The Doctor

4096Px Leicester Coronavirus Warning, Gallowtree Gate

Never forget – COVID and its legacy

Five years on, doctors look back on when the pandemic hit the UK and remember the extraordinary camaraderie but also the stress and exhaustion that still hangs over the health service and many of its staff. Lessons must be learned, they say.

Life at Work

The Doctor podcast

Welcome to The Doctor podcast, brought to you by the British Medical Association. Each month, we bring you conversations inspired by stories featured in The Doctor magazine. Our episodes are posted monthly, so follow us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, to be the first to find out when a new episode drops.

Podcast

From all corners

The NHS is a 'completely different world', where the theory of medicine is the same but the practice totally different - the words of one of three international medical graduates who told Tim Tonkin about overcoming a range of challenges - career progression, baffling acronyms and, inevitably, the weather

Life at Work By Tim Tonkin

The price of a drink

Northern Ireland may be the next UK country to set a minimum unit price for alcohol - a measure which has been shown to save lives and reduce harm. Jennifer Trueland reports

Health & Society By Jennifer Trueland

Putting patients first

Kim Daybell was an elite athlete who abruptly gave up his sporting ambitions to work full-time as a doctor when the COVID pandemic struck. Five years on, he weighs up his choice with Seren Boyd

Life at Work By Seren Boyd

GMC calling PAs 'medical professionals' puts safety at risk, court hears

BMA brings High Court challenge to GMC over 'irrational' description of physician associates and anaesthesia associates

Life at Work By Tim Tonkin

‘This can’t go on’

They were the words of a coroner but it didn't take a legal expert to recognise the harm wrought by a system where work is intense, admissions of ill-health carry a stigma and support services are either under financial threat or non-existent. Ben Ireland reports

Doctors' Wellbeing Life at Work By Ben Ireland

'Incredibly alarming' – Trump's USA steps away from global health role

The US president's decision to leave the World Health Organization has left doctors deeply concerned about the future of its vital work across the world. Tim Tonkin reports

Health & Society By Tim Tonkin

'No one knows about tomorrow': Doctors living with Parkinson's

Even doctors who treat patients with Parkinson's disease often take time to realise they have the condition themselves. Four tell Seren Boyd how their diagnosis has led to new priorities – and some positive change

Doctors' Wellbeing By Seren Boyd

Two thirds of ethnic minority doctors experience racism

BMA Scotland survey reveals 'harsh reality' of discrimination

Life at Work By Jennifer Trueland

Elgan Manton-Roseblade and Callum Williams

UK foundation programme recruitment needs urgent change

Many medical students find their allocation to be both delayed and hundreds of miles away from friends and family causing considerable distress

Comment Elgan Manton-Roseblade and Callum Williams

Towards the danger

Ammar Darwish takes time from his NHS job to carry out surgery and train doctors in conflict and disaster zones. He tells Jennifer Trueland what drives him, and pays tribute to the doctors who, unlike him, have no safe country to return to

Health & Society By Jennifer Trueland