Today, 26th May 2017, is Face Equality Day—the first in the UK. People all over the country will be wearing the unique butterfly that is the Changing Faces logo on their faces. Over the past 25 years, Changing Faces has received far too many reports—borne out by research—that people with disfigurements to their face or body […]
Being a doctor should be about being human, and yet it is one of the most dehumanising jobs of all. As I sat in NESTA’s People Powered Health conference recently and learnt about all the amazing individuals and organisations dedicated to empowering people to take control of their own health, I couldn’t help thinking that […]
“Savings” in specialist services are increasing pressure elsewhere in the NHS, says Colin Drummond. […]
Over the past eight years, I have attended many conferences and scientific meetings. As a reporter, presenter, or panelist, I have informed the public, challenged industry, and uplifted patients and caregivers. But until recently I had never been to a conference aimed specifically at helping lay health advocates “to learn, share, and connect” with other advocates […]
Here’s a CLUE … Journals have a responsibility not to mislead their readers. That seems pretty straightforward and uncontroversial, but achieving this lofty aim can be tricky. In order to do that, journals need to know if a research report is trustworthy. Peer review is the first step but we know it’s not perfect and, […]
Chelsea Clinton and Devi Sridhar set out five tasks for the newly elected DG of the WHO […]
Developing tools for practice that support and serve patient choice is included in the first line in The Manifesto for Evidence Based Health Care. The manifesto is collecting public views as a way of promoting awareness of evidence based healthcare, and to provide a platform to introduce concepts for delivering constructive growth and change. Awareness is […]
In March 2017 Health Canada released a discussion paper promising a new era in transparency. The agency committed itself to proactively releasing clinical trial data submitted by drug companies, similar to what the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is already doing and, again like the EMA, to processing applications for the same information for drugs already […]
Lavinia Woodward, 24, is a medical student at Oxford University. She is an aspiring heart surgeon with an excellent academic record. On 30 September 2016, under the influence of drink and drugs, she stabbed her boyfriend in the leg with a breadknife and inflicted cuts on his fingers. He sustained a 1cm leg wound and lacerations […]
Seven months ago, when I had just started my new career as a research editor at The BMJ, I was impressed by the open peer-review model that the journal applies. It is something new to me—I searched in my mind and could not come up with any international academic periodical in my field (nephrology) that […]