The Fall of NHS Dentistry: A service in crisis.
There is a crisis in NHS Dentistry. A survey of NHS dental practices last year found that 91% of NHS practices were not accepting new adult patients, rising to 98% in ‘the South West, North West and Yorkshire and the...
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Purity and danger in pandemic public health
A socio-historical take on fear messaging Public health strategies to encourage compliance and behaviour change during the pandemic have been criticised for applying behavioural theories like “nudge theory” to induce fear. The Independent Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B)...
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The Last of Us – Review
I have tried to keep plot spoilers to a minimum, but this review may have a few minor spoilers. Even before COVID struck, people were tired of post-pandemic apocalyptic dramas in film and television. The long-running television series The Walking...
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ALLERGY… REALLY?
I took my daughter to the general practice the other day. She has a swelling knee that looks infected. We waited a short time and then we were called in. The doctor examined it and confirmed our fears. He then...
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Lucky strike
In 1888 the match girls of Bryant and May match factory in London went on strike, after years of discontent and triggered by the unfair dismissal of a worker in the July of that year. Workers were not unionised, employed...
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Break a leg! Observations on continuity of care
I’ve been thinking about continuity of care. The advantage of continuity of care was taken for granted in traditional, community based general practice where the family doctor got to know people, in their own context, over time. Seeing the same...
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Why nurses should be paid the same as neurosurgeons
This December, nurses will be striking nationwide for the very first time in UK history. The official campaign is calling for a pay rise of 5% above inflation to ensure nurses no longer have to rely on foodbanks, or make...
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Scales of failure: mental health services and self-harm
Reflections on the CVNI conference and the weight of knowledge I was recently at a two-day meeting of lived-experience experts and service user/survivor researchers in mental health. The event, organised by the Critical Voices Network Ireland was energising, exciting, and...
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Disease
If a person died from tuberculosis in the eighteenth century, this might not only be expected but might also be considered unavoidable. But if a person dies from tuberculosis today, is that either expected or unavoidable? We have the means...
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Where has all the health gone?
As we sit here in the autumn of 2022, I am struck by the state of health in the UK. Here we are, only 30 months since the first UK national lockdown for COVID, and health and health policy appear...
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Jeremy Hunt: New chancellor is the man who ruined the NHS
As the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt is appointed to the Exchequer, his ministerial past puts paid to his ‘sensible’ image Jeremy Hunt has been named the UK’s fourth chancellor in as many months, following the sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng...
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The right to convalesce