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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Dispensing truths

14 May 2013

  • Call handler

    The day I worked for the NHS 111 helpline

    Peter Dawson

    Peter Dawson: Despite the compassion of the call handlers, I believe patients seeking medical advice want to speak directly to a doctor they know

19 March 2013

  • nhs reforms pharmacies

    Is the NHS's journey of reform a fool's errand?

    Peter Dawson
    Peter Dawson: Danger lies in conflicts of financial interest that GPs face in serving on clinical commissioning groups

19 February 2013

  • Medicines

    Why do GPs prescribe too many drugs?

    Peter Dawson
    Peter Dawson: York Health Economics Consortium puts the cost to the NHS of unwanted prescriptions in England at about £300m a year

22 January 2013

  • senior hand sorting through a handful of medications

    Patients must be involved in decisions to change their medication

    Peter Dawson
    Peter Dawson: Yes, the NHS should be prescribing cheaper medicine but failing to explain to patients why their brand of medication has changed causes anxiety and confusion

18 December 2012

  • Dispensary shelves

    Better access to patient records is essential to make the NHS a safer place

    Peter Dawson
    Peter Dawson: Paternalistic dogma that regards patient records as the property of doctors and institutions must be discarded to make way for shared personal health records

20 November 2012

  • Gluten-free food

    The NHS is failing to supply coeliac patients with gluten-free prescriptions

    Peter Dawson
    Peter Dawson: The NHS has been failing coeliac patients by not supplying them with the only proven treatment. We can only hope that will change when local clinical commissiong groups replace primary care trusts in April

16 October 2012

  • Obese man

    Our social environment encourages obesity

    Peter Dawson
    We can't begin to treat obesity when the food and drink industry has so much invested in it

14 August 2012

  • An elderly man sitting in a chair

    Grief is good news for pharmaceutical companies

    Peter Dawson
    The proposal by the American Psychiatric Association to create a new illness – prolonged grief disorder – and to redefine children's mental health is the stuff of dreams for Big Pharma

10 July 2012

  • Man on mobility vehicle in rundown area

    Why age should not dictate healthcare funding

    Peter Dawson
    An age-based allocation of funds that the health secretary favours would benefit areas that are the most wealthy, healthy and likely to vote Conservative

12 June 2012

  • pharmacies, Peter Dawson

    Pharmacists must put care before commerce

    Peter Dawson
    Peter Dawson: Changes to the way that pharmacies operate will allow people to buy medicines that currently require professional advice

8 May 2012

  • Display of pharmacy shelving in UK pharmacy

    Why charging patients for prescriptions doesn't add up

    Peter Dawson
    The tax on prescriptions means many patients are not taking the medicines they need, which costs the NHS in the long run

13 March 2012

  • Social change can be the best contraception

    Social change can be the best contraception

    Peter Dawson
    Contraceptive advice is vital, but binge drinking and social deprivation can be a major factor in unwanted pregnancies and poor sexual health

7 February 2012

  • A phrenology head

    Dementia: a battle of hearts and minds

    Peter Dawson
    If what's good for our hearts is good for our heads, the implications for dementia management could be profound

10 January 2012

  • A heroin addict in recovery takes their prescription methadone.

    Why the methadone doesn't work

    Peter Dawson

    Doling out methadone to heroin addicts has become a daily ritual for many pharmacies but the government needs to tackle the root causes of addiction

22 November 2011

  • Obese man

    NHS reforms will exacerbate the postcode lottery of healthcare

    Peter Dawson

    In my 40-year career as a pharmacist, I don't ever recall the contrasts in health being as pronounced as they are now

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