‘It’s like being told repeatedly that Father Christmas doesn’t exist’
Sorry to layer disillusionment onto despair for those of us worrying about Trump’s election. This Guardian piece caught my eye a couple of weeks ago for its account of the Choosing Wisely campaign from the Academy of Medical Sciences –...
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Improving health? Start local
Ideas about place based systems of care are currently fashionable in policy circles. I have previously written about initiativitis, (plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose’ or ‘here we go again’) but I am resisting the cynical temptation to...
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Evidence, Experience & Exclusions: A review of a recent workshop
‘Can experience be used as evidence?’ That was the question at a workshop organized earlier this month by the Health Experiences Group at Oxford. The question does not only interest academics. Researchers from different disciplines were joined by clinicians, policy...
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‘Serving the Public?’ Media, Politics and The NHS
We have medical programmes to suit our every taste. Currently viewers can choose high drama with Channel 4s’ ’24 Hours in A & E‘ filming around the clock in Kings College Hospital, London or everyday stories of sore throats, stress...
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n of 1,2,3? How many PPI patients is enough?
Patient Public Involvement (PPI) is ubiquitous in healthcare, and it tends to be used as a valuable tool for improving healthcare delivery. But how about questions of what it might do for the patient themselves. This aspect of PPI is...
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On being involved
Our son was born last November with a cleft lip and palate. Since then we have learned a lot. We know how to squeeze milk rhythmically into his mouth; massage scar tissue and deliver pain medications with the minimum of...
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The limits of participation?