As I mention in my medical memoir, An English Doctor in Japan, sometimes the encounter with patients for no good reason may be referred to as ‘the front line’ or even as ‘the coal face’ of general practice. Worse, in discussions with colleagues during a coffee break, when asking if any interesting patients had been seen, the cynical [...]
They ought to be ashamed of themselves Dr Tom Dolphin, who bears more than a passing resemblance to John Cleese, star of Fawlty Towers and other popular British comedy shows, has recently been appointed Chair of the British Medical Association (BMA), replacing Professor Philip Banfield. In August 2024 I wrote to Professor Banfield, protesting about doctors going on strike [...]
Recently I had a few business matters to attend to in London. I then did some sightseeing with my wife in Edinburgh before moving to Germany for a few days to visit friends. Rail Ninja rip-off The fun started before we left home. Thinking it would be easier to book train tickets from London to Edinburgh directly with [...]
I could hardly believe my eyes when I read of the latest crackpot idea to try to save the NHS money. It’s mentioned in an opinion piece in The British Medical Journal (BMJ) by a part-time GP. It seems a scheme is being proposed to reduce demand for hospital appointments by dissuading GPs from making referrals. (At least [...]
Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting healthcare insurance CEO Brian Thompson in New York on 4 December 2024, apparently suffered from chronic low back pain. And according to news reports, this was due to a condition that he was probably born with, called spondylolisthesis; it was treated in 2023 with a spinal fixation operation. Spondylolisthesis means [...]
I am all for treating people fairly and being non-discriminatory, but sometimes you have to draw a line. For example, in the UK National Health Service (NHS) website, which is on the whole helpful and a useful source of information on health matters, in their efforts to try to please all the people all of the time, they [...]
Gentle reader. Observe the picture above. It’s to be found in various stock collections of photos, including one with the curious name of Unsplash where it’s available to be downloaded free of charge. It shows the face of a young man with a rather grim expression who appears to be dripping with sweat. [...]
The UK General Medical Council (GMC), the doctors’ regulatory body, used to have a pithy aphorism to indicate what it does: ‘Guiding doctors, protecting patients.’ This was subsequently changed to ‘Guiding doctors. Ensuring good medical practice.’ I am sure doctors are sometimes in need of guidance, and doubtless there are occasions when patients may need to be protected [...]
Kawaii is a Japanese word meaning cute, sweet, pretty, etc. It’s often applied to babies, children, young girls, and – pet animals. And therein lies a problem. I have lived in Japan for four decades and regard it as a privilege to have been granted the right of permanent residency. After immigrating to this wonderful country, I have [...]
Roll up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen and gender unspecified people! Do you have a gastric stomach, a cardiac heart, or a bone in your leg? Do you feel all anyhow, under the weather, suffer from brain fog, or galloping hypochondriasis? With your hectic lifestyle, are you no longer at the top of your game? Then, to paraphrase [...]