Extended weekend working is being introduced by the National Health Service in a bid to save lives. But, as Matt Sutton and Rachel Meacock explain, new research casts serious doubt on the premise that more hospital staff on Saturday and Sunday will mean fewer patient deaths. As the raft of recent media coverage has highlighted, […]
What can be gained from focusing on positives which emerge from the current GP gloom?
Morale in UK general practice has dropped to a low ebb and a shortage of doctors is blamed for an increasing proportion of practices seeking to avoid accepting new patients. Yet week after week around 40,000 NHS GPs continue to work. Researcher and part-time GP Sharon Spooner explores the nature and significance of what motivates […]
Social connections central to delivering dementia care
Attention around dementia has focused on medication and support for carers. But social activities are critically important, explains Clarissa Giebel. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease has just become recognised by the Office for National Statistics as the number one killer of women in the UK. It is estimated by the Alzheimer’s Society that 850,000 people living […]