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...
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Losing more than we ever had: The NHS staffing crisis, 4-year degrees and what will be lost
We constantly hear that the NHS is in crisis. Most recently on the news agenda has been the NHS staffing crisis with a chronic lack of doctors, nurses, technicians and many areas of the NHS workforce. The Conservative government’s latest...
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Why nurses should be paid the same as neurosurgeons
This December, nurses will be striking nationwide for the very first time in UK history. The official campaign is calling for a pay rise of 5% above inflation to ensure nurses no longer have to rely on foodbanks, or make...
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Jeremy Hunt: New chancellor is the man who ruined the NHS
As the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt is appointed to the Exchequer, his ministerial past puts paid to his ‘sensible’ image Jeremy Hunt has been named the UK’s fourth chancellor in as many months, following the sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng...
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The Launch of the Integrated Care Boards and the dismantling of universal healthcare
On 1st July 2022 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) took over commissioning responsibility for the NHS. This followed the Health and Social Care Act receiving Royal Assent at the end of April and passing in to law. Integrated Care Boards are...
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The flailing PM is rewriting history to claim ‘COVID success’.
Boris Johnson looks set to cling to ‘the vaccine rollout’ in an effort to stay afloat. In truth, he failed on COVID. Boris Johnson survived his no-confidence vote – just. But with over 40% of his MPs wanting him out...
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Forget the spin – new English NHS bill is all about cutting our right to healthcare
Far from reversing the disastrous 2012 reforms, this new NHS bill makes it even easier to axe and privatise services – that’s the real COVID ‘recovery plan’ We all know the NHS has a huge backlog. As things stand, it...
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Sociology and COVID
Sociology has multiple branches and agendas, and there is no gainsaying the need for cautious well-planned sociological research around the coronavirus pandemic (hereafter COVID). And such research takes time, almost as long sometimes as the commission that will doubtless be...
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Public fundraising for the NHS, and its discomforts
The fundraising of Captain Tom Moore and many others during the coronavirus outbreak has propelled charitable giving to the NHS into the public eye. At the time of writing, NHS Charities Together had raised over £100 million for its emergency...
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Loss and Grief during COVID
As inherently social beings, most of us have a need for physical contact with others to provide comfort during difficult emotional times. Losing a loved one during the COVID pandemic brings this into sharp relief, with social isolation making loss...
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A ‘virtual status’ in healthcare: Immigrant ‘key worker’ against the coronavirus crisis
A ‘key worker’ is defined by NHS Business as ‘a care professional who takes a key role in coordinating the care of the patient and promoting continuity, ensuring the patient knows who to access for information and advice’. National Health Service (NHS)...
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The NHS in Late Soviet Britain