There are so many things to say that are wrong about the new Breast Health UK service that I’d need all night to write about them. Let me concentrate on just one thing: no, not their offer to perform breast examination on the asymptomatic woman and then teach them how to do it (although it’s […]
Continue Reading →GPs sell out
I’m sorry that this important newsitem from the BMJ is behind a paywall, but I’ll put up the really important bits. The political imperative is now to get GPs to commission care. One way of ‘saving money’ (if you are interested in short term, shallow, non clinical outcomes) is allegedly to deal with GP referrals […]
Continue Reading →The new NHS breast screening leaflet fails to impress
The best evidence that we have about the effectiveness and harms of breast screening comes from a large review done independent of the breast screening industry – with a patient information booklet available here – which states that It may be reasonable to attend for breast cancer screening with mammography, but it may also be reasonable […]
Continue Reading →Aspirin: don’t believe the hype. It’s still not a miracle drug
From yesterdays PM, Radio 4: Professor Peter Elwood, epidemiologist at Cardiff University: “I have always held that it is for the individual himself or herself to decide whether or not he or she would take aspirin – they should be told the risks or the benefits and it should be the patients or subjects value […]
Continue Reading →Healthcare charities and the uselessness of GPs (again)
..and so, again and again, that GPs are in some way ‘undertrained’. We aren’t specialists – we are generalists. It’s a different job, with different skills. But it’s a myth to repeat that just because a GPs doesn’t have specialist training somehow means that the doctor is incompetent or lacking in training. GP training consists […]
Continue Reading →Health insurance – on a TV near you
It was actually quite hard to track down the adverts for this piece from the BMJ. Thank goodness for Youtube
Continue Reading →Breastlight….the never ending story….
apparantly the MHRA are still looking into whether or not this product should be allowable in current form. I am told that there may be restrictions placed on advertising it compared to what we have at the moment. However the final decision has not yet been reached. It’s November; the issue was raised in January; […]
Continue Reading →Slimmed down surgery
a piece on bariatric surgery provision on the NHS (or not) in the BMJ.
Continue Reading →Mass effect
I don’t think that most public health messages work effectively. For example; ‘Make a date for cervical screening” “check your breasts” “have you been immunised against flu?” etc, etc. Mainly, I don’t think soundbites tell the whole truth, and I don’t think that mass messaging treats people as individuals. Nor do public health campaigns seek […]
Continue Reading →Emperors with their cuffs rolled up
The DoH ‘Bare Below the Elbows’ theme has been going on for a few years now. The original document, you may remember, is here, from 2007, and stated that research on workwear and infection prevention had been done, was not yet published, but contained the following: “There is no conclusive evidence that uniforms (or other […]
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