“The rationing process in the NHS is messy,” said the King’s Fund. On this I think we can agree. Just look at what is happening with IVF services to understand the messiness with commissioning and the rationing of health services. Croydon’s clinical commissioning group (CCG) has decided to save over £800 000 a year by […]
Bangladeshis love to sing, dance, make music, recite poetry, talk, eat, and let off steam. So icddr,b day, the day of what may be the largest health research institution in a low income country, centres on performance—on a stage erected in the car park. And the two highlights of the day were performances of two […]
As an intensive care consultant, the risk of “burnout” is ever present. Everyday, I will deliver devastating news to families when they least expect it. I will often make life changing decisions with limited information in a time critical manner. I will have passionate debates with other medical specialties over what is best for patients. […]
Two sets of recent asthma guidelines are markedly different, which is confusing for patients, doctors, managers, and funders, argue Dominick Shaw and colleagues. […]
Patients and their voices are starting to be heard in the world of medicine. From a low starting point, admittedly, but it is happening. Recently I was asked to take part in a BBC Radio programme about The Listening Project archive in the British Library, which hits 1000 submissions this month. The project is part […]
“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ~ Pablo Picasso Working within the NHS it is easy to find oneself questioning whether our clinical work spaces reflect their vital therapeutic role. Too often our working environments are cold, harsh, and uninspiring. Nowhere more so was this the case than the junior doctor […]
Last week we heard the devastating news that another junior doctor has taken their own life. Another remains missing. Cases like this are not new in medicine and are reported the world over. We cannot speculate about the causes, and the exact circumstances are, and should be, private. However, these cases have been widely discussed […]
One of the conundrums of peer review is that reviewers need to be knowledgeable about the research being reported but shouldn’t have conflicts of interest. The trouble is that the best-qualified people are often too closely connected to either the research or the authors. This problem is amplified in small research fields and for journals […]
“Shared understanding is the central challenge of medicine in this century.” Read this week’s research reviews by Richard Lehman. […]
I recently saw the power of thank you highlighted on two different occasions in healthcare settings. On the first, I was following a team of physicians who were conducting patient rounds on the acute care of the elderly unit at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS), Fort Miley. The group moving from room […]