Robert Campbell

Robert Campbell is a retired surgeon.

Does Northern Ireland have too many hospitals?

| Readers 1587

A recent report into health services in N Ireland has said that there are ‘too many hospitals’. The report also has a lot to say about the organisational structure of the NHS here. This isn’t the first time that hospital provision here has been questioned; decades ago, an MP in the old Stormont described N Ireland as having a hospital at every bus stop. So how many acute district hospitals (DGH) would be appropriate? It’s easy enough to calculate a …

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From King Billy to the Glasgow Trams. A brief history of government debt…

| Readers 558

Governments often need more money than they can extract from their citizens or subjects. Centuries ago, the sovereign relied on loans at interest. This was called ‘usury’, but usury at that time carried no implication of extortionate rates of interest. It wasn’t until Jean Calvin decided that lending money at interest wasn’t a sin that such lending became acceptable amongst Christians. (Calvin thought a rate of 5% per annum was reasonable.) King William, at the end of the 17th century, …

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Breakfast, sex and cornflakes…

| Readers 1155

Breakfast, they say, is the most important meal of the day. Parents are encouraged to get the kids to eat before setting off for school, as an empty stomach isn’t conducive to learning and education. You might have a heart-attack-on-a-plate Ulster Fry, or the ‘Full Irish’. Perhaps you prefer something more healthy, and you search the supermarket shelves for organic, high-fibre and low glycaemic index grains. Or, then maybe you take an easier route, and buy a packet of Kellogg’s …

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Abortion Consultation in N Ireland

| Readers 786

The Minister of Justice in the NI Assembly, David Ford, recently presented a discussion paper on abortion; specifically on whether abortion should be legal in cases of lethal foetal abnormality, and following criminal sexual activity such as rape or incest. (Paper here.) The Minister will not consider any responses which try to widen the scope of abortion otherwise. If you want to respond, you’ll need to be quick, for the discussion closes on 17 January. The paper includes a summary …

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From Napoleon to drunks in the Royal. The messy state of Accident & Emergency Departments.

| Readers 589

Korhomme is a retired medical consultant. Pick up any newspaper these days, and you’re certain to find an article about the woes of A&E departments. Overrun with patients, the waiting time requirements have gone to pot. And here, in N Ireland, we are the leaders in the UK in terms of long waits, as described on Slugger here. The medics who work in A&Es aren’t happy, and neither would you be, for this story has an awful ring of truth …

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Why are GPs so unhappy?

| Readers 1037

Korhomme is a retired medical consultant. When I was young we lived in the University area of Belfast; out General Practitioner (GP) lived round the corner, and worked from home, as was usual in those days. To see him—and GPs were almost exclusively male then—you went in the front door, and waited. It was important to count the number of people in the waiting room, so you’d know when it was your turn. In his surgery, you were often met …

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