Medical Centre

Dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, is a significant public health challenge in Europe, with nearly 14 million people currently affected. Despite available healthcare and social care services, utilisation of these services by people living with dementia remains suboptimal due to various barriers. Our recent systematic review published in BMC Geriatrics provides critical insights into these challenges, highlighting barriers across informational, organisational, cultural, stigma-related, financial, and logistical domains. Informational and Educational Barriers A lack of awareness and insufficient knowledge among caregivers and healthcare professionals stands out as a key barrier. Inadequate dissemination of dementia-related information contributes to difficulties in planning and accessing appropriate care. Enhancing educational resources and improving health literacy among caregivers and healthcare workers are essential for overcoming these challenges. Organisational Barriers F...

As we reach the fifth anniversary of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, this moment provides an opportunity for reflection on the many challenges faced by healthcare workers like me during the early days of the pandemic. At that time, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was a largely unknown entity. Clinical guidelines were still under development and personal protective equipment (PPE) was scarce. For those on the NHS frontline, the experience was marked by a mix of anxiety, urgency, and dedication to the patients we were trained to serve.  Unfamiliar Territory  In the initial stages, Covid-19 was a "novel" infection. There was a scarcity of data on the illness, and the disease was manifesting in ways that were not entirely well understood. As primary care physicians, we were suddenly thrust into the realm of the unknown, treating patients with undifferentiated respiratory illnesses that did not yet have well-defined and evidence-based treatment protocols.  The Personal Risk Factor...

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many terms into the spotlight, one of which was "non-pharmaceutical interventions" (NPIs). Used widely in academic papers, public health guidelines, and media reports, NPIs became a catch-all phrase for measures like contact tracing, quarantine, and hand hygiene; essentially anything that wasn’t a drug or vaccine. However, BMJ Editor Kamran Abbasi and I argue in our editorial  it is time to end the use of this term in favour of "public health and social measures." Here’s why this shift matters. The Problem with Defining by Negation The term "non-pharmaceutical interventions" defines these strategies by what they aren’t rather than what they are. This framing is inherently limiting. Imagine calling surgery a "non-drug intervention"—it sounds absurd because surgery stands on its own as a complex, evidence-based practice. Similarly, public health measures like sanitation or hand hygiene aren’t just stopgaps until a drug...

Our recent article in the Journal of Patient Safety discusses the topic of missed appointments in healthcare. Missed appointments are often seen as an administrative inconvenience in healthcare; wasting appointments that could have gone to other patients. However, missed appointments are also a critical patient safety concern that can delay necessary interventions, worsen health outcomes, and erode trust between patients and clinicians. Instead of viewing them as patient noncompliance, we must shift our perspective to understand the underlying barriers that prevent people from attending their scheduled appointments. Understanding the Root Causes of Missed Appointments Patients miss appointments for a variety of reasons, many of which are outside their control. Socioeconomic challenges, work obligations, caregiving responsibilities, mental health issues, transportation difficulties, and previous negative experiences with the healthcare system all contribute to non-attendance. Disadva...