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Perceptions and Deceptions a personal blog by the editor 26 May 2016

It is only human nature to let emotional elements affect a personal perspective. When I saw pictures of Jeremy saying “Victory” I posted a comment on the Junior Doctors contract forum saying that I thought a non-negotiable part of the...

Perceptions and deceptions: a personal blog by the editor 21 July 2016

It must be bloggers block! The information incoming is just too great to handle. I have cross-posted about this blog in an editorial I have just written for our magazine. I am revisiting the inquest of a girl that died...

Obituary: Michael Felix Freshwater, MD 1948-2016

Revelation By Robert Frost (my favourite American Poet) WE make ourselves a place apartBehind light words that tease and flout,But oh, the agitated heartTill someone find us really out. ‘Tis pity if the case require(Or so we say) that in...

Reflections on the criticism of the criticism of the NHS

Surfing my FB pages the other day I came across a link to a blog written by Dr Rachel Clarke, a Medical Writer, Feminist and Junior Hospital Doctor from Oxford. Rachel had written this in response to The Telegraph headline...

Letter from Hong Kong (13 April 2020)

Now is not the time to start spreading blame. There will be time for that later. At the same time, now, is the time to recognise the great courage required in true leadership.

Letter from Hong Kong (8 May 2020)

The latest 'letter' from our man in Hong Kong, The PMFA Journal Co-editor Andrew Burd.

The scandal of NHS contracts with the independent healthcare sector

Since March 2020 it was sensible medical practice to consider making all possible beds in the NHS available to potentially admit ill patients with COVID-19. The expected admission rate was supposed to risk overwhelming the NHS, so independent sector facilities apparently volunteered and were then contracted to the NHS as priority, with full remuneration for their losses, and all private practitioners were effectively frozen out from seeing, admitting and operating on their own self pay patients.

Letter from Hong Kong (3 November 2020)

It is seven months since I wrote the first ‘Letter from Hong Kong’. The message then was simple: “Fear is okay, panic is not and wear masks”. It is one month since I wrote the last letter and that message? “Life goes on and will go on no matter what.”

Gross Negligence Manslaughter in Healthcare: The medico-legal dilemma (part 5) - Who is the Judge?

I wonder what Vanessa is thinking right now. If she can even think. A torrent of images, regrets, what ifs. The onslaught must be so great, no wonder the normal response is for the mind and the body to shut down? Depression.

Gross Negligence Manslaughter in Healthcare: The medico-legal dilemma (part 12) – Risk

Risks are ubiquitous in medicine. It is very important to realise that a risk can be both a threat and a friend. Risks relate to probabilities. The probability or possibility that the outcome may not be as desired. The Law does have a perverse view on this. The Law likes, demands, seeks cause and consequence. An honest doctor can rarely satisfy the Law. And that is why it was such a bad thing to see this poor Judge being led by the nose by two unscrupulous Medical “Experts”!

Gross Negligence Manslaughter in Healthcare: The medico-legal dilemma (part 24) - Prescribing Habits

How do doctors learn to prescribe/use drugs in a safe and effective manner? This is no simple question and when the issue of a prescribing habit being regarded as lethal it becomes highly relevant.

First Scottish patients to benefit from new national Digital Dermatology pathway

Patients in Dumfries and Galloway and Greater Glasgow and Clyde will be the first to benefit from a new technology to allow faster diagnosis and assessment of skin conditions. Using a secure mobile phone app, the new national Digital Dermatology...