
blogs


Developing Health Course – final reflections
The Developing Health Course is over, and I am back at my desk. What a privilege it has been…

A new IVF milestone
Thirty-four years after the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978 it is estimated that…

BMA corrects Lord Falconer’ s misrepresentation of its position on ‘assisted dying’
Yesterday I drew attention to Lord Falconer’s false claim in the Times that the British Medical Association…

Why legalising assisted suicide for anyone at all will inevitably lead to incremental extension
Pro-euthanasia activists always make a great play of how their proposals to help people kill themselves…

Pigs and plasters
I always enjoy week two of the Developing Health Course. By now we have got to know one another,…

Former Lord Chancellor misrepresents BMA position
The Times today carries an article (£) promoting Lord Falconer’s new assisted suicide bill which…

The legalisation of assisted suicide – what’s money got to do with it?
Today, according to the Sunday Times, Lord Falconer (pictured) will publish his new bill on…

Minding the gap – Developing Health Course 2012
We are half way through the Developing Health Course, after a fantastic first week. We have learned…

Abortion counselling gets BMA backing
This week has seen some important voting on abortion and assisted dying when the British Medical Association…

BMA Ethics Debate – great results on both abortion and euthanasia
This morning the British Medical Association Annual Representative Meeting debated two motions on abortion…

Why the BMA should not go neutral on assisted suicide and euthanasia
This Wednesday, 27 June, the British Medical Association Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) will vote…
COVID-19: an opportunity for sharing Christ with a world searching for answers
Christians are called to be representatives of Christ, not just in their homes but also within their workplaces. This means that Christian healthcare professionals working within secular institutions must navigate the challenging tensions between spiritual and professional commitments. Today, the COVID-19 pandemic is presenting them with unique circumstances for Christian healthcare workers to share the […]
The Nightingale Legacy
With the news just over a week ago that the London Nightingale Hospital was to be ‘mothballed’ as no new COVID-19 cases were expected to need the facility in the foreseeable future, it is ironic that today we celebrate the institution’s namesake’s 200th birthday. One wonders what Florence Nightingale would have thought of the temporary hospital […]
Social care and COVID-19: crisis or opportunity?
If a week is a long time in politics in normal times, then at the moment two years can feel like a geological epoch! In January 2018, we welcomed the explicit inclusion of social care into the name of the former Department of Health, making it the Department of Health and Social Care. Social care, […]
Coping with loneliness in lockdown
Over the past few weeks, the world has changed drastically. What was once considered normal, such as spending the afternoon in the park with friends, may now be considered a criminal offence. Our way of life, work and church have all had to change and adapt in the wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic. While […]
Palliative care and COVID-19
I didn’t pay much attention to them at first. The news stories about Wuhan and the Facebook posts from Christians there asking for prayer. I probably said a few ‘arrow prayers’ but didn’t really engage. It was all far away, and it wouldn’t ever impact us. I’m sorry, Lord. I’m challenged to widen my circle […]
Coping with loss of control
We are used to a sense of control over our lives and our day to day decisions. I can choose when to go to the shops, what colour to paint my house, what plants to plant in the garden. I can choose what level of risk I’d like to take: whether it is the speed […]
Some biblical answers to suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, people and physicians around the world are facing trials of many kinds: the threat of illness, the death of loved ones, scarcity of health care resources, and the loss of patients. As Christians, the experience of suffering can cause us to ask difficult questions: How can an all-powerful, […]
Uncertainty: our new normality
We’ve heard a lot about how Covid-19 affects the lungs, often catastrophically. But what about the heart? This disease can expose issues of the heart we have been blissfully unaware of, and that can be painful. The pandemic has disfigured life as we knew it in the UK, and our ‘normality’ is now characterised by […]
‘Green zones’ for the vulnerable may be a cheap and effective option for preventing coronavirus spread in low-resource settings
The US and Western Europe have so far been the hardest hit by the coronavirus with over 80 per cant of cases worldwide – but there’s good reason to think that the Developing World will ultimately suffer most. According to a recent report, 40 million lives may be at risk this year (see my previous […]
Mental hygiene during coronavirus
The Coronavirus pandemic is turning almost every part of life upside down, both in and out of work. And one of my greatest concerns as this pandemic unfolds is the effect it will have on the mental health of clinicians. As a Senior House Officer in Accident and Emergency (A&E), who suffers from pre-existing depression, […]
Compassion, faith and hope: preparing for COVID19 among refugees in the Bekaa Valley
Susan is a Northern Ireland trained GP who sensed God was calling her to serve overseas. Having connected with CMF a couple of years ago, she came on our Developing Health Course and said ‘I have found my tribe‘ -people who had a heart for the same things as she did. What Susan did not […]
The Developing World and not the West will bear the brunt of coronavirus
With 80 per cent of coronavirus deaths in Western Europe and the US, the focus of the world’s media has understandably been there. The UK alone has seen over 5,000 deaths to date, and rate of new deaths being reported is doubling roughly every three days. But COVID-19 is affecting 199 countries and territories around the world. […]