March of the Men is a month-long campaign run by Anthony Nolan, the blood cancer charity, which seeks to recruit as many young men aged 16-30 to the register as possible. Anthony Nolan’s aim to find a match for every person in need of a stem cell or bone marrow transplant. Young men aged 16-30 currently […]
Seasickness is an occupational hazard when you are taking to the wave-swept ocean in a seven-metre long rowing boat. That’s exactly what Jack Faulkner and I are planning to do in the next few weeks, crossing the Indian ocean in about three months from Western Australia to Mauritius. Our Doctors Adrift adventure will hopefully raise […]
Patients with musculoskeletal conditions causing pain do not currently have direct access to physiotherapy on the NHS, but perhaps they should. A new pilot trial at Keele University in the UK has found that patients who can arrange to see physiotherapists without going through their GP (the current situation) reported benefits without overwhelming the service. […]
Today sees the start of the 2017 Diabetes UK Professional Congress held at the Manchester Central Convention Complex. Over the next three days, we will welcome over 2000 professional delegates from the UK and many different countries all over the world to take part in workshops, listen to respected invited speakers and discuss hot topics […]
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Telemedicine in general practice has yet to become the norm. The way we receive healthcare has not changed significantly in over 100 years and is certainly not something that will change overnight. But with the average waiting time for a patient to see a GP in the UK rising to nearly two weeks, there is clearly […]
Informed consent in medicine is essential. In March 2015, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board, which raised the legal standard for what informed consent actually means. The case has shaken the medical profession. Dr Daniel Sokol, barrister and ethicist, discusses its significance to patients and their relatives. Sinister beginnings On 19th August 1947, 20 […]
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Heart attack symptoms may have been missed in one in six heart attack patients admitted to hospital in England who later died, according to a new study published in The Lancet Public Health. The authors, from Imperial College London, say more research is urgently needed to establish whether it is possible to predict the risk […]
Nurse Helen Cowan talks about starvation, dehydration and death in hospitals. “Kill by mouth” read a recent headline in the Sun newspaper. Readers were informed that “malnutrition was mentioned on the death certificates of 297 patients who died in hospital during 2015; dehydration was cited for 429 patients. For care homes, the figures were 54 and […]
Health professionals are at the forefront of tackling the problem of alcohol misuse in our society. For many people, problem drinking may only be flagged up when they go to see their GP on another matter or attend A&E in a crisis. It’s an ongoing project at the Medical Council on Alcohol to educate medical professionals […]
Empathy in clinical practice is an essential component of the doctor-patient relationship. This is the understanding of how another human being is feeling without going through the emotional rollercoaster yourself. Unfortunately, however, it is often lacking. Indeed, studies of medical undergraduate education reveal some evidence that there is a decline in empathy as students move […]