This time last week I was in France eating baguette and cheese and drinking red wine. Today it's a tuna sandwich and packet of Hula Hoops. Yes, like many others in the UK's version of France's 'La rentree,' I am returning to work with a bump. A little later I am off to NHS Expo. It's the … Continue reading Public involvement can appear like a foreign country to colleagues. Let’s make it a land they want to come back to.
medical research
We are looking for feedback on the #NIHRoktoask campaign from patients, researchers, everyone…. Please help and RT.
We are the only country which runs a public awareness campaign across our national health system to encourage people to participate in clinical research - NIHR 'OK to ask'. We've been doing it for three years on the trot to coincide with International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD) in May. Now we want your views on how … Continue reading We are looking for feedback on the #NIHRoktoask campaign from patients, researchers, everyone…. Please help and RT.
A word in your ear about organ donation
A word in your ear.... Worrying news indeed from the NHS Blood and Transplant authority. Yesterday they reported the first fall in a decade in the number of people donating organs after death. Also, a decline in the number of live organ donors. Wales is about to change its rules from December 2015 to one … Continue reading A word in your ear about organ donation
Good manners in research #researchetiquette
They say good manners can take you a long way in life. My first Chair at the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), the wonderful Dame Bridget Ogilvie, used to swear by them (that doesn't sound quite right doesn't it?). She taught me how important they can be in bringing people with you - even … Continue reading Good manners in research #researchetiquette
Public get new tool to report problems with medicines @MHRAgovuk #medicineuse #adversereactions
Last year the Yellow Card Scheme by which health professionals and patients can report problems with their medicines celebrated its 50th Anniversary. A conference organised by the regulator which runs the scheme - the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) - was one of the highlights of my year. Not so much for what … Continue reading Public get new tool to report problems with medicines @MHRAgovuk #medicineuse #adversereactions
Too much of a good cause…our lives are being slowly but surely ‘donorised’ by charities and fundraisers
I do not envy the task of charity fundraisers. They will know that finance is the perennial worry of their Board of Trustees senior managers. Without a steady stream of money coming in the work of the charity will become unviable. Those who it aims to help will be left without support. The pressure is on. … Continue reading Too much of a good cause…our lives are being slowly but surely ‘donorised’ by charities and fundraisers
Comment: Jeremy in the Hunt for better meds behaviour #medicine
I have heard it from both sides of the Atlantic. So there must be some truth in it. We are entering the era of 'retail Government.' Call it the commoditisation of politics if you like. But the idea is that the bigger the numbers - £ or people - a Minister can shift with his … Continue reading Comment: Jeremy in the Hunt for better meds behaviour #medicine
From A to B on using medical records to help people get better
If the day has a 'y' in it then I guarantee that policy-makers and experts somewhere across Whitehall and Westminster are meeting to plot a way through the stalemate otherwise known as the 'use of health data.' That is: how we are going to use my and everyone else's medical records to make people better now and in … Continue reading From A to B on using medical records to help people get better
Is public involvement in UK health research a danger to itself?
The story of Concorde - the supersonic airliner that graced our skies for thirty years - was once a totemic example of the UK's inability to turn great innovation into commercial success. Lots of factors were said to cause its undoing. Concerns over its environmental impact. US protectionism. But it was its lack of commercial … Continue reading Is public involvement in UK health research a danger to itself?
Elevator pitches in health research: some examples…#whywedoresearch
Have you ever heard of 'the elevator pitch?' It's the notion that you should be able to summarise and sell an idea in the 30 seconds or less it takes to get to the top-floor in a lift. I suppose the equivalent is the pitching of a film script to Hollywood producers. For instance I just watched an … Continue reading Elevator pitches in health research: some examples…#whywedoresearch
Blog: our regions will need a stronger patient voice if health research gets the devolution bug
As a democrat it doesn't sit well with me that the new interim Major of Greater Manchester is unelected. The excuses for it seem pretty poor. You should start as you mean to go on. Perhaps we should have sensed something was up when 'DevoManc' emerged as the nickname for the entity that will be … Continue reading Blog: our regions will need a stronger patient voice if health research gets the devolution bug
Briitsh Patients put gum disease and dentistry in the chair
I shall resist the temptation to fill this brief blog with puns. But this afternoon I chaired an excellent session at EuroPerio8 in London - the largest European meeting of periondologists - to launch a new film which explores the patient perspective on gum disease. The film can be found here http://www.efp.org/public/index.html and is truly … Continue reading Briitsh Patients put gum disease and dentistry in the chair
Dancing with Purdah
Were I dancing with the starlet of 'The Avengers' - the revered spy-fi tv show of the sixties - it might be news. But sadly not.* No, I am referring to the silence that falls across Whitehall during a General Election and is intended to ensure the fight between political parties is a fair one. … Continue reading Dancing with Purdah
Review of public involvement in NIHR published #ppiextramile
Hot off the presses: Almost a year to the day that the Director General Research and Development/Chief Medical Officer commissioned a strategic review of public involvement in the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the final report and recommendations have today been published. Simon Denegri, the National Director for Patients and the Public in Research … Continue reading Review of public involvement in NIHR published #ppiextramile
Consent for medical research comes under scrutiny yet again: time for ethics committees to stop second-guessing the public?
This is a really interesting study published in PLOS ONE today. Eessentially it's a survey of the attitudes of 2300 participants in TwinsUK (a national biobank) to giving their consent to medical research. The full paper can be found here. The results of the survey would seem to highlight what has been a growing theme in the … Continue reading Consent for medical research comes under scrutiny yet again: time for ethics committees to stop second-guessing the public?
Should we be stopping people in the street about their health? But not in our slippers.
I live in Tunbridge Wells. I would be happiest in Chester. I should avoid Wealden. But if I couldn't make the journey then Sevenoaks is my best bet. That's what I learnt from the interactive test entitled 'Where in Britain would you be happiest?' that's now available on the BBC website. Do it. It's fascinating. The foundation … Continue reading Should we be stopping people in the street about their health? But not in our slippers.
Stop ticking the box (disarming a bureaucrat) #tokenism #NHS #bureaucracy
It's world poetry day today and, as you may know, I try to publish a verse or two to mark the occasion each year. I was going to read this at the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) event 'Stop ticking the box' event last Monday. But time did not allow. This is for … Continue reading Stop ticking the box (disarming a bureaucrat) #tokenism #NHS #bureaucracy
NIHR turns to public for help with defining research priorities in alcohol-related liver disease
This content is straight from the NIHR but I feel so deeply about this issue that I wanted to use my blog to highlight what is clearly a very important initiative. But here's a factoid about Priority-Setting Partnerships that's worth sharing as a presage to the piece: 29 PSPs have now been completed since the beginning … Continue reading NIHR turns to public for help with defining research priorities in alcohol-related liver disease
Public involvement in health research: that’s another country right? #diversityandinclusion
When you live abroad you get used to neighbours and friends saying things to you like 'I've got a relative in Rugby do you know them?' Less so their palpable disappointment that, try as they might, you can't place their next of kin in a country going on for 65 million people. When I lived … Continue reading Public involvement in health research: that’s another country right? #diversityandinclusion
Old rules need not apply – Is Apple tearing up the rule book with #ResearchKit?
'Purdah' will very shortly fall over Whitehall as the General Election looms. At the end of March the airspace over government will be closed for six weeks or so. No new flights of Ministerial fancy can take off. Those already in the air may continue on their way but must do so in radio silence. Still, … Continue reading Old rules need not apply – Is Apple tearing up the rule book with #ResearchKit?
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