Any lingering hope that the government had some master plan for exiting the EU was dispelled this week, says Martin McKee. […]
Martin McKee: A plan for Brexit? Some hope
Richard Smith: Doctors—the case for professional citizenship
Do doctors have extra duties as professional citizens? What are they and do they ever conflict with self-interest? Richard Smith explores […]
John Appleby: What did the 2017 Spring Budget ever do for health and social care?
John Appleby unpicks the good news and the bad news for the NHS and social care from the 2017 spring budget […]
Flying in the face of science: US environmental chief spreads climate change scepticism
Trump’s appointment of a climate science denier to a critical position shows us that we still have much to do to counteract climate change […]
Jonathan Sleath: Why revalidation for older doctors needs to change
In January 2017, Keith Pearson, chair of the GMC’s own Revalidation Advisory Board, delivered a review into the future of revalidation. For many of us, anxious for some crumbs of reassurance that this burdensome ritual would be reformed, this was a deeply depressing document. There are over 50 responses on the GMC website, almost unanimous […]
Denis Pereira Gray: Down with “primary care,” up with “general practice”
Using the term primary care to mean general practice causes confusion and harm, argues Denis Pereira Gray […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—13 March 2017
NEJM 9 Mar 2017 Vol 376 Impressive imatinib In my childhood, somebody behaving self-importantly was referred to as “his nibs.” Today, the nibs of medicine are very proud of themselves. Small wonder, when the New England Journal of Medicine runs an editorial with the title “Imatinib Changed Everything.” This refers to the astonishing success of imatinib […]
Pandora Pound: How should mandatory sex education be taught?
Pandora Pound discusses how mandatory sex education should be delivered so that it is effective. […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Wellerisms
We first meet Sam Weller (picture below) in Chapter X of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, which was published serially between April 1836 and November 1837. “He was habited in a coarse-striped waistcoat, with black calico sleeves, and blue glass buttons; drab breeches and leggings. A bright red handkerchief was wound in a […]
Martin Elliott: We need to raise awareness of sudden death in the young
Seven years ago, my apparently well 26 year old son, Toby, died in his sleep of SUDEP—sudden unexplained death in epilepsy. Undiagnosed, he had bitten his tongue, quite severely, in his sleep one year previously. It was devastating to us as a family and to his friends. I had never heard of SUDEP. I was not […]