News • Politics
UK urgently needs a joined up approach to recruitment of international doctors
The UK urgently needs a joined up and strategic approach to the recruitment of international health professionals, argue experts in The BMJ.
Healthcare politics
News • Politics
Endocrine Society calls for revising strategy to protect public health
The Endocrine Society expressed continued concerns today that the European Union’s (EU’s) criteria for regulating endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in pesticides and biocides do not go far enough to protect public health.
News • Hypertension
The 2018 European Guidelines for the treatment of high blood pressure
2018 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and European Society of Hypertension (ESH) Joint Guidelines for the Management of Arterial Hypertension. A first look at the new European Guidelines for the treatment of high blood pressure was presented at the European Society of Hypertension meeting in Barcelona on June 9th 2018. These long-awaited guidelines have been jointly developed by clinicians…
News • Unhealthy divorce
Brexit is bad for our health
Brexit is bad for our health and can be prevented, argue experts in The BMJ today. Public health doctors, Mike Gill and Martin McKee, together with Mark Malloch Brown of Best for Britain and Fiona Godlee, The BMJ’s Editor in chief, say “whatever our views as individuals, or how we voted in the 2016 referendum, we can no longer escape the fact that Brexit in any form so far discussed is bad…
News • Mortality increase
What's behind the rising deaths in England and Wales?
Health chiefs are failing to investigate a clear pattern of rising death rates and worsening health outcomes in England and Wales, argue experts in The BMJ today. Lucinda Hiam at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Danny Dorling at the University of Oxford say weekly mortality figures show 10,375 additional deaths (a rise of 12.4%) in England and Wales in the first seven…
News • Across the pond
Why do Americans spend so much more on healthcare than Europeans?
High drug prices as well as the excessive use of imaging and surgical procedures, and excessive administrative burdens contribute the majority to America’s health care overspending compared to Europe, argues policy expert Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, chair of the department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in an editorial…
Article • Ein aktueller Versuch
Could telemedicine cure Germany’s health system?
The term telemedicine has been around since the 1980s. Ten years later Deutsche Telekom demonstrated the first applications designed to provide medical services to people living remotely such as (based on American ideas) astronauts in space, workers on oilrigs or injured personnel in field hospitals. Since then, the concept of medical care across long distances via telecommunication has not…
Article • Antibiotic resistance
End animal growth drugs to tackle superbugs
A major summit meeting in London, Great Britain, has seen politicians, doctors, scientists, farmers and other experts come together in a bid to tackle the growing global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis. Among these experts was Dame Sally Davies, England’s Chief Medical Officer, who described AMR as a ‘problem without a face’ because most patients are not told they have a resistant…
Article • Regulation
Implementing MDR is complex and expensive and holds little reality
By 2020 medical devices manufacturers must document the clinical effectiveness of their devices more extensively. The Medical Device Regulation (MDR) presents a fundamental impact on innovation and price calculation for medical devices. Since the faulty PIP breast implants scandal in France (March 2010), there have been frequent calls for tighter licensing regulations for medical devices within…
Article • Healthcare in Spain
Our education plan is completely obsolete
When it comes to radiographers, Spain has one of the shortest curricula in the world. But advanced imaging and the continuously rising demand for imaging studies require properly trained imaging graduates, and universities have a role to play in the debate, according to Salvador Pedraza Gutiérrez, Associate Professor of Radiology and Director of the School of Diagnostic Imaging Technicians in…
News • Is the "American Dream" slipping away?
Drugs, alcohol and suicides contributing to alarming drop in US life expectancy
Drugs, alcohol and suicides are contributing to an alarming drop in US life expectancy, particularly among middle-aged white Americans and those living in rural communities, warn experts in The BMJ. They argue that the ideal of the “American Dream” is increasingly out of reach as social mobility declines, and fewer children face a better future than their parents.
Article • Profession
The growing role of a hospitalist
New words are consistently spun out in the USA and frequently assimilated into ‘American English’. Take the term ‘hospitalist’ (little used in European English), which was coined by the renowned academic physician Robert M Wachter (University of California, San Francisco) and his colleague Lee Goldman, in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1996. Lisa Chamoff…
News • eHealth event
Stepping into a digitalised future
According to a survey carried out by the WHO in 2016, 70% of EU Member States have a national eHealth policy or strategy and 84% of Member States have a national universal health coverage policy or strategy. The research identified funding as the most important barrier to fully implementing eHealth programmes. In the recent years, it has become a key asset for improving how health information is…
News • Lesbian, gay, bi, trans
Should all patients be asked about their sexual orientation?
In late 2017, NHS England released guidelines recommending that health professionals ask all patients about their sexual orientation in order to improve services for non-heterosexual patients, but should they? Experts debate the issue in The BMJ today. After decades of campaigning from lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) charities, sexual orientation is now a protected characteristic that is…
Article • Value-based radiology
We have impact on value!
The movement to Value-Based Healthcare gives no value to diagnostic processes, including Radiology. ESR aims to establish a more holistic approach to help Europe’s single-payer systems shift to a new economic model. The organisers behind Value-Based Healthcare (VBH) are gaining ground in an effort to transition public and private payers toward value-based reimbursement.To date, the…
Article • Lifestyle related illnesses
NHS targets obese patients
A health authority in England has sparked a major debate within the NHS after suggesting that obese patients and smokers could be refused surgery to help save Money.
News • Cooperation
UK’s MedTech industry forges closer international trading relationships
The Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI) has become the first UK Life Sciences industry association to create a bespoke membership offering for international companies. The unique programme will help drive growth and investment in the UK.
Article • Physicians protest
Overworked family doctors sound the alarm
Three quarters of Dutch general practitioners (GPs: family doctors) experience an increasing work pressure, according to a recent survey of the National Association of General Practitioners (LHV). Especially evening, night and weekend services at GP Emergency Posts (Dutch: HAP) are found to be heavy duty, in addition to their daily practice.
Article • Health and care sustainability
Short-sighted politicians place NHS in jeopardy
The future of the National Health Service is under threat unless action is taken to address critical issues, according to members of the UK’s House of Lords.
Article • Refugee pediatrics
‘We saw unimaginable medical conditions’
In a vulnerable system the most vulnerable users suffer most – and in the German hospital surgical care system the most vulnerable are children – and, above all, immigrant children.
News • National security
Counterterrorism strategy is having little impact in the NHS
British NHS organisations are obliged by law to report people it fears at risk of becoming terrorists under the Prevent strategy - part of the UK government’s counterterrorism plan aimed at stopping people becoming terrorists. But new data collected by The BMJ has uncovered low levels of referrals to Prevent since the duty took hold, suggesting that it is having little impact in the NHS.
Article • Antimicrobial resistance
Prudence is the cornerstone of prevention
Following a top level EU report showing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains high, Professor Mike Catchpole, Chief Scientist at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has warned that stricter use of antibiotics is critical.
News • MDR
Medical Device Regulation Adopted
COCIR welcomes the adoption of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) after successful vote during the European Parliament Plenary Session today. These new rules should allow for continuing improvement to the safety of medical devices, benefitting patients and ensure timely access to innovative healthcare technology.
Article • Worldwide Lab
Facing up to many new challenges
Medical laboratories must be pro-active if they are to meet the new challenges being presented to the sector globally, according to Dr William Morice from the renowned Mayo Clinic in America.
Article • Dutch healthcare
Divisions need revisions
Dutch healthcare is internationally viewed as high level. However, the cost of care continues to rise, despite all the cuts.