
blogs


Christian GP’s appeal challenges the very heart of government
I note that Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, the Christian GP dismissed as a Government drugs adviser for his…

A Christian GP is reprimanded as the GMC overreacts
A Christian GP has been reprimanded by the General Medical Council for talking about his faith to a patient.
Dr…

Emmerdale distorts facts about assisted suicide in apparent attempt to boost ratings
The problem with television dramas is that they make rare events appear common and so distort public…

‘Suicide tourism’ gets public backing in Switzerland – but what for British laws?
Voters in Zurich, Switzerland, have rejected proposed bans on assisted suicide and ‘suicide tourism’.
A…

HIV & AIDS treatment as the new prevention Tool: new findings should be treated with caution
News broke in the morning of Friday 13th May 2011 of the results of a ten year study by the United…

Gerald’s final breath – a review of the BBC’s ‘Inside the Human Body’
Watching Inside the Human Body tonight was certainly a fascinating experience, looking at how the human…

HPV vaccine Goes global
A year or so ago my twelve year old daughter was told that all her class were to be given the vaccination…

Disabled people fear change in assisted suicide law
Changing the law on assisted suicide would put pressure on disabled people to commit suicide, according…

Highlighting disparities in maternal care on International Midwives Day
Today is International Midwives Day, and many organisations are using this to highlight the awful disparities…

How could anyone object to teaching schoolgirls to say ‘no to sex’?
MPs have voted 67-61 in favour of a bill introduced by Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, which wants schools…

Stillbirths: tragedy and controversy
New figures from The Lancet reveal the tragedy of the scale of stillbirths, estimated at around 3 million…
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. […]