@imcdermott
Social scientist researching health policy, primary care, commissioning, and workforce. https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/imelda.mcdermott Health Policy & Politics Network (HPPN) https://hppnuk.wordpress.com/ #academicsky
🌟 HSR UK is recruiting for new Trustees! We're looking for 3 new voluntary Trustees to help shape the future of HSR. If you care about improving NHS and social care services, we’d love to hear from you!
🗓️ Apply by 17 Feb, 5pm
👉 Apply here: www.charityjob.co.uk/volunteer-jo...
Is "Taskification" a solution to workforce crisis?
In this paper, we problematise the term, tracing its roots to Taylorism, and argue that applying manufacturing logic to healthcare risks fragmenting patient care.
doi.org/10.1177/1355...
#GeneralPractice #Taskification #Workforce
Organisational Behaviour in Health Care (OBHC) Conference 2026
Submit your paper You are invited to submit a paper for the Organisational Behaviour in Health Care (OBHC) Conference 2026. The conference will be jointly hosted by Saïd Business School and the Nuffield Department of Primary Care…
Ooh - my new paper on case study is out! What’s a case study, how do you do one, how do you spot a good one? Includes niche examples like the REF impact case study (though it’s mainly about research case studies).
📢 We’re looking for a Research Fellow (with a strong qualitative research background) to work on an NIHR-funded project exploring additional roles in primary care in England and Scotland. You will be working with a great team @kathcheckland.bsky.social @damianeh.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/dnr6djtk
Barriers to Accessing Primary Healthcare in Jordan: Reflections from the 2025 HPPN Spring Event
By Nour Al Quraan I was delighted to attend the HPPN Spring Event once again this year. After first joining the network at the 2024 event in Manchester, it was a pleasure to return in 2025, especially…
Health Services Research UK 2025
By Imelda McDermott The Health Services Research UK (HSRUK) conference is a must-attend annual event for those interested in health and care services research, policy, and practice in the UK and internationally. It brings together a diverse community including…
What a State: Why the U.S. is Still Bad for Your Health (Policy)
The second Trump administration's centrepiece legislation, the modestly-named Big Beautiful Bill, passed by the House of Representatives and going through the Senate at time of writing, offers an opportunity to reflect upon how the…
ZOMBIE POLICY APOCALYPSE…
ANOTHER MORAL PANIC ABOUT THE NHS By Calum Paton According to Wikipedia, “zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies.” Well, thanks to Policy Exchange and its cheerleaders in…
THE VISION THING? – THE 10 YEAR HEALTH PLAN
By Calum Paton First thing first: ‘Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England’ is not a plan. It is this government collecting and rebranding various themes which have run through ‘landmark’ national documents about the NHS and health in the…
Also just put our paper on clinical pharmacists supporting people with #dementia in primary care - exploring risk & safety of dementia care - journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... @qmul-wiph.bsky.social @qmulpsychiatry.bsky.social
OUR NEW PAPER: the 'final findings' paper from the Remote by Default 2 study:
"After the disruptive innovation: How remote and digital services were embedded, blended and abandoned in UK general practice"
(will do thread on this soon)
www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hsdr/publish...
#academicsky 🧪
WHAT A STATE!
(in the U.S., it's the politics, stupid) By Calum Paton My title doesn’t refer to the Trump v. Musk dust-up. (If politics is showbusiness for ugly people, then that is a Monster Movie for protagonists too politically ugly to get the roles of Godzilla and Kong.) No, I am referring to…
NHS Staff - Waste Not Want Not
Currently the UK is training & losing large numbers of staff & then increasingly relying on overseas graduates
Many reasons, pay, workload, stress, better opportunities abroad or alternative careers
@nuffieldtrust.bsky.social
www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/sites/defaul...
The partnership model has a long history, but the proportion of GPs in England working as partners has fallen over the last decade. The trend is more pronounced for younger GPs.
Our briefing from @becksfisher.bsky.social sets the scene and considers the case for alternative models: buff.ly/LL1f0gz
BOOM AND BUST, NHS BOOM AND BUST…
‘the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must’ By Calum Paton Gordon Brown (Chancellor, 1997-2007; PM 2007-2010) took years to acknowledge that his promise to ‘end boom and bust’ had been undermined by the financial crisis of 2008. The NHS has…
GENDER WARS: THE SEQUEL – coming to a hospital ward near you
By Calum Paton The Supreme Court has ruled that in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act), 'sex' means biological sex. This means that, under the Act, a 'woman' is a biological woman or girl (a person born female) and a 'man' is a biological…
STREET(ING) LEVEL
By Calum Paton Health Secretary Wes Streeting is trying to learn from the Brazilian favelas, as part of his ‘prevention and promotion, get services into the community and save money’ mantra. We are told there is a ‘pilot project’ in Pimlico and 25 other ‘roll outs’ rolling along.…
Tune in to BBC Radio 4 tonight at 8pm for a new episode of #MoralMaze recorded at our Summit last month. 📻
Guests debate the ethical purpose of the #NHS. Should we care more about equality of outcome – being equally healthy – or equality of access – treating everyone the same?
Paper on pharmacist identity as clinicians among the top 10 most cited in Sociology of Health and Illness in 2023
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Well done @imcdermott.bsky.social @ellenschaf.bsky.social & team
@uniofmanchester.bsky.social @fbmh-uom.bsky.social
BJGPLife: Episode 201: Looking back at the BJGP Research Conference 2025
bjgplife.com/episode...
Lies, Damned Lies and Right-wing health ‘policy’ (Or, tell the big lie about the NHS often enough, and..)
By Calum Paton I can say, hand on heart, that I have never known a more depressing time in British politics. Why? Is it perhaps the ageing process wearying me (I am 69 later this year)? Or…
We open with Keynote Speaker
Kath Checkland.
Drawing insights from linguistics and, specifically, ‘grammar of legitimation’, our paper explains how a nationally funded learning programme provides the discursive strategies for pharmacists to legitimise their identity work as clinicians.
Pharmacists are expected to further expand their clinical roles to include more patient interactions and approach them in a similar way to other healthcare professionals, playing a key role in preventing illness and expanding their clinical work in community pharmacies.
The expansion of pharmacists’ clinical work has led to ongoing debates about the changing status of the profession. The increased clinical role of pharmacists requires pharmacists to form new ways of constructing and managing the patient’s body, which is conceptualised as the ‘pharmacy gaze’.
The paper is situated within the context of pharmacy in the NHS in England. Since the 1950s, there has been a shift in pharmacists’ work from scientifically based ‘medicines supply’ (making and selling medicines and dispensing prescriptions) to clinical, patient-facing work.
Thrilled to share that our paper on pharmacists' professional identity work is one of the Top 10 most-cited papers published by SHI in 2023! READ HERE onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @ellenschaf.bsky.social #TopCitedArticle #pharmacy #pharmacist #identity #sociology
The paper contributes to the sociology of professions, specifically the changing status of pharmacists from being an ‘incomplete profession’ to having a higher degree of clinical autonomy over patient care.
Congratulations 🎉 to all new (& reappointed) NIHR Senior Investigators inc. @kathcheckland.bsky.social from @hope-uom.bsky.social
See more: tinyurl.com/3bdru4xk
@nihr.bsky.social @drdon.bsky.social @imcdermott.bsky.social @fbmh-uom.bsky.social @uniofmanchester.bsky.social