Sixty GP surgeries set to transfer to new private provider
The private healthcare provider HCRG Care Group (formerly known as Virgin Care) has agreed a…
Category: BMJ
Sunak’s smoke-free generation: spare a thought for the tobacco industry
The UK prime minister’s call for a smoke-free generation, which follows similar measures in New…
A drug target for erectile dysfunction to help improve fertility, sexual activity, and wellbeing: mendelian randomisation study
AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the association of genetically proxied (using a surrogate biomarker) inhibition of phosphodiesterase 5…
Birdwatching and medicine: stories of curiosity and wonder
Birdwatching was my lifeline during medical training, a way to avoid the burnout that afflicts…
The space doctors
BiographiesMission control: Sushmita RamanujamRadiology specialty registrar at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.Sushmita has…
Health spending is driving people into poverty in Europe and central Asia
“Is it acceptable that people become poor as a result of ill health?” asks Tamas…
Role model: Tom Miller
Tom Miller loves his commute to the Buxton Medical Practice in Derbyshire. “I travel 11…
Money being paid for prescribing Wegovy in pilot studies is “over the top,” say critics
Doctors have raised concerns about the amount of money being paid for overseeing patients in…
A whole sector approach to policy change will accelerate integration of sex and gender in research
Sex and gender profoundly affect health and disease, including the causes of ill health, the…
Texas Supreme Court blocks permitted abortion for woman with non-viable pregnancy
On 8 December the Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked permission for an abortion that a…
Exploring together the emotional impact of the climate and nature crisis
Many people are terrified by the prospect of imminent social collapse because of the climate…
Covid-19: Preliminary figures show 1.2% of people in England had infection at end of November
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has delayed the planned release of modelled, weighted prevalence…
Medicine: a performing art
I think of medicine as a performing art, although to many people the word “performing”…
Efficacy of cola ingestion for oesophageal food bolus impaction: open label, multicentre, randomised controlled trial
AbstractObjectiveTo determine the efficacy and safety of cola in resolving complete oesophageal food bolus impaction.DesignOpen…
Immigration crackdown risks worsening NHS and care staff shortages, leaders warn
Health and social care organisations have expressed “deep concerns” that government plans to cut immigration…
UK medical organisations back dedicated sex and gender research policies
Twenty nine UK medical research organisations and publishers, including the National Institute for Health and…
Covid inquiry: What did Johnson say about underestimated risks, excess deaths, and his missing WhatsApps?
Whether it was his alleged reluctance to impose lockdowns, his oversight of a supposedly “toxic”…
Quality of care reform: a case for systems thinking and human centred design capabilities
Health systems are social systems where outcomes for people and communities hinge on their ability…
Embedding implementation research to cross the quality of care chasm during the covid-19 pandemic and beyond
As countries emerge from the acute phase of the SARS-CoV-2 (covid-19) pandemic, there is a…
New Zealand reverses landmark tobacco controls
Plans by the new government of New Zealand (Aotearoa) to abandon pioneering tobacco control measures…
GLP-1 receptor agonists: European drug regulator asks makers for evidence of self-harm
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has asked some licence holders of GLP-1 receptor agonists for…
Stanley Dennington Pratt
bmj;383/dec08_5/p2894/FAF1faStanley Dennington Pratt qualified in 1948, the year the NHS came into being. After house…
Glyn Roger Williams
bmj;383/dec08_6/p2896/FAF1faGlyn Roger Williams was a consultant in infectious diseases based at Ayrshire Central and Crosshouse…
Anton Buter
bmj;383/dec08_4/p2893/FAF1faOriginally from South Africa, Anton Buter was raised in Welkom and then attended the University…
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Michael Aziz
bmj;383/dec08_3/p2889/FAF1faMichael Aziz (“Mike”) was born and educated in north west London. A caring and compassionate…
An end of year resolution: phase out fossil fuels
As we approach the close of 2023, a hard, unforgiving year, consider this: the world,…
Duty of candour: Ministers to review varying application in health and care
The government is to launch a review into the variation in how open and transparent…
Doctors in Italy strike over pension cuts and working conditions
Healthcare professionals in Italy staged a 24 hour national strike on 5 December, as nursing…
Ann Robinson’s research reviews—7 December 2023
Smear storiesHalf of all cases of cervical cancer in the UK are diagnosed in women…
A pigmented macule on the palm
A 4 year old boy was brought to the paediatric dermatology department by his parents…
A Heck to check
This image shows widespread asymptomatic, soft, raised papules over the oral mucosa and lips of…
The BMJ Appeal 2023-24: The Syrian health workers pulling 24 hour shifts to keep their maternity hospital open
Ghufran, a 22 year old midwife, works a 9 am to 4 pm shift in…
Postpartum depression . . . and other stories
Genetics of postpartum depressionDespite data from 20 000 cases of postpartum depression and three times…
Emergency hospital services are closing because of staff shortages
The world has faced a shortage of medical workforce for decades.1 Failure to tackle problems…
What you need to know about physician associates
How did physician associates come about?The role originated at Duke University, North Carolina, as a…
Increase taxes on alcohol and sugary drinks, WHO urges
The World Health Organization has urged countries to apply more taxes on alcohol and sugary…
The new health secretary must tackle ȷunior doctors’ dissatisfaction before winter
Despite the announcement of new strike dates, the recent offer by the government to NHS…
Nigel C H Stott: pioneering academic GP who championed multidisciplinary approaches to understand and tackle complex health problems
bmj;383/dec06_12/p2891/FAF1faNigel Stott’s academic and clinical contributions were built on the principle that improving health requires…
Districts of Pakistan boycott polio immunisation until economic and health demands are met
Tribal elders in the last remaining areas of Pakistan to have endemic wild polio are…
November top picks: A strange time to study medicine
While at medical school, the calendar’s 11th month—the year’s 11th hour—seems to be inseparable from…
Conditions in Gaza are ripe for “epidemics and public health disaster,” UN warns
Gaza’s health system is “on its knees” as “mentally and physically exhausted” Palestinians face more…
Court dismisses leadership of Turkish Medical Association after criticism of government
A civil court in Ankara has dismissed all 11 elected leaders of the central council…
The global health community must prevent the erosion of human rights in healthcare
“If access to healthcare is considered a human right, who is considered human enough to…
Inconsistent definitions of labour progress and over-medicalisation cause unnecessary harm during birth
Prolonged labour results in considerable morbidity and mortality globally in women and children, as well…
Effectiveness of conservative management versus laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the prevention of recurrent symptoms and complications in adults with uncomplicated symptomatic gallstone disease (C-GALL trial): pragmatic, multicentre randomised controlled trial
AbstractObjectiveTo assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of conservative management compared with laparoscopic cholecystectomy for…
NHS culture change is difficult, not impossible—but essential, says health ombudsman
Early on in his career as a civil servant, Rob Behrens, now the parliamentary and…
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Managing symptomatic gallstone disease
Symptomatic gallstone disease (cholelithiasis) is the classic indication for elective cholecystectomy.1 In addition to relieving…
Cosmetic surgeon is struck off for dishonesty and as a risk to patient safety
A cosmetic surgeon has been struck off the UK medical register after a tribunal found…
Helen Salisbury: How the duty of kindness could suppress legitimate debate
Good Medical Practice is a guide produced by the General Medical Council (GMC) that sets…
Junior doctors announce new strike dates
Junior doctors in England have announced two further rounds of strike action, in December and…