Healthcare heroes – Raed Arafat (#1 in an occasional series)
Some health ministers are more inspiring than destructive. Jeremy Hunt should take notice
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Why do healthy people get into ‘guinea-pigging’?
Human involvement in clinical or medical research is not new, however today levels of human involvement in clinical trials have increased, ironically following the high profile Northwick Park incident in 2006 in which 6 healthy subjects suffered life changing unexpected...
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NHS 111 – Improving efficiency or destroying the ‘brand’?
NHS 111 need not necessarily be the calamity it has become. This calamity is driven more by financial under investment than a more pervasive crisis of care.
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On trying to do therapy when your patient has no food or money
Last week, I called someone I was due to see that afternoon to remind them I was coming round (standard practice in learning disability, and good practice in general). ‘How are you?’, I asked. ‘A bit pissed off’, they said....
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Cancer Charities and the fight for Public Health (and Media Profile)
Charity campaigns designed to shock are more and more commonplace. What does this tell us about the charity sector, and do these campaigns impact negatively on the ‘real’ work a charity undertakes?
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Culturally appropriate health promotion, or cynical marketing ploy? Australia’s storm in a beer glass
Drinkwise Australia is one of those industry-funded bodies that does the corporate responsibility bit. In their case the big aim is to transform Australian drinking culture by championing the cause of moderation and so reduce harmful consumption patterns. “Yeah… and...
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Health tomorrow?
Health apps are all the rage, but have they really been taken to heart by the end consumer?
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For integration, read fragmentation
Integrated care as a panacea for all that ails the NHS masks wider processes of privatisation in the English healthcare system. Debate about the shape and tenor of integrated care is needed to reverse the ongoing marketisation of statutory English...
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Taking responsibility for our health
Last week the chairman of NICE, David Haslam called for patients to stop being deferential to doctors and be more proactive in ensuring that they receive the best healthcare available. He argues that, patients should be more aware of the...
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Holiday parasites and furry friends
What did you bring back from your last holiday? Some happy memories, a sun-tan or perhaps something more exotic? A parasite? A stray dog? Both? Seventy-five per-cent of new human diseases are zoonotic. Concern for human public health means monitoring...
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‘BREAKING BAD’: markets, healthcare and drug money
The TV series Breaking Bad reached its conclusion at the end of September last year. This acclaimed drama has been described as: the most revered show of the modern golden age of television; as Dostoevsky in the desert; and it...
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n of 1,2,3? How many PPI patients is enough?