Current issue: spending lots on coproxamol “NHS Nene Valley CCG and NHS Basildon and Brentwood CCGs have told their members to switch patients to alternative medication after fears that the annual spend will far outreach the £3.2 million spent in 2014 on co-proxamol. The drug has had to be sourced as an unlicensed ‘special’, increasing […]
Continue Reading →More or Less
Little 7 minute section on the placebo effect, acupunture, and ethics. Available on listen again on iplayer, here.
Continue Reading →BMJ and that BJGP acupuncture paper
free link to my BMJ article here. I am wondering if this is the first time the Daily Mash has been quoted in the BMJ, along with the excellent DC, Northern Doctor, and the Quackometer. DC has done a good job with the follow up in the BJGP, which I don’t find satisfactory; see here, […]
Continue Reading →An early test for Alzheimer’s?
Medicine in the media piece in the BMJ. As a follow up to this Daily Mail article, and the Food for the Brain enterprise.
Continue Reading →Osteopathy in the Guardian….
“Asthma is a good example of the kind of condition we can help with….I use my hands to try to find and work on any tensions or misalignments that might be compromising normal motion. In asthma I may use gentle stretches to release the ribs and the soft tissues that are restricting them, or I might […]
Continue Reading →Easy NHS reforms of evidence lacking and expensive healthcare items
Hospital food initiatives Choose and Book Connecting for Health / National Programme for IT http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=17511 Wash your hands campaigns, and associated badges, cut out cardboard nurses, nurses carrying clipboards to see if you washed your hands Management consultants Walk in centres ISTCs and take or pay contracts 4hour waits and associated management to enforce Homeopathic hospitals […]
Continue Reading →The British Journal of General Practice does acupuncture badly
Vested interest: I wrote to the new editor of the BJGP a few months ago asking if I could write about Atos, their disability ‘assessments’, and general practioners, but had an unenthusiastic response. I put this to one side, I hope, to discuss their shiny cover which is very yellow, and gives big font joy […]
Continue Reading →Food for the brain and self administered cognitive tests
Courtesy of the Daily Mail. “An early warning test for Alzheimer’s that can be taken online in 15 minutes has been developed by British scientists. It can spot signs of the debilitating brain disease in people as young as 50. The computer-based interactive quiz provides an instant result and could help delay or prevent the condition […]
Continue Reading →Herbal medicines, the MHRA, and insight
Press release the other day: 100th traditional herbal registration granted The number of herbal products registered under the Traditional Herbal Registration (THR) scheme hit the 100 mark today increasing consumer choice for safe herbal products across the UK. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) THR scheme has been designed so that the public […]
Continue Reading →Your options for cancer
Well, I’d recommend an evidence based approach. I feel most upset when I read on the ‘Yes To Life – Your options for cancer website ‘ stories like this ” I’ve always been interested in the field of complementary medicine/therapy, so I started to investigate this in relation to my situation. I found an integrated […]
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