A Blog About Health In Times Of Austerity

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Public Fears Of Getting Old: Is society making us scared of ageing?

Public Fears Of Getting Old: Is society making us scared of ageing?

We live in times of heightened societal fears of ageing. Ageing is seen as both a process and a state that we must vigilantly monitor and slow down, however, we cannot avoid it. Youthfulness, and its perceived vigour, are to... More…
Physician Associates: why the controversy?

Physician Associates: why the controversy?

Primary care workloads are a perennial concern in the NHS.  With problems recruiting and retaining GPs, policies to expand the skill mix are a usual mainstay of calls for improvement.  Plans to expand the Physician Associates (PA) workforce are one... More…
The fragile worker: stigma, illness and disability in the contemporary workplace

The fragile worker: stigma, illness and disability in the contemporary workplace

Fragility is a not a concept we explore often in relation to the workplace disability. When we use the word fragile we are often talking about objects; when it’s used in relation to people, we often mean the very old,... More…
War and conflict – what’s the role of medical sociology?

War and conflict – what’s the role of medical sociology?

War and conflict are very much part of our global experience as we move into 2024. The conflicts in Ukraine and in Gaza are ongoing and prominent in Global North media and popular discourse.  Other conflicts, such as in Syria... More…
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, how lovely are your branches.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, how lovely are your branches.

We have a running debate in our house about the relative benefits of real and fake Christmas trees. Each year for the past 25 years I have made my bid for a real tree. I used to argue for the... More…
Around a million children in the UK are living in destitution

Around a million children in the UK are living in destitution

Around a million children in the UK are living in destitution – with harmful consequences for their development. Millions of people in the UK are unable to meet their most basic physical needs: to stay warm, dry, clean and fed.... More…
Myths about plastic pollution are leading to public confusion: here’s why

Myths about plastic pollution are leading to public confusion: here’s why

Does the prediction that there could be “more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050” concern you? How about reports that “we eat a credit card’s worth of plastic per week”? These are some of the “facts” about plastic... More…
Politics, Economics and the Sociology of Health and Illness

Politics, Economics and the Sociology of Health and Illness

The government’s politics increasingly drive the detailed organisation and rapid privatisation of healthcare. Government austerity policies and mismanagement of healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic have had a great impact on the nation’s health. There are less than half the number... More…
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse - one year on, what has changed?

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse – one year on, what has changed?

Just over a year ago, at lunchtime on the 20th October 2022, UK news was dominated by the breaking story that Prime Minister Liz Truss had resigned with immediate effect. At the same time and only 2 miles away from... More…
Repeat child removals: structural inequality and iatrogenic harm

Repeat child removals: structural inequality and iatrogenic harm

One in four birth mothers who have a child taken into care in England will re-appear in care proceedings within seven years. Women in this situation have experienced structural disadvantage in multiple domains including socio-economic deprivation, histories of trauma and... More…
Climate Crisis, Denial and the World Burning

Climate Crisis, Denial and the World Burning

In the film ‘Don’t Look Up’ (2021), a planet-killing comet is on a direct collision course with Earth. Distraught scientists are depicted as struggling unsuccessfully to get politicians, the media, and the public to believe them and act to avert... More…
People with intellectual disability are often diagnosed with cancer when it is already well advanced

People with intellectual disability are often diagnosed with cancer when it is already well advanced

Many people with intellectual disability are diagnosed with cancer when it has already spread (metastasized) and the odds of survival are lower. Intellectual disability is a lifelong condition that occurs before adulthood where people have a reduced ability to understand new or complex information,... More…