Mail piece here.   References include http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa070972 The Great Prostate Mistake. New York Times, March 2010. www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/10Ablin.html Franks LM, Latent Carcinoma of the Prostate, J Pathol Bacteriol, 68,2,603-606. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/92/16/1280.short There are far more references here, many about screening.

LifelineScreening The Guardian, the Times, the Herald; there are probably more newspapers who have carried full pages adverts for Lifeline Screening over the last few years. This company offers screening tests – that is, tests on people who are completely well. If you have symptoms, the situation is very different. Screening sounds logical – picking […]

            These are the references I used for tonight’s Radio 4 Inside Health http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019dl1b http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/im-worried-about-my-dandruff-and-other-gripes-gps-are-sick-of-hearing-7936430.html   http://www.pagb.co.uk/publications/pdfs/Minorailmentsresearch09.pdf   http://www.selfcareforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/chhosewellsummercampaignpressrelease.pdf   http://www.selfcareforum.org/   http://www.pagb.co.uk/media/responses.html   http://www.selfcareforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/chhosewellsummercampaignpressrelease.pdf   This is the very biased survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=7MOnHTVGuEuNN2dkaCK%2fzQ%3d%3d   http://www.southofengland.nhs.uk/2012/07/12/51-million-unnecessary-gp-visits-nhs-investigate-why/   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9392184/Millions-see-GP-for-stuffy-noses-and-dandruff-in-waste-of-appointments-survey.html

references for tonight.   Mike Richards and the ‘3 week cough’ awareness campaign discussion   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2361660/ http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b3094.full http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2361660/?tool=pubmed This may also be of interest, which is an article about the (lack of) evidence for the 3 week cough campaign; http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/main-content/-/article_display_list/14033555/wake-up-to-perils-of-awareness, with references NHS Cough 2012 Department of Health. Lung Cancer Awareness Campaign cluster briefing slide pack. 2012 […]

Following on from twitter discussion. I am a GP; I qualified in 1994. I spend two or three hours  a week reading and learning new things about evidence and medical practice. I encounter at least one problem daily that I think I should go and find out more about. I have passed lots of exams, […]

Delicious statement from the CQC – see twitter for context. More tomorrow hopefully on Inside Health. ‘Rumours that practices will have to throw out toys from their waiting rooms have no basis in fact. This and other rumours such as carpets and soft furnishings in waiting rooms will have to be removed due to infection […]

link to programme here.   I used these references. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21060119 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20940212 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20940212 http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4783?view=long&pmid=20940210&sso= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22034193 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184538/?tool=pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21900695 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3240774/?tool=pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21801562 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/rcgp/bjgp/2011/00000061/00000589/art00027?token=00511d127f0381657eb5e7e41225f4038762c31416676 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22040039 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3063044/?tool=pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19762416 http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/21/1/21.long http://www.gp-patient.co.uk/results/ http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2011/11/response-ccp-report/ http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2011/12/gp-patient-survey/ http://m.gponline.com/article/933669/DoH-reveals-GP-patient-surveys-cost-10-million http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/supporting-information/primary-care/general-practice/gpps-2007/08/gpps-2007-08-frequently-asked-questions#cmsanchorhow_much_did_the_survey_cost              

Editorial in the JRSM

I don’t think so. Riposte to Nestle’s press release here in the BMJ and a tiny piece about the DoH and Telehealth here  There is also an article in the Daily Mail about homeopathy which resulted in this one star review on Amazon (yay!)  

After almost 11 months  the Advertising Standards Authority have decided that Lifeline Screening (you know, the ones that run full page, scaremongering, alarmist, and highly biased adverts in the press encouraging people to have non evidence based screening tests in their church hall for 100 quid upwards) must change their adverts. I was not the […]