"As this book progresses, its early playful, even comedic, lightness gives way to the author’s very substantial criticisms ... [that] attempts to metricise, micromanage, and proceduralise all medical consultations and services has led to the displacement and destructing of trusting relationships ...
Trish Greenhalgh reviews a book intended as a supplement to the clinical care offered in specialist long covid clinics.
Hannah Milton, GP, reviews Monty Lyman's The Painful Truth: The New Science of Why We Hurt and How We Can Heal.
Trish Greenhalgh suggests we learn from other disciplines about the folly of taking an overly reductive, one-variable-at-a-time view of the world and mistaking it for the highest form of science.
Andrew Papanikitas finds that 'Frontline' is not the ‘One bloody thing after another,’ of sensationalism for shock value. It is a reflective account full of haunting ethical choices.
Chris Dowrick reviews 'Humanity's conundrum' by David Zigmond. It is easy to become jaded and tired and to lose sight of the therapeutic purpose underlying all of our clinical encounters. Zigmond reminds us to stop, to listen and to respond.
Paquita De Zulueta reviews 'Go, went, gone' by Jenny Erpenbeck, a novel tackling themes of asylum and involuntary displacement
Hannah Milton reviews a book which argues that childhood adversity leads to other illnesses and that interventions for parents and children are needed as early as possible.
RCGP Past President, Terry Kemple, reviews Keefe's 'Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty'.
Marion Brown reviews Michael P. Hengartner'a critique of the pharmaceutical evidence for antidepressant use and underlying disease models.
Early medical abortion, equality of access, and the telemedical imperative is an exploration of both early medical abortion and telemedicine through the lenses of clinical evidence, social developments and legal policy. Andrew Papanikitas gives us his review.
Are at least 50% of jobs in the industrialised world pointless and unnecessary? Emma McKenzie-Edwards reviews "Bullshit jobs – the rise of pointless work and what we can do about it", by David Graeber.
Why on earth would a GP read a textbook of radiology? John Launer finds wisdom for all doctors in an unexpected place.
Hannah Milton reviews "What Happened to You?" by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey. The The book seeks to shift conversations away from “what is wrong with you?” to “what happened to you?”
The intense pressure GPs are constantly facing can at times feel like a landslide ready to take us under. Awais Ahmad reviews "The Doctor Will See You Now", which lifts the lid on it all.
Rebecca Mawson reviews Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn. Her verdict - it is worth a read for anyone who lives as a woman, lives with a woman, or lives a life where they look after women!
General practice is full of unsung heroes. John Launer tells us about Dilys Daws and reviews two of her books, which may be of great help to many parents.
We have all had the fear that that a child we had seen with a minor flu-like illness at 4pm might be terminally ill with meningococcal septicaemia before the day was over. Hugh Bethell reviews a book by Oxford Professor of Paediatrics
"Whereas 2 Tone bands were kicking out neo-Nazis from their gigs decades ago, anecdotal reports of obsequious adjustments accommodating the racist demands of some patients continue to occur within the NHS today, despite an official zero-tolerance approach to racism." Sati Heer-Stavert reflects
The government has just announced a health and social care levy which is expected to raise £14bn a year. Of this, £1.8bn a year will go to social care. But will money alone fix the problems? Helen Burns reviews Saving Social Care
We all know that the world is going to hell in a handcart. But we all know wrong. David Misselbrook reviews Hans Rosling's final book: Factfulness.
Those who come from poorer backgrounds get unwell earlier and die almost a decade before those from richer backgrounds. Dipesh Gopal reviews "Inflamed: deep medicine and the anatomy of injustice" by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel.
Charlotte Williamson has been chair of the patient liaison group for the Royal College of General Practitioners, and is an expert in giving friendly but challenging feedback to our profession, making sure the patient's voice is heard. Roger Jones reviews her important
My Dark Vanessa is not an easy read, but any book that tackles the subject of abuse, sexual exploitation, victimhood, and coercive control is bound to be challenging ...
Alena Chong reviews John Launer's latest book .... and is inspired to shower colleagues and patients with limitless compassion, calmness, loving-kindness and appreciative joy.
John Gillies reviews a textbook on Compassionate Leadership, with the subtitle ‘sustaining wisdom, humanity and presence in health and social care.’ It might just be a book whose time has come.
Nigel Masters reviews "Dr Samways writes to the Editor: The Life and Times of an Exceptional Physician" by Tom Treasure. Samways was a remarkable 19th century General Practitioner who still holds lessons for us today.
Richard Baker reviews the first authoritative account of the UK government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Book review: "A young doctor's notebook" by Mikhail Bulgakov brings us back to what it felt like to be a newly qualified doctor with scary responsibilities and inadequate support.
Doctors face “triple jeopardy” - being pursued by the Civil Court for damages, the Criminal Court for negligence, and the GMC for fitness to practice. Alena Chong reviews a novel by Tim Howard, a fellow doctor, about what can happen when things
It's not been an easy time to be a doctor! Jonathan Wells reviews "The Wellbeing Toolkit for Doctors", a timely new book for GPs, medical students and doctors in training. Let's look after ourselves and each other!
'... this book helps to illuminate the feminist perspective on injustice in health care.' — Judith Dawson reviews Elinor Creghorn's new book 'Unwell Women', a history of the mistreatment, misdiagnoses, trauma, and neglect women have received in health care from Ancient Greece
Is the NHS too Industrialised? In this report David Zigmond argues that it is. Zigmond builds on a Kings Fund Report from 2014 which criticised recent approaches to improving UK health care. These reports cover vital issues, as yet another round of NHS
Saving Sick Britain argues for a society that places the health of its citizens at the forefront, but is such a future attainable? Richard Churchill reviews the new book published by Manchester University Press.
We are repeatedly told that we should learn from the airline industry in order to solve our perennial problems with patient safety. So why don't we? Why is the NHS so dysfunctional in its management? Henry Tegner's review of Barry Monk's important
Princes Park Health Centre has an iconic status within the health economy of Merseyside. Founded in 1977 by Cyril Taylor, it was set up as an explicitly socialist practice in a deprived inner-city area. Chris Dowrick reviews Katy Gardner and Susanna Graham
What is the role of doctors in improving ‘quality of life’ and what does this concept mean? Emma Storr reviews an important new book by Robin Downie that considers this, and many other questions.
Is it time to take a step back and reflect on the wider consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic? Judith Dawson reviews a monograph by Samar Razaq that does just that.
'The Migrant Diaries is the most powerful, moving, and informative account I have come across of the worldwide migrant/refugee crisis ... ' — Dougal Jeffries reviews Dr Lynne Jones latest novel, The Migrant Diaries.
David Hockney shows no sign of slowing down at 82 - he says "work is more fun than fun". Roger Jones reviews this wonderful book by Martin Gayford, placing Hockney's latest project within the whole stream of art history.
Winston Churchill defined Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”. Dr Harald Lipman was Medical Attaché to the British Embassy in Moscow in the 1980s. Jim Brockbank reviews his memoirs.
