Recently, I went to a large NHS teaching hospital in London for a blood test. A young couple was behind me in the queue. He was wearing a suit. She was completely covered. When I was finished and it was their turn, he started getting agitated and spoke loudly at the young MAN who was due to take blood from […]
As I write in a patient’s notes in clinic, with the end of my pen in my mouth, I fall into a reverie thinking of the fully paperless NHS, which Jeremy Hunt has promised by 2018. The urgency for the digital agenda is driven by the growth of the data underlying every aspect of healthcare. […]
Read More… from Data, data everywhere, but are doctors ready?
A&E wards can be frightening, stressful and downright unpleasant place to visit. They often seem close to bursting point with patients who range from car crash victims to the walking wounded, crying children to drunken adults. But these wards can be equally traumatic for the staff – who must not only deal with life and […]
Read More… from Accident and Emergency Diary: Saturday Night Shift
A young man in his early 30s was brought to A&E in a large London Hospital after calling NHS Direct and reporting extreme tenderness and pain in his abdomen for the last 36 hours. He complained that he had to wait on a trolley and he only gave the hospital 5 out of 10. But […]
My A&E Diary: Accident and Emergency wards can be frightening, stressful and downright unpleasant place to visit. They often seem close to bursting point with patients who range from car crash victims to the walking wounded, crying children to drunken adults. But these wards can be equally traumatic for the staff – who must not […]
It’s funny how you go through life and at each new stage you look forward to telling friends/relatives/random people on the street what wonderful plans you have for the next stage of life. Well, at least that was true in my childhood. Now the question of ‘what are you going to do once you leave […]
I don’t love my job as a “Junior Doctor”; indeed there are ever diminishing moments I love but there are parts of it I would be so bold as to say I absolutely hate! Surprising? Most likely, especially for those of you following the statements of how Junior Doctors “love their job” in the many […]
The British Dental Association (BDA) has backed warnings from the Local Government Association (LGA), as it revealed new figures showing a 66 per cent increase in the cost of extracting rotten teeth from children in hospitals in the last five years. Hospital extractions, which require general anaesthesia, vastly exceed the costs of preventive treatment delivered through […]
Read More… from Public paying the price for government failure on prevention
I am a GP at a busy NHS practice in Greater London. During a busy day, I see around 40 patients for five to ten minutes each. People come in and see me with problems ranging from ear ache to high blood pressure and fertility problems. I love my job but it is inevitable that the […]
Since I began my studies I have, perhaps unsurprisingly, become somewhat of a hypochondriac. The infamous ‘medical student syndrome’ is hard to escape when you spend every day reading about numerous conditions often with non-specific symptoms. A twinge of pain can transform into terminal cancer, a headache into meningitis. My favourite ailment so far struck […]
Read More… from Being A Patient – Should I tell my doctor that I am a medical student?