Medicine and Science from The BMJ
Leading the debate on health to engage, inform, and stimulate doctors, researchers, and other health professionals. The podcast covers a wide range of medical and scientific topics, featuring expert interviews and discussions on the latest research and clinical practice. It aims to provide evidence-based information and critical analysis for healthcare professionals.
Episodes
Children are bypassing the Australian social media ban
Australia has been in the vanguard of legislation to try and reduce the influence of social media on children and young people - their ban for under 16s was introduced on the 10th of December 2025, to great fanfare, and a lot of interest around the world.
But how effective are these bans at keeping children away from social media?
New research just published on BMJ.com has looked at that question
The £400 million blackhole for doctor training, drug ads evading regulation, and reining in AI in war
The US military’s Operation “Epic Fury” highlighted the devastating cost of using artificial intelligence for rapid military planning. Thomas Adamkiewicz, associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Zulfiqar Bhutta, Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, to discuss why international humanitarian law is lagging dangerously behi
Cancer screening: when does testing go too far?
The heated debate on prostate cancer screening boils down to one question: should men be routinely screened?
Two recent position statements from the UK’s national screening committee published in the BMJ show that screening decisions are steeped in complexity.
The benefits of screening may be easier to grasp, but the harms of overdiagnosis and overtreatment are given less attention. Can we close
Child mortality has reduced, but there are worrying trends
New estimates of Global Patterns in Neonatal, Child, and Adolescent Mortality have been published - and while there has been a huge improvement, those gains are in danger - and we’re seeing worrying trends.
Kate Strong, a Scientist at the World Health Organization and Lucia Hug, a specialist in statistics and monitoring for UNICEF, join us to explain the data - and why they are worried about our
How to make healthcare more human
Does healthcare have a moral emergency?
In this episode of the Medicine and Science podcast, Kamran Abbasi sits down with healthcare leaders Maureen Bisognano, president emerita of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Bob Klaber, director of strategy at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, to discuss why they're calling the lack of humanity in medicine an emergency.
We ask why this dange
What does Wes Streeting's exit mean for the NHS modernisation bill?
It has been a tumultuous time in UK health politics. UK Health Minister ,Wes Streeting, has freshly resigned. What does this mean for his newly introduced NHS Modernization Bill as it heads through Parliament?
Together with Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy and Research at the Health Foundation, we unpack the bill's sweeping centralization of power, the abolition of NHS England, and the contentio
Social media companies are using the tobacco industry playbook to addict children
Twitter was launched 20 years ago, followed quickly by the iPhone and Instagram. Today, nearly 60% of the world’s population uses social media. Medical experts are sounding the alarm on the potential for these platforms to cause systemic harm. This past year has seen large events in the legal and public health battle against tech giants, with millions of dollars awarded in damages to child victims
Revisiting the Cass Review on gender identity services, and non-invasive brain stimulation for children with autism
The BMA has released their long awaited review of the Cass report. The original report looked at the provision of NHS gender identity services for children and young people, and involved a review of the science underpinning those services. It also set out a plan to improve care for gender diverse young people.
We talk with David Strain of the BMA’s board of science to discuss their findings, and
The US UK trade deal will cost the NHS billions, and only serve to increase pharma profits
The new trade deal struck between the UK and US came into force in April.
The deal will
double the amount that the NHS spends on new medicines, by the end of 2036 (from 0.6 - 0.6% of GDP).
increase the threshold that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) sets for drug approvals - which will allow more to be approved, but will also allow companies to charge more for their
MS drug controversy, adoption outcomes in Sweden, and the multi-factorial reality of Alzheimer’s
A blockbuster MS drug undergoes FDA re-evaluation. We explore the story of Ocrelizumab, a treatment for primary progressive multiple sclerosis, following a patient petition that highlighted internal disagreements among agency reviewers regarding its efficacy.
We look to Sweden, where new research involving sibling pairs separated by adoption investigates how early-life environments shape long-term
The Trump administration is an international health emergency
Covid 19 was the last Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Our guests in this podcast think that the Trump Administration should be declared the next one.
Joining Kamran Abbasi are, Fatima Hassan, human rights lawyer and Director of the Health Justice Initiative in South Africa, and Matthew Herder, Director of the Health Justice Institute at Dalhousie University in Canada exp
The 15th strike, and bringing compassion back to A&E
Coming up in this week’s episode:
The 15th Strike: As the latest six-day walkout by resident doctors in England concludes, the BMJ's news team examines the state of the ongoing dispute over pay and training places.
Iain Beardsell, consultant in emergency medicine in Southampton explain why he thinks reintroducing compassion could be the key to tackling the systemic issues facing emergency departme
The unchecked rise of shisha tobacco cafes, and making breastfeeding stick
The BMJ published a negative result this week. A new trial focuses on a peer support intervention for improving breastfeeding rates in the UK, but finds no major improvement. We hear from the lead author who tells us what went wrong, and the insights that can still be drawn from apparent ‘failures’.
Next we turn our eyes to shisha smoking in the UK. With shisha or “hookah” cafes on the rise, we ex
New Covid inquiry findings with Dr Kevin Fong, and invasive cosmetic procedures
The UK Covid Inquiry released Module Three of its findings this month. It lays out in startling detail the lived experiences of NHS staff and patients who bore through the pandemic. In the report’s words: ‘healthcare systems coped with the pandemic, but only just’.
The BMJ speaks to Kevin Fong, anaesthetist lead for major incidence planning at UCL hospitals, to break down Module Three’s most impor
How the war in Iran will disrupt medical supplies around the world
The Gulf states are not large producers of pharmaceuticals or healthcare products - but the oil they supply, and the transport infrastructure they have built, are key components in a worldwide logistical network that underpin all of the pharmaceutical and other medical consumables we use.
From critical NHS shortages like Bone Cement for orthopedic surgery, to persistent IV fluid supply crises plag
Is the NHS in danger of making misinformation worse?
The lure of health influencers and AI chat bots is strong. More and more people are placing trust in them to answer their health problems, misplaced trust - as we know these AIs can misinform.
At the same time, people are struggling to access the NHS, and when they do doctors have little time or the right tools to unpick complicated science, and challenge misunderstandings.
So in this roundtable,
What should GP's make of the new NHS contract?
In this episode, Dr Katie Bramall, Chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, joins the podcast to discuss her concerns surrounding the new GP contract imposed by the UK government.
GP contract overhaul: What's included and how has it been received?
Helen Salisbury: Another imposed GP contract
Household air pollution, Labour’s lag on child poverty, children forced to cope with conflict
As public health officials warn about rising emissions from urban wood burning, a BMJ investigation finds that just under a third of UK councils in high use areas have faced pressure from the stove industry to tone down or withdraw campaigns.
Almost a third of UK children live in poverty. Leading expert Michael Marmot weighs in on the UK’s "steepest rise" in child poverty among OECD countries and
Measles is surging in 2026. From London to Texas, why are cases hitting a 30-year high?
In this episode, we investigate the alarming resurgence of measles across North America and the UK. While cases are falling across much of Europe and Asia, North America is seeing explosive outbreaks fueled by vaccine hesitancy and political shifts.
We break down the 2026 crisis: Why London is the epicenter and how the UK lost its "Measles Elimination Status". An in-depth look at outbreaks in Onta
Rethinking Cancer Survivorship and the Autism Gender Gap
In this week’s episode, we challenge long-held medical narratives, starting with how the healthcare system manages life after a cancer diagnosis. While medical advancements mean more people are surviving cancer than ever before, many patients report a "cliff-edge" experience where coordinated care effectively vanishes once primary treatment ends. We are joined by Dr. Rosalind Adam, an Academic GP
"We see coercion the other way... People cannot let go of their dying family" - assisted dying around the world
The House of Lord's amendments to England and Wales assisted dying bill might be causing a constitutional crisis. Lords have tabled 1,277 amendments—which is a record for any equivalent bill in history - and over half of those came from just seven peers.
This has led to accusations of "delaying tactics" or "filibustering" to run down the clock deliberately and run this bill off the road. Although
How the internet hijacked our health
Deborah Cohen's new book "How the internet hijacked our health" explores the profound impact of the internet on our wellbeing.
In this conversation with BMJ Editor, Kamran Abbasi, they discuss the ways in which online information can both empower and mislead, the role of big tech in shaping our wellbeing and the complex and disturbing ways wellness influencers are becoming more trusted than the NH
What access to GPs tells us about the NHS 10 year plan, and online gambling
We’re 18 months into the Labour government, and their changes to the NHS are beginning to be felt. In the 10 year plan that they launched last year, they announced three planned shifts for the health service.
Firstly, they pledge to move care from hospitals to the community, an increased focus on prevention rather than sickness, and shift from analogue to digital with an improved NHS app where pa
How much should doctors be paid? | BMJ Interviews Economist Richard Murphy
This interview is available in video form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yNO47EfuEM
@RichardJMurphy, political economist and tax campaigner, joins Kamran Abbasi, Editor in Chief of The BMJ.
In the UK an ongoing dispute between resident doctors and the Labour Government saw doctors go on strike in mid-December. With Winter pressure piling on and cost-of-living on the rise, do doctors have a
GLP-1 weight regain and doctors forced out of Gaza
The class of GLP-1 agonist drugs including Ozempic gained a wide reputation for weight loss in 2025. However, it's well established that weight regain is a common result after people stop their doses. We report on new research which aims to quantify what is happening in the here-and-now for patients who stop using these and similar drugs.
Weight regain after cessation of medication for weight mana
Could a Ministry for the Future solve the climate crisis? | Kim Stanley Robinson interview
This episode is available in video form on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cGrD47eZSk
American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson joins Kamran Abbasi to discuss climate disaster, the need for political imagination, and science fiction's vision for health.
Kim Stanley Robinson is the acclaimed author of a trilogy of novels, exploring the terraforming and settlement of Mars. His most recent no
Christmas 2025 - neologisms, longevity and unexpected research
It’s time for 2025’s festive fun!
Practicing medicine can be a very visceral experience - and the English language can’t always adequately capture the sights, sounds, smells. So Matt Morgan, intensivist and BMJ columnist, is creating medical neologisms, and joins us to share a few.
Madhvi Joshi, a GP in London, has written about longevity science, and we hear how the “biohacking” of internet influ
The shadow use of Gen AI in the consultation room
In this episode, we hear how Generative AI is making it into the consultation room - but not through NHS endorsed routes - surveys suggest that ⅔ of doctors are using AI, for backoffice tasks - but also increasingly for information and diagnosis.
David Navarro, a research fellow in generative AI at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Charlotte Blease, associate professor at the Partic
ADHD therapies, and the NHS gig economy
There is an enormous amount of research on treatment for ADHD - pharmaceutical and otherwise. But not all of those trials, or meta-analyses, are of high quality; and not many compare the whole literature.
Now a new umbrella review - a review of reviews - tries to give a broad overview of the whole evidence base. Corentin Gosling, associate professor at the Université Paris Nanterre, joins us to s
The Covid Inquiry - special episode
"Damning” and “unforgivable failures” is how some papers headlines reacted to criticism of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in the second of 10 reports from the UK Covid Inquiry.
Under pressure, in 2001 Boris Johnson announced a covid inquiry led by a former judge, Baroness Hallett. Each report is examining a different area of the pandemic's impact, and module 2 is about decision making an
Climate, “car spreading”, and conflict
It’s the BMJ’s annual climate issue - and in this episode, we’ll be hearing about more ways in which climate mitigation is good for health.
Firstly, climate change is fuelling conflict, and exacerbating the impact it has on fragile healthcare systems. Andy Haines, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Barbora Sedova, from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, disc
Doctors against the far right
Far right rallies have been held across the UK, culminating in a large parade in London where Elon Musk spoke. At the same time, politicians from across the political spectrum are following the talking points of far right parties - and shifting their policies rightward, even the Labour home secretary has said she wishes to double the period migrants have to be in the UK before they can become citi
The shaky science of the Q-collar, exercise for osteoarthritis, and patient choice.
This week on the podcast
The BMJ investigates Q-COLLAR, an American device that distributors claim can reduce brain injury from contact sports. Investigators James Smoliga and Mu Yang take us through the evidence, and former NFL punter turned US bobsled team member Johnny Townsend explains what this means for sportspeople.
Bin Wang from Zhejiang University School of Medicine explains what the new
The difficulty of delirium diagnosis, the lack of agency in the 10 year plan, and Gaza wounds
In this episode of the podcast;
In July this year, the Government published their 10 year health plan for England - A new analysis just published on BMJ.com takes an in depth look at the chances of that plan succeeding, and where the government needs to focus time and resources. Bob Klaber, paediatrician and director of strategy, research and innovation at Imperial College Healthcare, and Helen Sa
Doctors still have questions about the UK's assisted dying bill
In today’s episode: Assisted Dying moves closer to becoming UK law. The proposed legislation to allow people to end their own lives has moved through a second debate in the House of Lords. What do MPs and doctors think of the Bill as it stands? And, new ways to pull research findings from observation alone makes us question whether correlation really doesn’t equal causation. We find out - what is
Starvation in Gaza is a multi-generational disaster
In today’s episode:
Rethinking how we measure the harm caused by the arms industry
The life long, and multigenerational, impact of starvation in Gaza
What is the appropriate focus on prevention in general practice?
The BMJ's international editor, Jocalyn Clark talks about a new series we've just published - examining the arms industry as a commercial determinant of health. Jocalyn also speak
CRISPR, stemcell banking, and a football world cup
CRISPR technology has revolutionised biological research, and for the first time it’s out of the lab and into the NHS, as NICE has approved its use as cost effective. Kenneth Charles, senior lecturer in haematology at the University of the West Indies explains how the treatment works, and what concerns he has about it's implementation.
Also this week, a new investigation on bmj.com has looked at a
The pitfalls of home test kits
If you’ve been in a high street pharmacy or supermarket recently, chances are you’ll have seen home test kits for all sorts of indications; blood sugar level, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid function, and even some forms of cancer.
A new series of article in The BMJ revealing serious concerns with the reliability of these home tests, and raises questions about their regulation.
Jonathan Deeks, prof
The Future for Physician Associates? | Prof. Gillian Leng
Professor Gillian Leng, President of the Royal Society of Medicine was asked to carry out an independent review into the role of physician and anaesthetic associates.
She sits down with Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of The BMJ, to discuss her findings. In the UK, the rollout of physician associates, NHS staff who took on some of the tasks of doctors, has been both haphazard and controversial.
Ori
NHS 10 year plan dissected
This week we’re focusing on the NHS.
On the 3rd of July the UK’s Prime Minister, Kier Starmer finally announced the NHS’ 10 year plan. His Labour government laid out a vision for where the healthcare service should head over the next decade.
The announcement has been met with mixed responses. The plan has some good ideas - but a lack of vision combined with scarcity of detail leave many questions
What are doctors demanding? | New BMA Chair, Tom Dolphin
Rebecca Coombes interviews Dr. Tom Dolphin, consultant anaesthetist and newly elected chair of the BMA Council.
Watch this interview on our YouTube.
Time to rethink GP's advice on weightloss, and ticagrelor data doubts
Last December, The BMJ published an investigation into the 2009 PLATO trial - exposing serious problems with that study’s data analysis and reporting. Our follow up investigation has shown that those data problems extend to other key supporting evidence in AstraZeneca’s initial application to regulators.
Peter Doshi, senior editor in the BMJ’s Investigations unit, and Rita Redberg, cardiologist a
The plan for NHS league tables is bad, and will lead to unintended consequences
In this episode, we hear about ketamine addiction. It's in the news, but the rise in addiction amongst young people in the UK has caused concern for some time. Irene Guerrini and Nicola Kalk, both addiction psychiatrists from the National Addiction Centre, join us to explain why its become a problem.
In November 2024 Wes Streeting, the UK’s health and social care minister, announced that he was p
Wellness industry lies, and preventative AI evaluation
Devi Sridhar's new book “How Not to Die (Too Soon) - The Lies We’ve Been Sold, and the Policies That Could Save Us” is focussing on the way wellness culture ignores the societal context in which health is really created. As a trained personal trainer and professor of global public health, Devi's straddling both of those worlds, and joins us to talk about how she would tackle our lowering life ex
Conflict in South Asia, and simplifying GRADE.
Recent escalations in the ever simmering tension between India and Pakistan brought us closer to conflict - conflict between two nuclear powers.
For a long time doctors have campaigned for nuclear disarmament, and Chris Zielinski, president of the World Association of Medical Editors, makes the case for returning WHO's mandate to measure the potential impact of nuclear war.
Also the militarization
Malaria free China, an academic medicine revolution, and retracted data's impact
China was declared malaria free in 2021 - and we'll hear how persistence was key to their success, and what new technologies are available to help the rest of the world become malaria free, from Regina Rabinovich, director of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.
Sonia Saxena, professor of primary care at Imperial College London, and Miguel O’Ryan, dean
The problem of prognostication in assisted dying.
The UK government is debating legislation to allow assisted dying in England and Wales, which puts doctors at the forefront of deciding if their patient will be eligible for a medically assisted death - the key criteria being a 6 month prognosis. But is making a 6 month prognosis actually clinically reliable?
To discuss we're joined by a panel of experts on end of life;
Scott Murray, emeritus pro
Trump is trying to destroy universities - Ashish Jha, Dean of Public Health at Brown University
Kamran Abbasi interviews Professor Ashish Jha, Dean of Public Health at Brown University and former COVID-19 pandemic advisor to President Biden.
Watch this interview on our YouTube.
Trump’s second term has touched everything in the US political sphere - and health is no exception. With research funding for medicine and science weathering under Trump’s storm of cuts, how can Americans who care ab
Reducing benefits will not get disabled people back to work, and explaining overdiagnosis
The UK’s chancellor has announced a £5bn cut to benefits, much of which will be borne by those on long-term disability allowance. Gerry McCartney, professor of wellbeing economy at Glasgow University explains about why these cuts will not only hurt the most vulnerable, but will be counterproductive to the government's wish to get people back to work.
Also, Suzanne O'Sullivan, consultant neurologis
What does the death of NHS England, and the western alliance, mean for health?
In the UK, the prime minister has announced the disbanding of NHS England, Nigel Crisp - former chief executive of the NHS, explains why he thinks that it’s important the health service is closer to the political decision makers, and why this could be the time to really acknowledge the healthcare emergency.
On the international stage, the Trump administration's withdrawal from the WHO is throwing
The data on physician associates in the UK, and speaking up in the NHS
We've just published a new rapid review on the safety and efficacy of physician and anaesthetic associates in the UK, which was commissioned to support the ongoing Leng review of these new roles in the NHS. Trish Greenhalgh, professor of primary care at the University of Oxford, joins us to discuss the data she found.
Habib Naqvi is director of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, and is holding u
Phil Banfield on the British Medical Association's plan to support doctors
From pay restoration, to making sure there are enough training posts for resident doctors, the BMA has been busy.
In this podcast, Kamran Abbasi, the editor in chief of The BMJ, spoke to Phil Banfield, chair of the BMA’s council.
They talk about the ongoing pay discussions, how the BMA is working with the new government - touching on both speciality training places, and the role of physician ass
Combating disinformation, and time to stop spinal injections for chronic pain
In this episode of the BMJ's Medicine and Science podcast, editor-in-chief Kamran Abbasi discusses the urgent need to tackle disinformation in health, especially in the context of the US, with Heidi Larson and Martin McKee from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
We also hear from Jane Ballentyne, professor of anaesthesia and pain medicine at the University of Washington, about
Why compassion isn't just nice, it's essential
Providing quality healthcare is demanding, often stressful, and requires sustained effort. When resources are stretched and pressure mounts, compassion can slip - but compassion is an essential tool for leaders, who need to support their teams to continue delivering the best possible care.
In this final episode of The BMJ’s podcast series on quality of care, Rachael Hinton, BMJ Editor, speaks to
The industry playbook to combat public health, and FUTURE-AI
This week Rebecca Coombes is back with another big-food investigation, this time about fast-food giant MacDonalds subverting attempts to stop it opening stores near schools.
Sticking with industry behaving badly, May van Schalkwyk, from the University of Edinburgh, wonders why we haven't learn lessons from the attempts to control big tobacco companies, when it comes to other industries that harm h
Prehabilitation before surgery, alcohol's impact on clinical care, and life after a cardiac arrest
Exercise and a better diet, prior to surgery, can improve outcomes. Daniel McIsaac, a professor of anaesthesiology from the University of Ottowa and lead author of that research, joins us to talk about getting those results into practice.
Julia Sinclair, professor of addiction psychiatry at the University of Southampton, explains how the NHS has lost sight of the impact alcohol consumption has on
Can a deal be done to keep the US in the WHO?
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US out of the WHO. This would cut funding for the UN’s medical agency by one-fifth.
Will they really exit, or can a deal be made? Lawrence Gostin hopes so, and as a professor of law at Georgetown, and director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, he is working with senior US
Conviviality and TV doctors, polar bear tales, and Christmas research
In the last podcast of 2024, Richard Smith, former editor of The BMJ and head of UKHACC will be making the case for being more convivial. Tina Korownyk, professor of family medicine at the University of Alberta is the ghost of Christmas past for TV doctors.
Tim Feeny and Navjoyt Ladher take us through this year's Christmas research papers.
And finally, Mari Martensen, a paramedic, explains what ma
Big food infiltration of UK Schools, and chocolate consumption and diabetes
Conflicts of interest harm health, and a new investigation uncovers the infiltration of big food manufacturers into UK schools. Emma Wilkinson reports on that investigation. Kamran and Rebecca Coombes, head of journalism, discuss moves to reduce industry's impact on food policy in the UK.
A new research paper has identified a link between eating chocolate and lower rates of diabetes. Binkai Liu,
"Incredibly distressing and incredibly dangerous"- David Miliband on healthcare attacks, and staff turnover effect on patient outcomes
In today’s episode, new research, which has looked at the impact staff turnover is having on patient outcomes. Giuseppe Moscelli, associate professor at the University of Surrey joins Navjoyt Ladher to explain more.
Also, every year the BMJ has a Christmas appeal - and this year we have chosen the International Rescue Committee as our partner. To talk more about what they do, and to give us some
How MSF maintains neutrality in conflict zones
This week we’re at the World Innovation Summit for Health, where we’re a media partner - the meeting is focussing on conflict, equity and resilience.
In that vein, we’re joined by Christos Christou, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to talk about attacks on healthcare staff, and the difficulty and importance of maintaining neutrality in conflict zones.
Ara Darzi, surgeon
Conflict zones, women’s health research, and reimagining palliative care
In this episode, we speak to the doctor overseeing the WHO’s emergency response for the eastern mediterranean region - including Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Yemen. Richard Brennan joins us to talk about protecting health services, and workers, in the escalating armed conflicts that are affecting the region.
Menaka Paranathala and Emma Rourke, from The BMJ, are on to talk about improving research int
Climate leadership - knowledge is power
It’s an often cited statistic that if healthcare was a country, it would be the fifth largest carbon emitter. At The BMJ we want to change that, and move healthcare towards a more sustainable future.
In this week’s episode, we’ll hear about our annual climate edition from two of The BMJ’s editors, Sophie Cook and Juliet Dobson.
We’ll be diving into Cli-Fi and asking how climate fiction can galva
Getting science into policy for gun control and NHS reform
How science can be transformed into policy?
One of the seemingly intractable issues when it comes to legislative change in the US is gun control. One reason policy change is so difficult, is the US specific evidence vacuum, but that’s beginning to change.
We're joined by Louis Klarevas, an academic at the University of Colombia and author of the book “Rampage Nation, securing america from gun vi
Nutrition for health and conflicts of interests
Under-nutrition harms health, but so does over-nutrition.
The Bill and Melinda Gate’s foundation has just released their Goalkeepers' report - highlighting the detrimental impact that poor nutrition is having on children’s health. Rasa Izadnegahdar, director of Maternal, Newborn, Child Nutrition & Health at the foundation joins us to explain how they are targeting nutritional interventions.
Improving data for quality care when resources are stretched
There's a real drive to strengthen quality of care in facilities around the world. However, no matter where you are, improving healthcare depends on quality data—and collecting and using that data can be challenging without the time and expertise. In this podcast, we explore how different healthcare systems, especially those with limited resources, are tackling the challenge of data collection an
GPs' industrial action, and the olympians after the games
The news that GPs in England have voted for industrial action has spooked the healthcare system - Katie Bramall-Stainer, the chair of the BMA's General Practice Committee explains what's lead to this, and why trust in the government has gone.
After the games, olympians and paralympians return to their normal lives - but what does that mean for their healthcare, especially in the US where insurance
Multi-cancer detection and NHS HIT Lists
This week we're questioning the effectiveness of the Galleri Test for early cancer detection with investigation authors Margaret McCartney and Deborah Cohen. They delve into the decision-making and politics behind this test's introduction in the UK.
The episode also covers the growing NHS waiting list crisis and how Imran Ahmed and his team at Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Trust are using high intensi
Ensuring an Olympic legacy, and fixing primary care
The Paris games have just started - and France has made a concerted effort to ensure that this year's Olympics will have a legacy of physical activity for the whole population.
However, mega sporting events don't always have that effect, and Fiona Bull, head of physical activity for the WHO, joins us to explain why it's increasingly important that they do.
We'll also hear from Professor Sir Denis
The patient issue
We celebrate 10 years of patient and public partnership strategy at The BMJ with a patient-centred podcast.
We ask how should the new Labour government engage patients in shaping the future of the NHS. We also dive into the concepts of social care and peer support, and learn from Brazil's experience in social participation.
Highlights:
01:52 - The Patient "takeover"
05:43 - Social care with Charlo
Extending access for breast cancer, and epidural outcomes
Women's Health, breast cancer screening, epidurals, and GP voices
New U.S. guideline on breast cancer screening have been extended to women in their 40s - Katy Bell, from the University of Sydney, and Stacy Carter, from the University of Wollongong explain why the good intention of that change wont be mirrored in outcomes - and may even induce harm.
Research in The BMJ shows epidurals during lab
Large, plausible and imminent - time to take H5N1 seriously
As increasing numbers of mammalian, and human, cases of H5N1 are documented we askShould we worry about a growing threat from “bird flu”? Wendy Barclay, from Imperial college London, and Christopher Dye, from Oxford University join us to explain why they think we should.
Our commission on the future of the NHS has released a manifesto for a sustainable NHS that still meets it's founding principle
Elections and health in India, the UK, and the USA
In the UK, a general election has been called - and around the world, ½ the global population will be voting this year; so in this episode we’ll be talking about how elections and health intersect.
Firstly, what are the UK parties’ plans for health? Abi Rimmer, The BMJ's UK features editor joins us with the latest information.
The world’s largest democracy is polling, so how are Indian politician
The prospect of unemployed GPs
With the anticipation of a new government in the UK, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting will hit the ground running - with a winter season (and it's inevitable crisis) and ongoing industrial desputes with junior doctors. Elisabeth Mahase ask him about his plans to handle these challenges if elected.
We also find our selves in the puzzling situation of potential GP unemployment in the UK despite
Fixing healthcare's workforce problems
Where next for psychological safety? Amy Edmundson is professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. Her work on psychological safety has underpinned so much quality improvement, and she joins us fresh of the stage at the International Forum on Quality and safety in healthcare to talk about the next steps in creating a safe work place.
The BMJ has published two new investig
Improving NHS gender identity services - Hilary Cass
Hilary Cass, the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, has spent the last 3 years collating the evidence for treatment of gender questioning young people; engaging with those young people, their families and their clinicians - all with the aim of improving NHS treatment of this complex and vulnerable group.
In this interview, Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of The BMJ, speaks in dep
Derogation, an ultra processed food system, and catch up pay for the NHS
Derogation, the way in which striking doctors can be recalled to the ward to protect patient safety, was agreed by NHS England and the BMA. Now, new data The BMJ has uncovered shows that the mechanism was rarely used - and when it was tried, was often rejected. Gareth Iacobucci explains what that means about relations between the government, the NHS, and doctors.
Felice Jacka, director of the Food
The future of the clinical relationship, code sharing, and a Nye-t at the theatre
In this week's podcast:
How AI will affect the clinician-patient relationship? Our annual Nuffield Summit roundtable asks how the promise of tech tools stacks up against reality, and how the future of the therapeutic relationship can be protected (participants below).
Your code is as important as your methods, which is why The BMJ now requires you to share it - Ben Goldacre and Nick De Vito,
Retracting abortion papers, deafness in the clinic, and 70 years of a medical orchestra
The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case on the approval of mifepristone for medical abortion - a case which could change the availability of the drug in the US, and which hinges on papers linking abortion to mental distress. However, those papers are contested (including a paper published by BMJ), and some have been retracted already - Julia Littell and Antonia Biggs tell us how that science is b
Heidi Larson on misinformation, the right exercise to reduce depression, and Breathtaking TV
Social media, and the rate at which the online world is changing, is worrying - especially the speed at which health disinformation can speed around the globe. We look to tech companies for a solution to the problems of their own making - but Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, and professor of anthropology, risk and decision science at LSHTM, joins us to explain why we shoul
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