The proposed Australian ban of some types of breast implants is too little, too late. It also reveals regulatory failures that need to be fixed if Australian consumers are to be protected.
Research shows unprofessional behaviour and poor communication among doctors and other clinical staff contributes to medical errors. This flows on to worse patient outcomes.
Medical tourism is the practice of seeking medical care across international borders. Countries with established medical sectors like the US, Europe, India and Thailand have been traditional destinations…
According to Atul Gawande medicine lies at “the messy intersection of science and human fallibility”. Named as one of the world’s most influential thinkers by Time in 2010, Gawande is a world renowned…
Jeremy Hunt’s announcement that the government will consider extending the legal duty of health professionals to be open and honest with patients or their families when mistakes cause harm is one of the…
Do official inquiries and reports make any difference to how we run and regulate the NHS? It’s a year since Robert Francis published his findings following the high profile failings at Mid Staffordshire…
For people with learning disabilities the world can be a bewildering and strange place to get to grips with, but in hospitals it can be even worse. Sometimes members of staff at a busy hospital simply…
The point of surgical procedures is to save or improve the quality of our lives, but things can and do go wrong because of system or human errors. In too many cases patients are failed because of so called…
One of US President Barack Obama’s key health advisers has just published a review in the aftermath of the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal. Don Berwick’s review is both thoughtful and reflective but…
I lost my job in 2010 after raising concerns about staff shortages and patient safety in the NHS. But despite the NHS Chief Executive’s promise to intervene for whistleblowers and a tribunal in my favour…
It’s a traditional part of the theatre of health policy for trade unionists to give secretaries of state for health a hard time. The latest example of this was the vote of no confidence in Jeremy Hunt…