It has been a tumultuous time in UK health politics. UK Health Minister ,Wes Streeting, has freshly resigned. What does this mean for his newly introduced NHS Modernization Bill as it heads through Parliament?

Together with Hugh Alderwick, Director of Policy and Research at the Health Foundation, we unpack the bill's sweeping centralization of power, the abolition of NHS England, and the contentious role for US tech firm Palantir in the new NHS.

And, we explore a major milestone for women's healthcare. A condition affecting an estimated 170 million women globally has officially been renamed from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) to Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS). Rachel Morman, Chair of the PMOS charity Verity, joins us to explain why dropping "cysts" from the name is a vital step toward recognizing this as a complex, multi-system condition, and how this co-designed change will fundamentally reshape diagnosis, treatment, and future research.

Further reading:

Health Bill brings NHS management back into government

PMOS: What's in a name? Everything

PCOS name change to PMOS must be managed to avoid confusing patients, says expert

Twitter was launched 20 years ago, followed quickly by the iPhone and Instagram. Today, nearly 60% of the world’s population uses social media. Medical experts are sounding the alarm on the potential for these platforms to cause systemic harm. This past year has seen large events in the legal and public health battle against tech giants, with millions of dollars awarded in damages to child victims. Why has pinning down these companies proven difficult? And, what are the parallels between the social media industry and the historical tactics of "Big Tobacco"?

Guests:

Matthew Bergman is a practicing attorney and the founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center, as well as a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

Ilona Kickbusch is an editorial board member of the BMJ and a visiting professor at the Digital Transformations for Health Lab at the University of Geneva, specializing in the commercial determinants of health.

Further reading:

From tobacco to TikTok: what public health litigation history tells us about holding social media accountable

What is the evidence for social media addiction?

The BMA has released their long awaited review of the Cass report. The original report looked at the provision of NHS gender identity services for children and young people, and involved a review of the science underpinning those services. It also set out a plan to improve care for gender diverse young people. 

We talk with David Strain of the BMA’s board of science to discuss their findings, and hear why they were critical of the Secretary of State, Wes Streeting's response to Cass’s review.

Guests:

David Strain is an associate professor in cardio-metabolic health at the University of Exeter and Chair of the BMA’s Board of Science.

Benjamin Becker is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Hong Kong, specializing in brain-based interventions for mental disorders.

Further reading:

Puberty blockers: BMA critique vindicates Cass review but questions government “overreach”

Accelerated non-invasive brain stimulation in childhood autism

The new trade deal struck between the UK and US came into force in April. 

The deal will

Cumulatively this will increase our drug spend by £56 billion in the next 10 years, which will have to come out of current healthcare spending - which experts are calling a catastrophe for the NHS.

The UK government must publish a detailed impact assessment of the costs and benefits of the US-UK medicines partnership

A budget apart: the case for ringfencing medicines in the UK

A blockbuster MS drug undergoes FDA re-evaluation. We explore the story of Ocrelizumab, a treatment for primary progressive multiple sclerosis, following a patient petition that highlighted internal disagreements among agency reviewers regarding its efficacy.

We look to Sweden, where new research involving sibling pairs separated by adoption investigates how early-life environments shape long-term health and social outcomes.

Finally, we revisit the dominant medical narrative on Alzheimer’s disease. Why is it so difficult to move towards comprehensive treatments? Has the focus on amyloid plaques hindered our understanding of other critical factors like vascular health and social inequality?

Peter Doshi is a senior editor at The BMJ and an associate professor of pharmaceutical health services research at the University of Maryland.

Erik Peterson is an associate professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, specializing in psychiatric epidemiology and adoption studies.

Carol Brayne is a professor emerita of public health medicine at the University of Cambridge and a leading expert in the epidemiology of dementia.

Reading List:

Multiple sclerosis: Could Roche's bestselling drug Ocrevus be doing more harm than good in women with primary progressive MS?

Home environment conditions during childhood and psychosocial outcomes across three generations in Sweden: population based adoption-discordant sibling comparison study

Covid 19 was the last Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Our guests in this podcast think that the Trump Administration should be declared the next one.

Joining Kamran Abbasi are, Fatima Hassan,  human rights lawyer and Director of the Health Justice Initiative in South Africa, and Matthew Herder, Director of the Health Justice Institute at Dalhousie University in Canada explain why they think that the actions and consequences of the Whitehouse meet the bar for WHO to delcare an emergency

We examine the global consequences of recent US policy shifts, including:

The withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and its implications for international health governance.

Significant funding cuts to global health programs, including PEPFAR and the CDC, and how these disruptions affect life-saving HIV and TB treatments in the Global South.

The rise of "unhinged nationalism" in health policy, from North American measles outbreaks to the extraction of trade concessions in exchange for medical aid.

The role of US health leadership in fueling vaccine hesitancy and dismantling scientific research at the NIH.

Reading list:

Trump and his administration as a public health emergency of international concern

Why the expanded global gag rule is a deadly triple tripwire for recipients of US foreign aid

The power of the markets: the scandal that keeps on taking

Coming up in this week’s episode:

The 15th Strike: As the latest six-day walkout by resident doctors in England concludes, the BMJ's news team examines the state of the ongoing dispute over pay and training places.

Iain Beardsell, consultant in emergency medicine in Southampton explain why he thinks reintroducing compassion could be the key to tackling the systemic issues facing emergency departments

And finally, The BMA announces major changes to how it represents doctors in private practice - we hear why they think the US has some better legislation around health insurance than the UK.

Reading list:

The BMJ published a negative result this week. A new trial focuses on a peer support intervention for improving breastfeeding rates in the UK, but finds no major improvement. We hear from the lead author who tells us what went wrong, and the insights that can still be drawn from apparent ‘failures’.

Next we turn our eyes to shisha smoking in the UK. With shisha or “hookah” cafes on the rise, we explore the smoking habit in more detail. What are the effects on health? And why are UK laws poor at regulating the practice?

Kate Jolly is professor of public health and primary care at the University of Birmingham.

Zainab Hussain is a UK-based freelance journalist writing on behalf of The BMJ.

Links:

The UK Covid Inquiry released Module Three of its findings this month. It lays out in startling detail the lived experiences of NHS staff and patients who bore through the pandemic. In the report’s words: ‘healthcare systems coped with the pandemic, but only just’.

The Gulf states are not large producers of pharmaceuticals or healthcare products - but the oil they supply, and the transport infrastructure they have built, are key components in a worldwide logistical network that underpin all of the pharmaceutical and other medical consumables we use.

From critical NHS shortages like Bone Cement for orthopedic surgery, to persistent IV fluid supply crises plaguing Australian hospitals, we discuss how the conflict in Iran will affect fragile healthcare logistics.

Joining us today are 

Reading list

Global bone cement shortage: NHS could cancel or delay knee and hip operations

How Australia survived a sudden shortage of IV fluids

Where the Iran War Could Disrupt Pharmaceutical Supply Chains