Health & Society

A champion of equality

For GP, life peer and former BMA president David Pitt, health and politics were inextricably linked. As part of Black History Month, Tim Tonkin looks back at the legacy of a physician and political and civil rights activist who never stopped fighting for his principles or patients

Health & Society By Tim Tonkin

War's forgotten victims

Go to a conflict zone and you'll find a lot more than combat trauma to deal with. Babies continue to be born, often in appalling circumstances. Pippa Letchworth tells Jennifer Trueland how she trains doctors in obstetrics in some of the most challenging places on earth

By Jennifer Trueland 25.09.25

At the dawn of IVF

Duncan Campbell was the anaesthetist who worked with Patrick Steptoe, the pioneer of IVF. Dr Campbell's innovation – in the face of opposition – made safe laparoscopic surgery possible. Now in his 90s, he tells his story

By Duncan Campbell 16.09.25

Caring under fire

The attack of healthcare workers and institutions in war zones remains the scourge of the international community while the BMA continues to push for medical neutrality to be respected. By Tim Tonkin

By Tim Tonkin 19.08.25

Ready for anything

While her vehicle could become stuck in the mud, the rest of Kerry Greenan's volunteering experience in Africa sounds intensely liberating, seeing a wide range of medicine, which has prepared her well for life back in the UK. Tim Tonkin reports

By Tim Tonkin 14.08.25

Binning the beige buffet

Health service catering has tended to offer little in the way of either 'health' or 'service', but it's not all pie, chips and pop, as Ben Ireland discovered at a hospital determined to do better

By Ben Ireland 31.07.25

PAs and AAs should be called ‘assistants’ and not see undifferentiated patients

Recommendations in Leng Review, which BMA calls ‘inadequate response’ to ‘patient safety scandal’

Ben Ireland 16.07.25

One giant leap: the British doctor set to become the first astronaut with a disability

Having become a surgeon and Paralympic medallist following a serious accident, it's tempting to say the sky's the limit for John McFall ... but now he has been cleared to go into space. He tells Seren Boyd about the rigorous training, how his prosthetic leg got a space-age redesign and why we should all do something we love

By Seren Boyd 14.07.25

Bot-ched advice – 'disturbing' results in AI study

Chatbots do quite well in diagnosing conditions ... but only in other chatbots, new research has found. Peter Blackburn reports

By Peter Blackburn 10.07.25