We need rest, not reflection: psychological support for the medical frontline
The covid-19 pandemic is likely to put healthcare professionals across the world in an unprecedented situation, having to make impossible decisions and work under extreme pressures. These decisions may include how to allocate scant resources to equally needy patients, how...
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Conservative plan for the NHS – but does it add up?
In his first 100 days as prime minister, Boris Johnson made several pledges and confirmed those of the former PM Theresa May to support the NHS. Many of these feature in the Conservative Party manifesto, even though they have been...
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The ‘Appliance of Science’?
The topsy-turvy world of the NHS’s relationship with minority groups and their non-standard care requirements When the NHS was last in expansion and a ‘transformation’ was underway, one of the guiding principles was called “World Class Commissioning“. It was the...
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Ending the hostile environment in health: The responsibility of intellectuals
As usual I was running late. Walking away from patients or relatives at the end of the day working as a doctor in the NHS is never an easy task. But it is something that has become increasingly difficult since...
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Tory Leadership Blues
As Britain descends further into the dystopian nightmare that Brexit has become, the latest instalment of our journey from serious country to sick joke is the Tory leadership contest. That a country, that considers itself a democracy, can choose a...
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The limits of participation?
All policies which prioritise the need and value of public participation are underpinned by the idea of a democratic deficit. A democratic deficit can be defined as failings in the levels of accountability and transparency in the ongoing operation of...
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Frankie Boyle’s hamster & the NHS long-term plan
Back in what now seems like a curiously quaint era for UK civil democracy, the Scottish Independence referendum was the once-in-a-generation opportunity for a group of people to take back control™ of their own political destiny. Despite what must have...
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Matt Hancock- another victim of Perpetual NHS Shock Syndrome (PNSS)
This week, Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, called for radical change in the NHS workforce in order to support doctors and nurses who experience trauma in their daily work. Indeed Mr Hancock went so...
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NHS Privatisation and who really is Matt Hancock?
It was back in September 2013 that we penned a post for Cost of Living entitled “We need to talk about Jeremy”. Way back then we were blissfully unaware of the possibilities of Brexit or Trump. Our major concern was...
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THE NHS: TO PROVIDE ALL PEOPLE
I offer a very contemporary comment this week, having come across this recent BBC programme for the 70thanniversary of the NHS, by Owen Sheers (poet) and Pip Broughton (director). The programme – ‘The NHS: to provide all people’ was a...
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The NHS at 70: For platinum-level care, it’s time for everyone to reaffirm their vows
Describing the care his mother received in an NHS hospital Russell Brand recently wrote, “The NHS is the very best of us, it is a living, breathing, healing mother goddess born of war and sacrifice sustained by love and dedication.”...
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A ‘virtual status’ in healthcare: Immigrant ‘key worker’ against the coronavirus crisis