Amongst the issues in the in-tray of CCGs, the issue of funding for assisted conception (typically either intrauterine insemination or IVF) for lesbian couples is not highest on the agenda, […]
Columnists
Richard Smith: Two deaths
A woman I hardly know and I are sat in a café in a country far from Britain, and the conversation turns to death. She tells me of two deaths […]
Pritpal S Tamber: And so, it’s time for TEDMED
Regular readers of my blog will know that this week is TEDMED, the US based event that looks—with a multidisciplinary lens—at the future of health and medicine. I’m TEDMED’s clinical […]
David Lock: Organ donation and presumed consent—not a complete answer?
Organ donation presents a unique problem for those concerned with the rationing of medical treatment. Unlike almost any other area of medical care, the constraint on supply of NHS medical […]
Paul Glasziou: From mummified evidence to living EBM—a few tools
On a tour of WHO headquarters, in Geneva, I wandered past a vast cellar of shrink wrapped unused and unread guidelines. It occurred to me that, given around 7% of […]
Richard Smith: Memories of Thatcher
My early years at the BMJ were very bound up with Margaret Thatcher. I started as an assistant editor a month before she became prime minister in 1979 and was […]
James Raftery: Value based pricing—NICE to have key role
The response of the government to the House of Common’s health committee’s report on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has provided clarification both on value based […]
Richard Smith: Is email work?
“Email is not work. It’s a distraction.” So said a fierce, bearded lecturer at a talk I attended recently. Is he right? I have every reason to think him wrong […]
Liz Wager: What is the UK’s framework for research integrity?
An item in The Lancet last week (Godecharle et al. Lancet 2013;381:10097-8) bemoans the lack of a regulatory framework for research integrity in Europe. The confusion is neatly illustrated by […]
David Lock: “Privatisation regulations” mean big change
It is not every day that the Department of Health produces a formal response to two of my dry (and I accept potentially fairly boring) legal opinions. 23 March was a red […]