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 […]

I am very very pleased to say that Lord Smith, as Chair of the ASA, responded remarkably quickly to an email I sent raising concerns with their policy. Previously, in ‘informally resolved’ complaints, the ASA has asked complainants to treat the judgement in confidence. I was unhappy; this seems to protect the company, not the […]

  How to Read a Paper by Trisha Greenhalgh Much is in the BMJ, if you already subscribe. Screening; evidence and practice. Muir Gray and Angela Raffle. Testing Treatments, also from Pinter and Martin, and available freely online here. Overdiagnosed, by Welch, Schwartz and Woloshin. Fooled by Randomness, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The Tyranny of Health, […]

and my concerns about it’s effectiveness and potential harms. References here. 1)     http://www.3weekcough.org/whattodo.html 2)     Lung C ancer Awareness Campaign Cluster Briefing Slide Pack, 2/4/12, DoH 3)     http://thorax.bmj.com/content/67/5/412.long 4)     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1747254/pdf/v060p01059.pdf 5)     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1747254/pdf/v060p01059.pdf 6)     http://thorax.bmj.com/content/61/11/975.abstract 7)     http://thorax.bmj.com/content/61/11/975.abstract 8)     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16882373  

I’ve just watched an episode of this Channel 4 programme. Who can forget Dr Chris Steele doing the ‘first’ (!) testicular check on TV. And now we have had the Embarrassing Bodies, the Channel 4 programme, providing us with more of the same. It’s very tempting to think that more ‘awareness’ is always good for […]

And more than that, concentrate  efforts on things that are more likely to help now and in the future. I’m disturbed by the idea that fish oils are a  good idea for ‘depression to schizophrenia’ as evidenced by this article. There are several reasonable theories as to why fish oils might help mental health, but the […]