Britain has a higher rate of stillbirth and neonatal death than many other countries in Europe – in 2016 one in every 139 births ended in stillbirth or neonatal death. The grief and devastation that bereaved parents feel is often compounded by the fact that they never realised a baby could die in modern-day Britain. […]
Professor Paul Cosford, medical director of Public Health England, continues his occasional series on his experience as a patient with cancer and describes his first meeting with his palliative care team. It is almost a year since I was told I have incurable lung cancer. Bad news, as a non-smoking 55 year old, but in […]
Read More… from Paul Cosford: Meeting my palliative care team
We often talk about our moods in term of colours of the rainbow. Feeling blue, or green with envy? Or has a red mist come down lately? Certain tones, such as red, blue, yellow and green are known to have a psychological effect on us and enhance our feelings of wellbeing, or the opposite. If […]
It is deeply shocking to read the conclusions of Bishop James Jones’s review, that the lives of hundreds of people were cut short by one doctor’s inappropriate use of drugs. We have heard of many instances of poor care over the years, but to deliberately shorten the lives of patients represents the very worst betrayal […]
When managing long-term pain in the pain clinic, we rely on all our skills as doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and so on. We use our skills, which are mostly based in mainstream, ‘Western’ disciplines, to best effect, yet sometimes we can feel limited in what our conventional approaches can achieve for our patients. On 25th […]
Taking fish oil supplements could help reduce the pain of patients with osteoarthritis, a new study in Rheumatology reports. In the largest, most up to date study of its kind, researchers from the University of Surrey examined the link between diet and the effective self-management of osteoarthritis. Analysing 68 previous studies in the field, researchers […]
Opioid addiction, fuelled by OTC medication and prescription pain killers, has reached epidemic proportions in the US but is becoming a growing problem in the UK too. According to a recent BBC News investigation, GPs in England prescribed nearly 24 million opioid-based painkillers in 2017, the equivalent of 2,700 items every hour. ‘As a doctor, I […]
Should we always challenge the distorted beliefs of someone with dementia or do inaccurate memories play an important role in helping them to retain key information? Researchers at the University of Birmingham suggest that distorted memories play a role in preserving knowledge for someone with dementia and that the role they play should be evaluated. […]
This month, Marie Curie holds our annual Great Daffodil Appeal and millions of people will wear a daffodil pin and make a donation in support of our work. It’s always incredibly inspiring to see how many people take part and contribute their time, energy and enthusiasm to our largest annual fundraising campaign. This year we […]
I’m happy to be open about the fact that I have incurable lung cancer and I’m also the medical director of Public Health England. I can’t entirely separate the two but this blog is more about my personal take on living and dying and I’m not speaking on behalf of PHE. I’m 54 years old […]