I was given a hand delivered letter marked urgent yesterday and the final line is written as above. My patient (B) has cardiomyopathy and his wife  is concerned about certain aspects of his lifestyle. I think she has every right to be involved in his health care decisions - after all he brings her to the ... Read More »

I've just been reading the review of the Roger Taylor book in this week's print BMJ http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f1938 and the title of this blog comes from it. The comment is 'force professionals to look out, not up'. Clearly in the light of the Francis report fewe would argue that sometimes the targets (the 'up') ... Read More »

Something unusual happended to me in clinic this week. My Thursday clinic is a joint clinic with another consultant and this week a gentleman came who I usually see. Last time he came I was not in clinic and he saw my colleague. My colleague had recommended uptitration of heart failure medication - pretty standard stuff. ... Read More »

I've just spent the best part of the last couple of days teaching. Sometimes I'll be honest and say that it seems a bit of a chore -there are lots of other things to do! However today I'm reminded by my collaegue how much influence we have over our juniors. It reminds me that my first boss used to call us his 'house plants' ... Read More »

One of the greatest joys of reading research is when it goes someway to explaining a clinical situation that you have been strughgling with. I had the pleasure of looking after a lovely 56 year gentleman who had undergone CABG then developed intractable fast AF from which he wasn't that symptomatic - I did my usual - he was ... Read More »