All posts by James Hunt

How Kim Kardashian Bankrupted the NHS

A cultural obsession met a miracle drug met a monopoly price: the bill landed in a health service that had no plan to pay it. A tongue-in-cheek autopsy of the most expensive medicine in NHS history. It is easier to be furious at a person than at a spreadsheet. So when the health service quietly […]

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QOF 2026/27 Changes: The Complete Practice Manager Guide to New Indicators (DM037, HF009, OB004, OB005, CD001, CD002)

Quick answer: QOF 2026/27 introduces six new or significantly changed indicators that Practice Managers must prepare for now. DM037 requires all 8 NICE diabetes care processes per patient, HF009 mandates 4-pillar heart failure therapy, OB004 and OB005 replace the Weight Management Enhanced Service with 18 new obesity points, and CD001/CD002 consolidate cardiovascular blood pressure control […]

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Gut Check: How Your Intestinal Bacteria Could Secretly Be Causing Heart Disease

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death globally. Despite advancements in understanding risk factors like high cholesterol and blood pressure, a groundbreaking discovery from Spanish researchers at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid has unveiled an unexpected villain: your gut bacteria. Fifteen years ago, researchers set out to study thousands of […]

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Mirtazapine for Insomnia in the Older Adult

A Fresh Look at an Old Ally: Mirtazapine for Insomnia in the Older Adult (7.5mg superior than 15mg) https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afaf050 1. Why This Conversation Won’t Go Away Anyone running a geriatric clinic knows the nightly battle cry: “Doctor, I just can’t sleep.” Benzodiazepines and so-called “Z-drugs” remain common fixes, yet both families bring cognitive haze, falls, […]

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Can a HIV drug help prevent dementia?

A common characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and various forms of dementia is the build-up in the brain of clusters—known as aggregates—of misfolded proteins, such as huntingtin and tau. These aggregates lead to the degradation and eventual death of brain cells and the onset of symptoms. One method that our bodies use […]

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Challenges of Treating Chronic Pain

Challenges of Treating Chronic Pain Chronic pain is a complex and difficult condition to treat despite the progress in neuroscience research over the last two decades. A recent overview by Ferreira and colleagues has added to the growing body of evidence on the use of medicines for pain, highlighting the limitations of current medical treatments. […]

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Sickle cell cure with LentiGlobin

Introduction Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that affects the hemoglobin in red blood cells. It is caused by a single point mutation in the gene encoding β-globin (HBB), leading to the production of sickle hemoglobin and impaired red-cell function. Patients with sickle cell disease often have vaso-occlusive events, progressive vasculopathy, and chronic hemolytic […]

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