Liberating the NHS last July, doctors, nurses, think tanks, and academics have been begging Lansley to re-think his ideas. By the start of the “pause” in April, it looked as though the government would […]
Research highlights – 20 May 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. […]
David Payne: Competition and the NHS reforms
With the pause button still firmly pressed on the NHS reforms in England, one former Tory health secretary claims this week that the debate is losing touch with reality. Stephen Dorrell, who now chairs the Commons health select committee, says the row about competition is nonsensical and could harm patients because it’s already happening in […]
Rebecca Robinson on being an athlete and sports and exercise medicine registrar
It seemed like the perfect match: combining my dream job as a new registrar in sports and exercise medicine, with plans to develop my competitive career in international athletics. In August 2010, I’d just competed for GB in the Barcelona European marathon and was commencing a post as a new ST3. However, six months later, […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Madeleine McCann
Had you forgotten? Of course you had, admit it. A drama lost in the blur of television history. But, on Friday night brain-dead talk show television, the horror story flashback. Kate and Gerry McCann told again the story of Madeleine’s disappearance. And, while we get on with our lives, and they do too in a […]
Cheryl Rofer: Limitations of BEIR VII estimates of radiation risk
While I do love numbers, it’s important to understand their limitations. Numbers are essential for verifying predictions, but the limitations tell you how much you can rely on the numbers I gave in my previous post. The biggest limitation of Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation (BEIR) VII, or any other study of radiation effects, is the […]
Muir Gray: Two cheers for bureaucracy, four cheers for ants
We are in the throes of debating the structure of the NHS for, I think, the 20th time in my professional life, but structure is, in my experience, of little importance compared with the two other components of an organisation – systems and culture, and what happens in the minds of individual clinicians and patients. […]
Tiago Villanueva: Quaternary prevention and disease mongering
One of the major advantages of being an active member of listservers, particularly international ones, is that I am in touch with leading colleagues around the world, and also I can learn about issues and think in ways that I would not otherwise have become aware of. I’ve had the chance to cross paths a few times with Dr […]
Richard Smith: Twenty tips for leaders
Some years a go a young friend who had worked with me became the head of a big organisation and asked for my tips on leadership. I’ve had some interest in leadership ever since I did a year at the Stanford Business School, and I enjoyed thinking of what to write to my friend. Perhaps […]
Elizabeth Loder: African medical journals are alive and thriving
I came away from this year’s meeting of the African Journals Partnership Project (AJPP) with a healthy respect for the multitalented, multitasking African editors who are involved in the initiative. In addition to all of the usual duties of a medical journal editor, they also have to worry about such things as internet connectivity, the […]