Medicine and Science from The BMJ

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 planning to introduce league tables ...

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 expectancy.

Also, John Downey, from t...

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 of the region is detrimental to th...

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 of the medical faculty of the Unive...

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 profe...

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 about public health and data navigate...

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 neurologist and author, joins us to talk abou...

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 global health into disarray - Illon...

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 up a mirror to the NHS on it's suppo...

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 assistants.

The conversation also cove...

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 new guidelines that strongly recomm...

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 three healthcare leaders. They dis...

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 health.

And finally, AI in healthcar...

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 clinical care, and why we need a st...

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 and WHO officials to try and unders...

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 wha...

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, doctoral student and Qi Sun, associ...

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 insight into how geopolitics are a...

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, executive chair of the conference...