Donald Trump’s bill to repeal the ACA has failed. Alice Murray and Saira Ghafur assess what happened and what impact this will have on US healthcare. […]
Alice Murray and Saira Ghafur: The Republican healthcare bill fails
Lillie Wenzel: The impact of NHS financial pressures—a mixed picture
Recent figures revealed that NHS providers have a deficit of nearly £900 million for the first three quarters of 2016/17—a clear sign that NHS organisations are struggling in the face of constrained budgets and growing demand. At the same time, key performance data show that hospital performance, in some areas, is slipping. As NHS organisations seek […]
Anita Charlesworth: National policy can create barriers which undermine consultant productivity
“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long-run it is almost everything.” So said Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, and not many economists would disagree. Productivity powers economic growth and funds better public services. Over the last 40 years real income per head has more than doubled while average hours worked have fallen. Productivity […]
Richard Smith: How would medicine be altered by aunt Léonie’s machine?
“My aunt Léonie,” writes Marcel Proust in In Search of Lost Time, “wished to see invented a machine that would enable the doctor to undergo all the sufferings of his patient in order to understand better.” How, I wonder, would medicine be altered by aunt Léonie’s machine? It’s easy to understand why aunt Léonie wanted […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—27 March 2017
Richard Lehman reviews the latest research in the leading medical journals […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Translational research—early developments
Last week I discussed the nonlinear nature of systematic reviews and suggested that many aspects of medical science are also nonlinear. I believe this to be true of translational medicine. The word “translation” derives from the Latin “translatio”, which in turn is derived from the supine form, translatum, of the irregular verb transferre, whose primary […]
Grania Brigden: Why tuberculosis is a research and development priority
TB is one of the world’s biggest killers and drug resistant cases are on the rise. Now more than ever we need to prioritise its funding, says Grania Brigden […]
Mary Neal: Abortion decriminalisation and statutory rights of conscience
On 13 March 2017, the House of Commons voted by 172 to 142 in favour of a second reading for the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill. The bill, introduced by Diana Johnson MP, would decriminalise abortion until the end of the 24th week of pregnancy, meaning that abortion could be performed until the end of the […]
Medicine and literature: The 2017 Wellcome Book Prize
The books shortlisted for this year’s Wellcome Book Prize are both challenging and engaging, according to author Val McDermid who chaired the award’s judging panel. Introducing the shortlist, McDermid said, “These books have affected us in ways we didn’t expect. Sometimes we found ourselves very emotionally involved, sometimes we found our curiosity stimulated to go […]
Oliver Loi-Koe and Anya Göpfert: HEE report seeks to address junior doctors’ morale crisis
A new report from Health Education England details plans to tackle the junior doctors’ morale crisis. Two FY2’s argue why change is urgently needed. […]