From pay restoration, to making sure there are enough training posts for resident doctors, the BMA has been busy.

In this podcast, Kamran Abbasi, the editor in chief of The BMJ, spoke to Phil Banfield, chair of the BMA’s council.

They talk about the ongoing pay discussions, how the BMA is working with the new government - touching on both speciality training places, and the role of physician assistants.

The conversation also covers the BMA's changing strategy, which aims to empower local members to take on the fights they care about, and how the organisation is linking both their trade union and professional activities.

Providing quality healthcare is demanding, often stressful, and requires sustained effort. When resources are stretched and pressure mounts, compassion can slip - but compassion is an essential tool for leaders, who need to support their teams to continue delivering the best possible care.

In this final episode of The BMJ’s podcast series on quality of care, Rachael Hinton, BMJ Editor, speaks to three healthcare leaders. They discuss how fostering kind and compassionate leadership and care can improve morale, combat burnout, and contribute to better patient outcomes.

01:48 Lydia Okutoyi talks compassionate leadership in Kenya

08:39 Pedro Delgado talks refocusing on the human factor and tools for kind leadership

15:02 Alexander Ansah Manu talks reaping quality of care benefits in Ghana

This podcast was produced as part of the BMJ Collection on Quality of Care, developed in partnership with the World Health Organisation and the World Bank. Visit bmj.com/qualityofcare to view the full Collection. The BMJ commissioned, edited, and published this podcast. This episode edited by Brian Kennedy.

This week Rebecca Coombes is back with another big-food investigation, this time about fast-food giant MacDonalds subverting attempts to stop it opening stores near schools.

Sticking with industry behaving badly, May van Schalkwyk, from the University of Edinburgh, wonders why we haven't learn lessons from the attempts to control big tobacco companies, when it comes to other industries that harm health.

And finally, AI in healthcare - Karim Lekadir, from the University of Barcelona, explains new guidelines which can help evaluate which AI applications are trustworthy.

Reading list

McDonald’s triumphs over councils’ rejections of new branches

FUTURE-AI: international consensus guideline for trustworthy and deployable artificial intelligence in healthcare

Exercise and a better diet, prior to surgery, can improve outcomes. Daniel McIsaac, a professor of anaesthesiology from the University of Ottowa and lead author of that research, joins us to talk about getting those results into practice.

Julia Sinclair, professor of addiction psychiatry at the University of Southampton, explains how the NHS has lost sight of the impact alcohol consumption has on clinical care, and why we need a strategy to tackle it.

Finally, Matt Morgan, consultant in intensive care and BMJ columnist, has written another book - this time about patients who are revived after cardiac arrest, and the profound effect it can have on their outlook in life. 

Reading list:

Relative efficacy of prehabilitation interventions and their components

UK needs national strategy to tackle alcohol related harms

A Second Act

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US out of the WHO. This would cut funding for the UN’s medical agency by one-fifth.

Will they really exit, or can a deal be made? Lawrence Gostin hopes so, and as a professor of law at Georgetown, and director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, he is working with senior US and WHO officials to try and understand what reforms could be made to WHO what would allow a such a deal to be be struck.

Gostin also believes that the president cannot withdraw from the WHO with an executive order, but instead requires congressional approval - and is exploring the options for legal challenge to the move.

00:00 Intro

01:01 US history with the WHO

03:31 Executive order

06:35 WHO’s relationship with China

11:14 Funding

12:47 Benefits to US from the WHO

18:05 H5N1 threat

19:43 World benefits from US involvement

21:57 A deal to be made?

24:55 Legal action?

26:37 Administration responses

Read Professor Larry Gostin’s co-written opinion piece on the dangers of a US withdrawal from the WHO here: https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r116

In the last podcast of 2024, Richard Smith, former editor of The BMJ and head of UKHACC will be making the case for being more convivial. Tina Korownyk, professor of family medicine at the University of Alberta is the ghost of Christmas past for TV doctors.

Tim Feeny and Navjoyt Ladher take us through this year's Christmas research papers.

And finally, Mari Martensen, a paramedic, explains what makes being a medic in Svalbard bear-able.

Reading list.

Conflicts of interest harm health, and a new investigation uncovers the infiltration of big food manufacturers into UK schools. Emma Wilkinson reports on that investigation. Kamran and  Rebecca Coombes, head of journalism, discuss moves to reduce industry's impact on food policy in the UK.

A new research paper has identified a link between eating chocolate and lower rates of diabetes. Binkai Liu, doctoral student and Qi Sun, associate professor, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health explain what they found.

Finally, Sam Hutt is a doctor in the NHS, but is better known by his stage persona “Hank Wangford”. Hank performed a celebration of the NHS at Glastonbury this year, and has now released that song. He joins us to talk about what inspired him.

Reading list

Hank Wangford

In today’s episode, new research, which has looked at the impact staff turnover is having on patient outcomes. Giuseppe Moscelli, associate professor at the University of Surrey joins Navjoyt Ladher to explain more.

Also, every year the BMJ has a Christmas appeal - and this year we have chosen the International Rescue Committee as our partner. To talk more about what they do, and to give us some insight into how geopolitics are affecting health we're joined David Milliband, president and chief executive officer of the International Rescue Committee, and former UK foreign secretary.

Reading list;

Nurse and doctor turnover and patient outcomes in NHS acute trusts in England

The BMJ Appeal 2024-25: David Miliband on hospital attacks, Trump, and the International Rescue Committee in a “flammable world”

In that vein, we’re joined by Christos Christou, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to talk about attacks on healthcare staff, and the difficulty and importance of maintaining neutrality in conflict zones.

Ara Darzi, surgeon, executive chair of the conference, and author of the recent NHS review, joins us to talk about  antimicrobial resistance, and how diagnostics and a small funding commitment could head off the problem.

And finally, we change our focus to the US, and hear about new research into adverse events during surgery with authors Antoine Duclos and David Bates from Harvard Medical School.

Reading list.

We need to do more to keep antibiotics working

WISH report - Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: How to Keep Antibiotics Working for the Next Century

Safety of inpatient care in surgical settings: cohort study