Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Known for his use of devolved powers, during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham now has the opportunity to bring his local blueprint to the national stage. But what does this mean for the future of health and social care?

Our panel explore the deeply rooted health inequalities tied to the social determinants of health, the disconnect between local decision-making and national infrastructure, and the urgent need to extend the ability to access social care to more of England's population.

We're joined by

Michael Marmot: Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London (UCL) and author of the landmark Marmot Review.

Sarah Woolnough: Chief Executive of the health think tank, The King's Fund.

Matt Sutton: Professor of Health Economics at the University of Manchester.

Reading List

Devolution can create new opportunities for better health

Will devolving powers to mayors close England’s health gap?

Andy Burnham’s goal of good growth could be a health-creating mission that supports environmental action

The King's Fund responds to Andy Burnham’s comments on social care

Discrimination in NHS Hiring: We examine the troubling success rates of Black and Asian doctors when applying for NHS jobs. Deputy news editor, Gareth Iacobucci speaks to Anthony Emmanushares his analysis on why discrimination persists in the medical workforce and what recent reports reveal.

The Ethnicity Data Gap in Research: While sex and gender are reported in 99% of trials, ethnicity is reported in only 48%. Bianca Brijnath, Professor of Health Communication in Society at La Trobe University, joins us to discuss a newly published framework aimed at standardizing the capture and reporting of ethnicity data in clinical trials.

The Evidence Revolution: We celebrate how evidence-based medicine (EBM) has set the gold standard for other areas of science. Mun-Keat Looi, The BMJ’s International News and Features Editor, speaks with Nature editor and science journalist Helen Pearson about her new book, Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works.

Reading List
Black and Asian doctors are up to 30 times less likely to be offered medical training posts in some specialties, data show 

Measurement of ethnicity in clinical trials: Delphi survey and consensus statement 

Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works by Helen Pearson

Who actually owns our health data once it is stored in the cloud? And how do we balance the global push for open medical research with the need to protect local populations from data extraction?
Kamran Abbasi sits down with Trudie Lang, Professor of Global Health Research at the University of Oxford and David Strain, Associate Professor of Cardiometabolic Health at the University of Exeter.
Together, they dive into the complex ethical and legal landscape of data sovereignty - unpacking the loopholes that could allow the US government access to NHS data, and how medical research in resource poorer settings can be extractive of data. They set out the case for data sovereignty, and how it could practically work while not stifling essential international research collaboration
Read the related articles on BMJ.com:
The CLOUD Act: NHS data must be safeguarded from US interests by David Strain
A commitment to act on data sharing by Kamran Abbasi
Data sharing must evolve towards data sovereignty by Trudie Lang

Two NHS maternity reviews have been published over the past few weeks. The biggest ever conducted, involving nearly 2500 families, investigated services at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust. It was led by senior midwife, Donna Ockenden, and its findings on poor and avoidable harm to babies and mothers have reverberated throughout UK healthcare.

This was followed immediately by publication of an independent investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England, conducted by Valerie Amos, which states that the UK's poor maternity care is "on a scale that shames our society".

We speak to  Kate Duhig, clinical senior lecturer at  Kings College London, and Marian Knight, professor of of maternal and child population health at the University of Oxford, about why we keep having reports saying the same thing, but little action to solve the problem.

As many wealthy nations have stepped back from previous aid promises, a new force has emerged to fill the gaps: private finance. David McCoy is professor of global public health at the United Nations University, and explains why turning to investment banks, wealth funds, and private equity in the pursuit of universal health coverage might cause more problems than it solves.

 

Reading list:

Dangers of finance capital in healthcare

Amos maternity review: Doctors must work differently as units “no longer fit for purpose,” but report is dogged by controversy

Nottingham maternity review: 520 mothers and babies were seriously harmed on “toxic” ward, damning inquiry finds

Australia has been in the vanguard of legislation to try and reduce the influence of social media on children and young people - their ban for under 16s was introduced on the 10th of December 2025, to great fanfare, and a lot of interest around the world.

But how effective are these bans at keeping children away from social media?

New research just published on BMJ.com has looked at that question of efficacy - finding that children are using the most simple tactics to evade the ban.

To dicuss what that means, we're joined by two of the authors of that research Courtney Barnes and Luke Wolfenden from the University of Newcastle, Australia.

We’re also joined by Amrit Purba, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Louise Holly, from the Digital Transformations for Health Lab, in Geneva, who have written commentaries to go with that research.

 

Reading list

Assessing early effects of Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age Act on adolescents’ social media use 

Learning from Australia’s social media age restriction policy  

Early data from Australia indicate that social media companies can’t be relied on to protect children