Sixty seconds on . . . lab meats
Fuel for man’s best friend?No, this isn’t a vet journal. The UK is investing £15m…
Category: BMJ
RCGP’s exam policy was unlawful, says landmark ruling in favour of doctors with disabilities
A GP trainee has won a legal case against the Royal College of General Practitioners…
Condom use in adolescents has fallen notably since 2014, warns WHO
The World Health Organization has urged governments to tackle a sharp decline in condom use…
Blood donation: NHS stocks are still in short supply after June cyberattack
The blood donor service for England has issued a fresh call for donors after warning…
The WHO regional director elections must be reformed
In August the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Regional Committee will elect a new director…
Personal protective effect of wearing surgical face masks in public spaces on self-reported respiratory symptoms in adults: pragmatic randomised superiority trial
This paper by Solberg and colleagues (BMJ 2024;386:e078918, doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-078918, published 24 July 2024) has been…
Eight month suspension for surgeon who sexually harassed colleagues “emboldens perpetrators,” say victims
Four female colleagues who worked with the transplant surgeon James Gilbert have written an open…
Are alternative payment models the answer to the failures of pay-for-performance?
Over the past two decades most healthcare systems have modified the way they pay providers…
Eating disorders remain neglected despite sharp rise in Europe
Stella, a 20 year old from Stockholm, has anorexia nervosa. Since her diagnosis several years…
Semaglutide’s CVD indication could cost US Medicare $145bn extra a year
The annual cost of providing semaglutide through the US’s Medicare health insurance programme to patients…
BMA calls for action to curb “vaping epidemic”
The BMA is urging the UK government to stop a “growing epidemic of vape use…
Microdosing mushroom sweet treats are recalled in US after six hospital admissions and two potential deaths
All products of a brand of microdosing, mushroom infused confectionery called Diamond Shruumz that are…
Sylvia Gyde: medical researcher in a major study of perinatal mortality rates in the West Midlands
bmj;386/aug27_6/q1848/FAF1faWhen Sylvia Gyde was appointed district medical officer for North Birmingham Health Authority in 1989…
Maximising profit is a matter of regulation rather than law
In response to Salisbury’s statement that “companies with a duty to maximise their return to…
Poor mental health among Nigeria’s displaced young people
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimated in June 2024 that Nigerians account for roughly…
Donna Ockenden: Money to improve maternity care? It’s being spent on compensation
The senior midwife Donna Ockenden is overseeing what she says is the largest review into…
What is the point of inquiries?
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has just published its Module 1 report two years after the…
Private firms have no legal duty to maximise profit
Salisbury describes the mood of cautious optimism in general practice with Wes Streeting as the…
Expanding London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone has improved air quality, report finds
The expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to outer London has been highly…
Consultants in Northern Ireland accept pay offer from government
The BMA’s Northern Ireland Consultants Committee has accepted a pay offer from the Department of…
We need a global framework for promoting safe handling of high consequence pathogens
The covid-19 pandemic has highlighted ongoing concerns regarding biosafety and biosecurity procedures in global pathogen…
Stuart Murray: Glasgow GP whose drive to raise standards saw him design the first national mandatory qualification for general practice
bmj;386/aug23_7/q1836/FAF1faUntil 1996 the bar to entry into general practice was low. The MRCGP exam wasn’t…
In praise of physician associates
The heated debate around physician associates, with its attacks on their work, registration with the…
Wes Streeting wants hard truths? General practice needs nationalising
Wes Streeting, the new health and social care secretary, has briefed Ara Darzi to tell…
Violence against doctors in India: is an effective law finally in sight?
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has urged a task force set up by the country’s…
Surgical face masks to prevent respiratory symptoms
Early in the covid-19 pandemic, face masks were promoted as an important non-pharmaceutical intervention.1 Masking…
Italy’s NHS: current government not entirely to blame for crisis
Paterlini’s description of the Italian NHS, as it is set up today, is accurate—it is…
Reducing drug waste in hospitals
What you need to knowDrug waste is an important source of financial and environmental waste…
Abdominal symptoms . . . and other stories
Non-specific abdominal symptomsA database study of nearly half a million people who presented with symptoms…
CQC survey: Patient satisfaction in England’s hospital care fails to improve, but trust in doctors remains high
Satisfaction with hospital care in England did not improve in 2023 and remains notably worse…
Climate change: Paediatricians call for education to be built into doctors’ training
Clinicians should be educated about climate change as part of their medical training and should…
Lecanemab: Benefits of Alzheimer’s drug are “ȷust too small” to ȷustify cost, says NICE
The Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab should not be made available on the NHS because it does…
Hope is not passive—it needs action
The dog days of August have given way to a brat summer or a demure…
A postpartum woman with chest pain
A woman in her 30s was admitted to the emergency department with sudden, intense chest…
Making pandemic planning part of the everyday
The UK Covid-19 inquiry’s module 1 report on the resilience and preparedness of the UK…
Mind reading machines … and other research
A lesson in TACTThere was no plausible mechanism to suggest that removing heavy metals such…
The Care Quality Commission has lost its way
There is a profound crisis of confidence in the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the statutory…
No more silent suffering: we need to tackle the snakebite antivenom crisis
Thousands of people die each year from snakebites globally, a tragedy exacerbated by a lack…
Female doctors have higher risk of suicide, study finds
Female doctors have a significantly higher risk of suicide than the general population despite suicide…
Norman Vetter: epidemiologist whose work on smallpox eradication in Bangladesh cemented his beliefs on importance of systemic change to improve health
bmj;386/aug21_8/q1775/FAF1faMy father, Norman Vetter, was a systems thinker to the end, believing that greed was…
Thinking upstream: greater investment in community based mental health support is essential
We strongly agree with Hartley that we urgently need to tackle the “mental healthcare deficit”…
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John Launer: How to be a chronicologist
Although nearly all my clinical career has been in primary care, my work these days…
Bisphosphonates
What you need to knowFor patients with osteoporosis, assess patient eligibility for treatment with bisphosphonate…
Medical training at breaking point: will an increase in learners push the system over the edge?
There have always been tensions between service delivery and training in the NHS. But trainers,…
Rammya Mathew: It’s time to raise the profile of community trusts
For the past few years I’ve been working for one of the largest community trusts…
Ukraine: Nearly 2000 attacks on health facilities have been launched since invasion, says WHO
Healthcare facilities in Ukraine have been attacked 1940 times since Russia initiated its full scale…
Vaginal mesh: Manufacturers settle with 140 women over complications
More than 100 women with complications from vaginal mesh implants have received payouts from three…
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Patients have important roles in funding and dissemination too
Amsen describes how the research community is gradually understanding how to involve patients in the…
Using hypofractionation to decarbonise radiation oncology
What you need to knowRadiation treatments are energy intensive and require patients to travel frequently,…
GP who was jailed over climate change protests is suspended for three months
A retired GP has been suspended from the UK medical register for three months for…