Items for category: Blog

To be a leader, it is important to be perceived as successful. That of course begs the question: how can ‘success’ in medicine’ be defined? Unlike the world of business, where success is largely gauged in financial terms, a successful doctor is arguably one who treats …

PSA testing – as controversial as ever, with views ranging from ‘every man should know his PSA’ to ‘PSA is a terrible test and men should be strongly discouraged from testing’. In this article, Jon Rees and members of the Education Advisory Team at Prostate …

The updated NICE guidelines on referral for suspected cancer have recently been put out for consultation amongst stakeholders (1). Whilst there is no doubt that the original guidelines (2) were a step in the right direction for urological cancers when they came out in 2005, …

Within the last week, the independent review Shape of Training has been published. The report has made 19 recommendations to change medical training, and some of these have raised concern amongst bodies such as the British Medical Association, as well as amongst individual clinicians. In …

Every survey asking people if they were to have a terminal illness, where would they like to die, provides the same answer – at home with dignity, surrounded by family and loved ones. So in these days of patient choice, why is it that the …

This topic is discussed in a recent editorial by Roger Kirby and an article on Mental health in prisons by Jane Senior.
The current readiness of the UK criminal justice system to resort to incarceration as the chosen punishment for so many crimes and misdemeanours has …

Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome – there is so much confusion and controversy we cannot even agree on what to call it. Is it an infection of the prostate, is it purely a functional disorder in anxious men, or is it nothing to do with …

Doctors should expect to face a GMC investigation during their career as an ‘occupational hazard’ and build up resilience to deal with it, senior GMC executives have said.
Responding to MPs’ questioning in a House of Commons health committee hearing recently, the GMC’s new chair Professor …

World Cancer Research Fund’s finding of a strong link between obesity and advanced prostate cancer could have big implications for primary care, Dr Jonathan Rees (GP) explains why.
Over 40 000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK each year, and over 10 000 …

In February 2010, consultant colorectal surgeon David Sellu operated on a patient with a perforated bowel, who subsequently died. The surgeon was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Although his management of the patient …