julia grant

Our letter on Assisted Dying in the @ObserverUK today: "In some areas, there are no district nurses available overnight to support people at the end of life"

The lack of end-of-life care is the problem. NOT the lack of assisted deaths.

John Launer: A bellyful of the NHS—why can’t we treat our doctors like our patients? bmj.com/content/392/bm…

“Highly Quality Palliative Care for all” That’s the constant political punchline but its not improving out here. The reality is the infrastructure and staffing to provide the quality (not just quantity) is not up to the task. The issue is not new and continues everyday.

Hi @BMAResidents Today is the last day of our current mandate. Why am I telling you this? We can only strike because we secured a mandate through a ballot. Under trade union law in England, that mandate lasts six months. When it expires, it’s gone. We are currently balloting you, the membership, to continue industrial action in our fight for jobs and pay. Last time turnout was 55%. We need a minimum of 50%, so that was enough. But scraping over the line isn’t the goal. I want to see the same level of turnout you showed when you rejected Wes Streeting’s latest offer. We need to send a clear message to the government and get well over 55%. Why do I care about this so much? I was a nurse before I was a doctor. A few years ago, nurses were in a pay dispute. Mandates were patchy. Some ballots failed to meet turnout thresholds. Momentum was inconsistent. What happened next was predictable. They lost all their leverage. Government engagement stopped. And it took years before nurses had any meaningful influence again. I watched it happen. I don’t want to see doctors make the same mistake. Especially not when Wes Streeting is recommending a sub-inflation pay rise (another real-terms pay cut), while trained doctors are struggling to find jobs after years of training. And when doctors speak up, we’re dismissed. As moaning minnies. As juvenile delinquents. This dispute is about jobs and pay, and whether doctors remain a profession with real bargaining power. Returning your ballot is how we maintain leverage and force engagement. It’s how we fight for our jobs, our pay, our training, and our profession. I’m asking you to vote YES for jobs and pay, and to tell Wes Streeting that we are a united profession and that he needs to listen. Get your ballot. Vote yes. Put it in your bag. Post it on the way to work, at work, or on the way home. Do it today. Cheers Nick *Your ballot must be in a post box by the 26th of January Update your details on the BMA website: bma.org.uk/my-bma If you haven't received your ballot, you can request a replacement. Requests close 19 January: bit.ly/BMAReballotReq… You can still join the BMA and have your say: join.bma.org.uk/intro Nearest postbox here: royalmail.com/services-near-…

@HemstockGayle @CHUGGScmg @Leic_hospital Happy Christmas, lovely ladies! X

Fabulous CNS meeting today.Presents shared … Games played. Merry Christmas to all in UHL… thanks for all your support in 2025 @CHUGGScmg @Leic_hospital

I've written this open letter to @Keir_Starmer & @wesstreeting because, though I am desperately worried about NHS patients over the next 5 days, I know this strike by resident doctors is a desperate act of last resort. Please read.

@kesleeman Permission to stop weighing this particular pig and expecting anything to change?!

The Health and Social Care Committee’s evaluation of palliative care in England is out. The table of contents alone is pretty devastating. committees.parliament.uk/publications/5…

@HemstockGayle Lovely Gaby! Enjoy the next chapter wherever that it taking you! Thank you for all you have done at UHL. Lots of love from Cornwall to you and all the team xxx

Today the UHLSpecialist palliative care team said a huge thank you and farewell to our Gabs, after over 35 years in the trust. We wish her every happiness for the next big episode in her life❤️

“The prospect of a state-funded assisted dying service sitting alongside a cash-strapped hospice sector is deeply disquieting” And yet, this is precisely what it seems we will shortly have. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@NHSEngland Recently sat at GP surgery waiting for an appt when a young man came in to ask for an appt. He was told they had no way to book and he’d be best to go onto the online system. It’s not a preference if there isn’t another option 🙄

Millions of people are using online consultation requests to contact their GP each month – giving patients more flexibility and freeing up phone lines for urgent cases. Recent ONS figures show online is now the most popular way to contact GPs. ℹ️ england.nhs.uk/2025/10/millio…

PPIE request to the LEC for the HOPE-AO trial - mailchi.mp/fd42dc15e0c2/b…

Huge work has gone into these workstreams for palliative & EOLcare in Wales, with a new national specification. Proud of my colleagues and patient/carer representatives that have led us here. @BakerIdris @jeremy_miles @PallCareCymru performanceandimprovement.nhs.wales/functions/netw…

🌡️🧠 We're investigating the Effects of Heat Events on Individuals with Motor Neurone Disease (MND), 📑Click the link for further information & to complete an online survey: -Individuals with MND: app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/angliaruskin… -Carers of Individuals with MND: app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/angliaruskin…

Hospice beds are being cut up and down the country: in London, in Liverpool, and now in Cambridgeshire. This doesn’t just mean that people who wish to die in a hospice will die in hospital. It means that people with the most complex symptoms won’t get the care they need and will suffer unnecessarily 😔

This is Trevor Fisher, an inpatient in @ArthurRankHouse in Cambridgeshire, speaking to @Channel4News this week. I am a palliative care specialist and Trevor’s interview has devastated me. His hospice has just found out that in 6 months, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust will withdraw its £800k funding. This means that 9 of the hospice’s 16 beds will close, denying patients like Trevor the precious end-of-life care they need. In total, 200 people a year in Cambridgeshire will now be forced to die in an overcrowded hospital instead of the hospice environment they so longed for. Some will doubtless end up dying on trolleys in corridors - we witness this far too often, these days & I can tell you, it is barbaric. @CUH_NHS says it has made this “very difficult decision” following a “value for money assessment” - confirming what I have long known as a doctor, that too often, patients with terminal illnesses are treated as second class citizens whose lives simply don’t matter as much as other people's. Yet the real responsibility here lies not with the NHS trust but with the current government, who is forcing the NHS nationwide to cut clinical services in order to meet impossible “efficiency savings” (what weasel words those are). These cuts were necessary, say @CUH_NHS, “in order to maintain core services within a reduced budget” - that is to say, the reduced budget they are now receiving from this government. So this is on you, @wesstreeting, and on you @UKLabour. You've chosen to do this & now patients like Trevor must live - and die - with your choices. I believe that the measure of a civilised country is how well it cares for its most vulnerable members. The difference between politicians and me is that I look the palliative care patients they are failing in the eye. So I will put it to you directly, Mr Streeting. We are still a rich country capable of affording decent, humane palliative care for all. Do you really care so little for dying people that you are happy to fail them on your watch? Thank you @channel4news for covering this story. #palliativecare #hospicecare #NHS

@ShaunLintern @ShaunLintern, have you seen the ads for companies offering to navigate the CHC process? If it is so complex that we need to pay “experts” to apply…???

Families face unfair ‘luck of the draw’ over NHS continuing healthcare independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

If you watch one video today, make it this Don’t ever be afraid to ask your mate if he’s ok, it might be exactly what they need Far too many men are battling with demons and trying to hide it Well done Brighton, top stuff It’s ok not to be ok 👍🏻

@FooFightersUK @foofighters @ObservatoryOC @HallforCornwall and my house, obviously!

So another surprise show tonight in California! What small venues should @foofighters consider here in the UK?! tag 'em!

A Melton mum and her little boy are running a mile a day to raise money for LOROS to repay the kindness staff showed her mum. Details here and how sponsor them: meltontimes.co.uk/news/people/me… #Melton @LOROSHospice #LOROS