Radical Surgery for the NHS? What is a GP’s role today

Proposals in the recent Health Bill to change the role of GPs have been among the most contested of all the coalition’s policies.

Building a wall between adults and children

The vital interactions between one generation and the next are being hampered by overblown fears of ‘stranger danger’.

Patient-centred healthcare: the right to choose?

The Coalition government’s July 2010 White Paper Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS, promises that ‘patients will be at the heart of everything we do’. They will have ‘choice of any provider, choice of consultant-led team, choice of GP practice and choice of treatment.’

Liberating the NHS?

The most anticipated Department of Health White Paper for some time, was published in July 2010. Entitled, Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS it sets out the Government’s long-term vision for the future of the National Health Service. It places patients ‘at the heart’, in charge of making decisions about their care. This means focusing on clinical outcomes instead of bureaucratic targets and ‘empowering’ health professionals to give those on the front line, such as GPs, more control.

Protecting the vulnerable or creating a climate of mistrust?

My contribution to Who's risk is it anyway? 
An Institute of Ideas and Wiltshire Council Safeguarding conference. 
March 2010

Cast your mind back to December 2008 and the Old Bailey trial of Baby P’s abusers.

Undermining nursing care by degrees

The proposal that nurses in England should be university graduates will further reduce the level of basic nursing skills.

Alternative Medicine: Should We Swallow It?

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is an increasingly acceptable part of the repertory of healthcare professionals and is becoming more and more popular with the public. It seems that CAM has come of age - but should we swallow it?