Being able to connect to others, to find joy and meaning in a common purpose, is not an added extra but is the very stuff of human life. But what of the effects of the Covid pandemic? Johanna Reilly discusses her concerns.
We value patient autonomy, but how free are we, how free are our patients? Will Mackintosh considers how constraints on freedom contribute to health inequalities.
Could the mistreatment of women by men be linked to how these men behaved towards other boys when they were youngsters themselves? Arthur Kaufman, a clinical psychologist, considers this hypothesis.
Amar Rughani reflects on the opportunities offered by retirement. A lifetime of service to the community has shaped who we are, so this is an opportunity to embrace that. The life to come could be the best yet.
Two years ago we did not know that we would all be caring for patients with long covid. Feryad Hussain surveys the current evidence.
Shame, a near-universal accompaniment of human compromise, often generates major distress, yet rarely finds direct language. How, then, do doctors – now so often seen as ‘fixers’ – deal with such an elusive problem? Read David Zigmond's latest masterclass.
It’s hard to understand the actions of a leadership that attacks doctors and nurses at the peak of a pandemic, but that is what is happening in Myanmar ...
As euthanasia is an uncomplicated and humane way of disposing of a sick animal, why should it not be available as a treatment option for human patients who are suffering? A vet and a doctor working in palliative medicine discuss a little
Following David Zigmond's previous article he received a letter from a retired GP which has prompted this further reflection.
Has general practice lost its way? Lyn Jenkins is a retired colleague who advocated the "rewilding" of general practice.
Creativity is the ability to make creative decisions and have creative ideas. Aliana Sharma has a few bright ideas.....
The UK’s NHS data has been valued at £10bn. Paquita de Zulueta discusses the current plans to sell off our medical details.
COVID-19 has accelerated the uptake of digital consultations. But rather than focus on form, perhaps our attention should fall to how the content of consultations has changed. Dr Clare Etherington and Dr Liliana Risi explore this in detail and suggest that 'digital
Many politicians, planners and now younger doctors are advocating more remote and procedurally algorithmic practice. These assume the irrelevance of personal continuity of care. Yet much gets lost. What? David Zigmond gives us three authentic tales from a single practice.
To tell, or not to tell? David Zigmond gives us three case vignettes that explore this area of doctor patient communication.
What do we want of doctors beside biomedical science? David Zigmond cautions us that post Covid, we risk replacing the doctor's human heart with an immured, mechanical one that can count but cannot value.
Bearing witness, for our colleagues in Myanmar, as so many of us do for our patients, is powerful, but it is not enough. Jim Brockbank tells the story of our colleagues in Myanmar who want us to be their advocates, hear their
The current pandemic has brought with it an "infodemic" of misinformation. A crisis is the time to show resilience, rely on collective wisdom, and refrain from a panic response. As a society we need to create more room for reason and access
Julian Tudor Hart's "Inverse Care Law" was published 50 years ago last month. Stephen Gillam reminds us of Tudor Hart's remarkable legacy and its immediate relevance for us today.
Have some patients been receiving the wrong type of ‘aid’ when they became seriously unwell in the COVID-19 pandemic? Peter Nightingale explains the concept of "last aid" for dying patients.
Raj Khanchandani reviews "Heart of the Nation: Migration and the Making of the NHS", an online exhibition curated by the Migration Museum.
Surely, medicine has advanced greatly over the last 50 years? David Zigmond asks what have we lost in the relentless tide towards ever-greater specialisation and packaged healthcare.
In June 2020, the RCGP published a statement of solidarity acknowledging the enduring problem of structural racism and recognising the need for change in the form of tangible action. Julia Darko explores the problems and offers a practical way forward.
Have rapid recent advances in IT, and the necessary Covid restrictions, rendered traditional face-to-face medical consultations largely redundant? David Zigmond shares two views on this and leaves us in no doubt about his own conclusions.
2020 has at least seen us start to tear down the weeds and thorns of racist power structures within our society and our profession. Roghieh Dehghan asks whether we have yet grasped the roots, and shows us how we might move forward
2020 has been a grim year for patients and doctors alike. As we approach 2021, weary but hoping now to put our efforts into a mass vaccination program, John Travers, a GP registrar in Dublin, gives us his personal reflection on the
We always knew that there was something a little bit magical about Roger Neighbour. Natasha Houghton and her colleagues explain all.
Can pottering in the greenhouse mitigate against the toxic impact of work related stress upon our brains? Jane Roberts examines the evidence.
2020 has been a distressing year for UK doctors for many reasons. John Frey reminds us that it's no better across the pond.
'Assessing the danger had simply involved walking up to a mannequin’s bedside on an ILS course and stating, “I have looked around the patient and cannot see anything dangerous”.' However, Charles Slater, then a medical student, found that in real life things
Not another article about Shipman? But 20 years on David Zigmond's reflections on the man who contaminated our medical world for ever suggest worthwhile new insights. Read on...
A New Indian Express editorial read “Can one person change the world? Ask Andrew Wakefield”. Peter Lindsay reviews "The Doctor who fooled the world" by Brian Deer Scribe, and reflects on the damage caused by Wakefield's career.
Claire Vicary gives a very personal account of her year with bowel cancer. There was more to getting better than she had realised......
In the UK, at the centre of our crucial battle against Covid-19s, our NHS has been, lionised and eulogised in heroic terms. But David Zigmond questions whether this recent praise for NHS staff in fact covers up a longstanding malaise, the destabilising
The COVID 19 pandemic has resulted in a dramatic shift from face- to-face to remote consulting within general practice. But how will this impact ongoing patient care? Victoria Tzortziou Brown, Simon Gregory and Denis Pereira Gray examine the evidence.
As doctors we are committed to justice and an end to discrimination. So surely sex discrimination in medicine is a thing of the past? These four medical students from Kings are not so sure.
We are embodied social beings. We thrive on nurturing relationships. Touch forms a key part of those relationships in everyday life but is also a powerful form of communication for clinicians, allowing for wordless dialogue, presence and embodied empathy. Paquita de Zulueta
Claire Stillman is a recently retired GP who spent 30 years in Scottish general practice, the last 20 of which were in Glasgow. bout eight months ago I wrote an emotional, angry rant about why I was leaving general practice. It was
Peter Aird is a GP in Bridgwater, Somerset. This week I recalled a study day that I went to some years ago. Suitably interactive, involving a variety of teaching styles and fully addressing a personally relevant learning need, it was the best
David Zigmond was a small practice GP in south London 1977-2016. Read Obituary for St James Church Surgery: the death of a practice. Can we have value for money and not lose our humanity? Our lives lengthen, our population increases, our expectations