{"title":"Transitions of care are often traumatic for patients and must be improved","authors":"Helen Cowan","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r650","url":null,"abstract":"Healthcare services, patients, and families can work better together to improve care transitions, writes Helen Cowan My husband lives with a spinal cord injury. Hospital admission can be traumatic when I’m excluded despite being his carer.1 I’m privy to information about his care that can’t be gleaned in a single handover with clinicians. I’ve felt unwelcome during the admission process, and healthcare staff haven’t treated me as an expert partner in care. Transitions involve patients and families moving between different clinical contexts—but too often their experiences and expertise are lost or undermined in the process. Problems with admissions and transition are seen across care settings and patient groups. Al Aynsley-Green, the first national clinical director for children in government, has expressed his concerns about patients receiving chaotic care and scant communication, which is often inappropriate for their age group or condition. He tells of a young woman with a complex health condition being cared for in a cramped overflow hospital bay alongside older people with dementia and then in a single room on a male ward. Her mother felt compelled to stay at the bedside.2 Follow-up is also a …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143758009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"UK welfare reforms threaten health of the most vulnerable","authors":"British Medical Journal Publishing Group","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r660","url":null,"abstract":"This editorial by McCartney et al ( BMJ …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143758076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"David Oliver: What functions should remain within NHS central government agencies?","authors":"David Oliver","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r630","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r630","url":null,"abstract":"The latest major reorganisation of the NHS’s government departments and central agencies1 begs the hypothetical question of which functions can best or only be served by central bodies operating at national level. Hypothetical or not, I do have to give the question some empirical constraints. First, data from the British Social Attitudes survey2 and other big datasets such as the Health Foundation/Ipsos rolling polls3 on public perceptions of the NHS show little support for a wholesale shift away from a tax funded, universal, free-at-point-of-care health service and continuing support for the NHS’s founding principles, even though public satisfaction with the current service is at a record low.4 Second, even within universal healthcare systems in high income nations with publicly funded services rather than insurance or copayment models, the NHS is arguably the industrialised world’s most centralised.56 Several others have more devolution of power and accountability to regional administration, …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143758008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Improving gynaecology with trauma informed care","authors":"Valerie E Humphreys","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r632","url":null,"abstract":"The need for shared decision making and informed consent in gynaecology is not new.1 When the Supreme Court enshrined it in law in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board,2 it was not doing anything revolutionary; these concepts were already part of General Medical Council guidance.3 But practical implementation was, and is, problematic. Good communication with a sympathetic and empathic listener is crucial for …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"104 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143758012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Finding the right treatment for severe depression","authors":"Tony Frais","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r478","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r478","url":null,"abstract":"Tony Frais found himself unprepared for the diagnosis of severe depression, and for the challenge of trying different treatments Waking in the middle of a dream, I felt a palpable click in my brain. Suddenly I felt very unwell. It was the same uncomfortable feeling you get when you are on the downhill part of a roller coaster. I got out of bed very scared of what was happening to me. I decided to book an appointment with my GP. My expectation was that I would be prescribed a pill and that would be the end of my discomfort. It never crossed my mind that any of this would be related to my mental health. I had no symptoms or concerns before this. My GP referred …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143758159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"John Launer: Watch out for that indulgent smile","authors":"John Launer","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r629","url":null,"abstract":"I spend a lot of time teaching communication skills, although I prefer to call them interactional skills, which suggests more of a two way street. Much of what I cover relates to speaking and listening, although you can’t ignore body language too: eye contact, sitting position, and so on. One experience I mention quite often is seeing a video of my own consultations for the first time. I was horrified to see how much I fidgeted, played with my pen, and looked at the computer—and how much more distracting this was for the patient than stillness. Since then, I’ve always …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"216 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143758075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effective public health requires “deep prevention”","authors":"Nick Hopkinson","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r646","url":null,"abstract":"The philosopher Derek Parfit, introducing his 1984 book Reasons and Persons, sets out a few basic concepts—that we have reasons for acting, that some ways of acting are morally wrong, and that some outcomes are good or bad in a sense that has moral relevance.1 Reaching for what he presumably judged to be an uncontroversial example of a poor outcome, he notes that “it is bad, for example, if people become paralysed.” Whatever hopes one might have about the arc of the moral universe bending towards justice, the US elections have placed enormous power in the hands of a Republican Party intent on sabotaging vaccination programmes and medical research, while withdrawing support from international programmes funded by USAID.2 This threatens the health and wellbeing of millions of people risking the resurgence of polio (and thus paralysis) as well as other existing and novel infectious diseases. While basic human decency calls for action to try to ensure that such policies, which will shorten the lives of many of the most vulnerable people, can be stopped, mitigated, and ultimately reversed, it is easy to feel right now that this is too hard or perhaps impossible. Bobbie Jacobson’s …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143745081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Northern Ireland needs a practitioner health service","authors":"Emma Murtagh, Ursula Mason","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r599","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r599","url":null,"abstract":"Wilkinson brings the challenges of burnout and mental ill health faced by doctors into sharp focus.1 In Northern Ireland, we look with envy at the provision of NHS Practitioner Health in England, and the corresponding services in Wales, Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland. We are the only nation on these islands without a commissioned, confidential mental health service for clinicians. In the 2024 Royal …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143745084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"HIV in primary care: further considerations","authors":"Daniel Bradshaw","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r639","url":null,"abstract":"Singh and colleagues answer questions on managing HIV in primary care.1 Several other aspects are relevant to primary care clinicians caring for people with HIV. Many people with HIV, such as men who have sex with men, are at higher risk of mpox infection and are therefore recommended to receive mpox vaccination by the …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143745085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stephen Andrew Cairns","authors":"Bill Stephens, Alastair Campbell","doi":"10.1136/bmj.r614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r614","url":null,"abstract":"Steve was born in Preston, only two miles from where he would later practice as a consultant physician for 28 years. The maternity ward was hit by an outbreak of neonatal diarrhoea and there were several tragic deaths. Steve teetered on the brink but survived, according to his mother’s account, as a result of copious amounts of Lourdes holy water sprinkled daily on his forehead. Some 60 years later, by complete coincidence, he attended a domiciliary consultation with a lady with a similar birth date—and discovered that she also was one of the Preston outbreak survivors. Steve was the middle of three boys. His father was an engineer, his mother a teacher. Secondary education was at the …","PeriodicalId":22388,"journal":{"name":"The BMJ","volume":"216 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143745082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}