David Oliver: Are we seeing value based rationing clearly?

David Oliver: Hospitals are not the enemy.

Even as an acute hospital doctor I recently shouted at the television, whenNewsnight reduced a debate on the whole NHS to one about hospitals, “There are other services, you know!” I understand why non-hospital staff are even more exasperated at the obsession with hospitals. The health service’s internal commentariat repeatedly blames hospitals, and the frontline staff who work in them, for the...

David Oliver: Delirium matters.

Being admitted unexpectedly to hospital is depersonalising and distressing. This is compounded for the one inpatient in eight who has delirium. Delirium affects 20-30% of over 65s during acute admission.We should domore to prevent delirium, ensure that we don’t miss it, to reverse it, explain it, and minimise its impact. Clinical staff need support to do this. Risk increases if you’re older and...

Seeing Clearly and Moving Forward

THIS SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS SOME important trends in AI research and development, focusing on perceiving and affecting the real world. We will primarily address robotics, but we certainly don’t intend to imply that this is the only important area of AI research and development in the 21st century. We see tremendous importance in the continuing work in such areas as data mining, learning, knowledge r...

David Oliver: Junior doctors' working conditions are an urgent priority.

A health service is nothing without its clinical workforce. The biggest existential threat to the NHS is a failure to retain existing clinicians or attract enough new ones. This damages morale, burns out those who stay, and compromises care quality. For junior doctors, the workforce crisis is becoming critical. We must act now to tackle it or reap the consequences for years. The length of train...

Where are we in the rationing debate?