NICE’s approval of finerenone for heart failure is a positive development but as I highlight in this article, there are significant challenge for primary care in incorporating a drug that requires careful monitoring into routine clinical practice. www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/clinica...

A recent study validates the TAIGHA scale for measuring user trust in AI-generated health advice. AI tools for patients and the public should aim to deliver reliable, high-quality health information while building appropriate trust in their outputs. journals.plos.org/digitalhealt...

The trust in AI-generated health advice (TAIGHA) scale and short version (TAIGHA-S): Development and validation study

Author summary Artificial intelligence tools are increasingly used by the public to obtain health information and guidance, but users may follow or reject the advice they receive, which can affect the...

journals.plos.org

Whenever there is a significant event in the NHS, you will hear managers make comments like “we take whistleblowing extremely seriously" and “we have put in place systems to prevent such events in the future”. Patients will wonder why these actions were not already in place.

Online access to electronic health records may allow patients to see the results of investigations for cancer before a clinical review with the patient has occurred. Systems are needed to address the associated risks and reduce unnecessary anxiety. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Cancer Education in the Era of Immediate Results Access - Journal of Cancer Education

Immediate patient access to cancer-related results through digital portals has transformed the timing and nature of cancer communication. Although open records promote transparency, autonomy and engag...

link.springer.com

The 150-minute weekly exercise target for adults in the UK is not an absolute threshold. Smaller amounts of exercise will still have important health benefits. If you can’t meet the 150-minute target don’t be discouraged. Aim to build some regular exercise into your daily routine.

Pathways for patients with suspected cancer are usually seen as linear sequences. But patients often miss appointments or decline investigations. Labelling these episodes with terms like “patient declined” or “did not attend” can be an oversimplification. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Paused Pathway: Teaching Investigative Consent when Cancer Investigation Stalls - Journal of Cancer Education

Suspected cancer pathways are often taught as linear sequences, but in practice they may pause when patients miss appointments, decline investigations, misunderstand the pathway, or face emotional, pr...

link.springer.com

Healthcare systems must shift from measuring the number of contacts to measuring metrics such as continuity and resolution - ensuring clinical problems are actively owned, tracked and managed by a clinical team until they reach a definitive endpoint. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

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The renaming of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) recognises the condition’s broader endocrine and metabolic aspects. But clinical coding systems such as ICD-10 and SNOMED will continue to use PCOS for now. bmj.com/cgi/content/...

Medical students sometimes ask if AI will replace doctors. My view is that AI will supplement doctors rather than replace them. AI will change medical practice by improving efficiency, supporting decision-making and helping clinicians manage increasingly complex information.

Readiness for clinical practice is not just about memorising information. It is the ability to retrieve knowledge under pressure, apply it safely, communicate uncertainty responsibly and contextualise care so that decisions work in the real world. www.frontiersin.org/journals/med...

Frontiers | Are we assessing medical students' recall or readiness for practice?

Medical education is full of apparent certainties. Pre-clinical students can memorise enzyme pathways, rare syndromes, and lists of adverse drug reactions we...

frontiersin.org

NHS England is planning to introduce self-testing to allow patients to carry out a range of blood tests at home. Self-testing could reduce demands on NHS phlebotomy services but will need monitoring to ensure cost-effectiveness and equitable take-up. www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/clinica...

NHS England considering self-testing routes for cholesterol and prostate cancer

Patients could be asked to test at home for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and cholesterol levels, among other tests.

pulsetoday.co.uk

I've always told my PhD students that a PhD is a marathon and not a sprint. Now that Sabastian Sawe has run the London Marathon in under 2 hours, I'll need to think of something else to tell them.

Mapping burdens and inequalities of polycystic ovary syndrome in young females across 953 locations 1990–2040 with deep learning forecasts. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Mapping burdens and inequalities of polycystic ovary syndrome in young females across 953 locations 1990–2040 with deep learning forecasts

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common reproductive endocrine disorder impacting the health of young female populations. Using harmonized…

sciencedirect.com

Pattern Disruption in GP speciality training: a practical intervention to enhance cognitive flexibility and diagnostic reasoning. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Pattern Disruption in GP speciality training: a practical intervention to enhance cognitive flexibility and diagnostic reasoning

Pattern recognition underpins efficient general practice, yet over-reliance on familiar diagnostic scripts can promote cognitive rigidity and premature closure when presentations are atypical, evol...

tandfonline.com

The government is proposing to make the NHS App the primary gateway to the NHS in England. But without addressing the broader social determinants of digital access, an overreliance on the NHS App may deepen existing health inequalities. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The NHS App should focus on inequalities to improve population health - Anthony A Laverty, Claire Reidy, Sukriti KC, Chrysanthi Papoutsi, Bernard Gudgin, Azeem Majeed, John Powell, 2026

journals.sagepub.com

I was asked to appear at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry in February to be questioned on how the pandemic affected people who were clinically vulnerable and the importance of good IT systems to identify people in this group. My witness statement is now online. covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/in...

INQ000659865 - Witness Statement provided by Professor Azeem Majeed, Professor of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London, dated 02/12/2025 UK Covid-19 Inquiry Archives

Witness Statement provided by Professor Azeem Majeed, Professor of Primary Care and Public Health at Imperial College London, dated 02/12/2025.

covid19.public-inquiry.uk

The new funding in the NHS GP contract must be the start of a long term programme of investment, not a one-off adjustment. Reversing more than a decade of underinvestment in general practice will require consistent real-terms year-on-year growth in funding. www.bmj.com/content/392/... @bmj.com

It’s good to see the government aiming to increase the emphasis on childhood vaccination in the NHS GP contract in England. But as well as these “short-term fixes”, we also need long-term changes that reduce the pressures on primary care so GPs can spend more time on prevention.

How should services for high-intensity users be organised? A scoping review of published literature with recommendations for future research and delivery of care. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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The Rashōmon Effect and COVID-19 vaccine decision-making. Our new paper highlights the need for more flexible and innovative strategies to navigate the complex factors influencing decision-making around vaccination. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The Rashōmon Effect and COVID-19 vaccine decision-making: A qualitative study - Poonam Madar, Raj S. Chandok, Azeem Majeed, 2026

Objectives This qualitative study captured the perspectives of patients and healthcare professionals to better understand COVID-19 vaccine decision-making among...

journals.sagepub.com

Doctors and parents should be aware that the medical textbook description of a "bright red measles rash" is based on white skin. On brown or black skin, the measles rash can be much harder to see. It may appear as darker, dusky or purple patches rather than bright red spots.

The current measles outbreak in London shows us that vaccination is not just a personal choice but essential to protect the community. A highly infectious disease like measles can spread rapidly in areas with low vaccine uptake; putting children at risk. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

North London measles outbreak hits several schools with at least 34 children infected

A number of children have been hospitalised as officials urge families to check they are up to date with their vaccines.

bbc.co.uk

Student loans in England have become a significant long-term financial and psychological factor for graduates. The impact ranges from daily budgeting struggles to delayed life milestones like being able to afford to buy a home. The student loan system is now effectively a graduate tax.

Many clinical guidelines are based on research in younger, healthier patients; making it difficult to apply them in people with frailty and polypharmacy. We need to move away from single-disease trials toward studies that include complex, older populations with multimorbidity.

Some people assume (wrongly) because they can't get an appointment with a GP, it means "GPs aren't working". The reality is that general practices are offering a record number of appointments. A further increase in appointments to adequately meet health needs requires more GPs.

The UK-US pharmaceutical deal is a major shift in the UK’s approach to evaluating, pricing and adopting new drugs. But the overall effect of the proposals in the deal on the NHS will depend heavily on how they are implemented. My comment in @bmj.com bmj.com/cgi/content/...

UK-US pharmaceutical deal requires close monitoring

The new UK-US pharmaceutical deal marks a major shift in the UK’s approach to evaluating, pricing, and adopting new medicines.1 Faster access to innovative treatments for conditions such as cancer wil...

bmj.com

It doesn’t say much about the quality and rigour of the government’s vetting processes if people can be appointed as members of the House of Lords or to senior roles such as ambassador whilst having serious questions to answer about their past.

It's essential for the NHS to offer a range of consultation options. A balanced mix of face-to-face, telephone, video and digital consultations is essential for a modern, equitable NHS. Every consultation mode has distinct advantages but each may not be suitable for all patients.

Artificial intelligence and the future of evidence-based medicine. Comment from Gary Collins and colleagues, University of Birmingham #AI #EBM #medicine www.nature.com/articles/s44...

I teach my students that when presenting data using a graph, starting the y-axis at zero is essential for visual integrity. This ensures that the physical proportions of the graph accurately represent the data and that small changes in variables are not visually exaggerated.