What is a patient?
“Patient-ness” as a resource for neoliberal health systems to administer their own crisis What is a patient? An obvious, intuitive answer is that a patient is a person receiving healthcare. The patient exists as long as medical attention or treatment...
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It’s time for sociology to take animal health seriously
Why should the sociology of health be concerned with animal health? The sociology of health has helped to develop a better understanding of the ways in which social processes are related to mental and physical health. In the process social...
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The Long COVID Report
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report into Long COVID was released about a month ago. One important detail is that of the 14 members of the Group, from many different parties, and from both the House of Commons and Lords,...
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Cancer during COVID
How our research on antimicrobial resistance & health inequalities became more personal In 2019 I was awarded a Wellcome Trust grant. My project promised to look at the question of inequality and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from different perspectives in the...
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Child custody, racism, conspiracies and Swedish Social Services
Demonstrations against Swedish Social Services’ treatment of children from immigrant families outside parliament buildings in Stockholm are the visible aspect of a battle that is largely taking place on social media. Some of the demonstrators are parents campaigning to have...
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Finding the publics to involve in public health research
Public involvement in research is essential. However, when that research addresses public health issues, how best to do this is not straightforward. Naïve processes of engagement risk tokenism, erosion of good faith, and frustration for all collaborators. The aims of...
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10 years of NHS legislation reform
The year 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of this blog. I know it does not seem like 10 years since the Liberal Democrats (remember them?) were reneging on their election pledge on university fees in David Cameron’s coalition government. We...
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Should We All Have The Right To Die On Our Own Terms?
As the Assisted Dying Bill is scrutinised in parliament, the debate over whether terminally ill people should have the right to die is heating up again. So, what could a right to die look like in the UK? Campaigners have sought to...
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The fleeting solidarities of the pandemic?
Click the play button on the sound file below. It is the sound of the street in Aberdeen where I live recorded on April 2nd2020. I recorded the soundfile during the weekly Clap for Carers event, where the dedication of...
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Uncertainty, Polarisation and COVID
Uncertainty has become a staple of day to day life across the world in the past two years. The COVID pandemic has introduced uncertainty into all aspects of life, affecting our interactions with others, our work and home lives and...
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Blinded by the Christmas lights: NICE depression guidelines
Reflections on the latest draft of the NICE depression guidelines There is an episode in The Good Fight, (an American legal drama), where in the background to several scenes, a steady flow of evidence boxes are wheeled into the offices...
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Un-care-able