POLYANALGESIC TITRATION FOR OPIOID-REFRACTORY PAIN In pall care, conventional approach is serial monotherapy Non-opioid analgesics one at a time If partial response, add a 2nd; no response, switch to 2nd. But this takes time. Here we describe an alternative approach spcare.bmj.com/content/earl...

After cross-country skiing yesterday, today we're trying bobsleigh - it's scary, but fun! #glasgow #penguins #bobsleigh #winterolympics #kelvinwalkway

Smashed the record time of an escape room today and looked cute doing it!

Very impressed by letter in @theguardian.com from @jamescsanderson.bsky.social. We can’t talk about hospices without talking about inequalities in access to hospice care in less affluent areas and communities. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

“My colleague was using the terminology (terminal restlessness). . . And I said, ‘‘Have we done a rectal examination? Have we done a bladder scan? . . . The colleague got back to me – even though he’d been urinating he had a bladder of 1000 mls. So they’ve put a catheter in.’ #delirium

This is an awful & to me genuinely shocking, story. It’s not that Jay was let down by the safeguarding *system*, tho of course that’s never acceptable, it’s the personal role played in the failure by the Bishop of Leicester, which raises serious questions of judgement www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It’s #PrideMonth & we’re sharing our resource ‘It’s more than rainbows in receptions’ - Working with LGBTQ+ People in Palliative and End of Life Care. Inclusive and accessible #PEoLC care should be a right - not a privilege Illustration:@casshm.bsky.social www.nobarriershere.org/wp-content/u...

Incredibly important report by the commission on palliative care released by parliament today. I implore you all to read and I hope the government will take action to finally end the inequity in palliative care provision across the uk palliativecarecommission.uk

I was on French Exchange when John Paul II died and my friend's exchange's pet rabbit also died, leading her mother to utter the immortal words <Le pape est mort, le lapin est mort, tout le monde est mort.>

It's not that the Cardinals are in seclusion. It's just that the Vatican only has Eduroam.

I enjoyed spending a fabulous evening last week with the Small Voice Podcast team recording this conversation around how to cross the (apparent) divide between science and the Church. Thank you @cloudylemonade.bsky.social, Darren and all. 👍🙂 www.smallvoice.org.uk/sv-podcast-s...

🚨 Outrage as 20 police officers break into Westminster Quaker Meeting House and arrest six. 🚨 This shocking violation of a place of worship is a direct result of crackdowns on protest and dissent - freedom of speech, assembly and democracy are at risk.🕊️ 👉 www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

"Words like racism don't go well in our fundraising departments" Dr Gurpreet Gupta & Professor Max Watson hold space to explore anti-racism & allyship in PEOLC #PCC2025 This editorial is more important than ever. Please read it and consider your response journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

🆕Retired consultant @doctorcaldwell.bsky.social speaks to @helenh49.bsky.social and Peter Duffy about how raising patient safety concerns led to his decision to retire early and how NHS culture has changed during his 40 year career. Link: www.pslhub.org/learn/cultur...

Amen

Can sadly believe this. Bro was recommended physio for back pain. The self referral system was a very long series of automated questions via telephone which ultimately stressed him out so much we didn’t end up doing it.

Four good letters the Guardian but imo the most important is by Prof Allan House whose expertise (alongside other psychiatrists) seems to have been ignored because it was inconvenient. What does this say about the commitment of the bill’s proponents to safety? t.co/q7DRJjSDpe

Important review on domestic abuse in the context of life limiting illness. Relevant to assisted dying debate. Summary below. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/...

Fun fact: most people don’t die of pip-taz deficiency, and it is allowable to die without a trial of it.

This is like watching an infinite number of monkeys trying to type Shakespeare. #thetraitors

Meanwhile over on Twitter, someone's making tea in an air fryer. It's like the last days of Rome.

Just out - call for evidence for committee stage of Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Submissions requested “as soon as possible”. Assisted dying / assisted suicide www.parliament.uk/business/new...

Our new to us dining table arrived today. It’s our first since the fire in 2013 and my first that isn’t glass and chrome with leather chairs (chosen by my mother). I’m already looking forward to dinner!

The disabled community lost a powerful activist in Lisa Egan last week. She showed a lot of us how to ‘be disabled’ & mentored us in #DisabilityRights activism. If I’ve ever done anything to try to change things for disabled people, it was because of Lisa. Short thread linking to some of her work:

“Facing death differently: revolutionising our approach to death and grief”. A really important piece here from @lucyselman.bsky.social in the @bmj.com. I’ll try to pick out some highlights in a🧵, but actually I’d recommend reading the whole article. Link here: www.bmj.com/content/387/...

It turns out our new house is the perfect venue for a shadow puppet theatre. I am really enjoying finding the magic in our new space and having our smallest friends here all weekend was just lovely.

if i were bono, i’d quit music & open up a gluten free bakery called “Where The Treats Have No Grain”

I don’t know why this makes me as happy as it does, but this is the chart of views for my French Press technique video over the last year. Every little peak happens on a weekend, particularly on Sundays. There is often a notable peak on Christmas Day too!

‘To throw in the spanners’…? #thetraitors

recording an epic gothic cover of Mr Boombastic to be used over five seconds of people walking down a corridor, maybe a shot of the moon #thetraitors

Conclave (2024)

“I’m a diplomat. I deal with hostage situations and I’m able to be calm in a crisis.” “Anyway I have decided to vote myself out of the train.” #TheTraitors

It’s Christmas on-call for me and night shift Christmas for my wife. I’ll mostly be either working, pootling about in the West End or watching Christmas films with the cat. It will be lovely and a bit sad which feels like an appropriate 2024 Christmas. Also I have so much chocolate!

you know who should be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame? Sisyphus

I had a very similar experience today in a Glasgow carpark… the presence of my sprout headband seemed to make people even angrier…

This is the only photograph I took on 16th December 2014. What a day…

Sharing our delirium resources for healthcare professionals caring for people approaching end-of-life. Includes advice on using the 4AT to identify delirium. youtu.be/e6PXbWvWCTI?...

Two new additions to the fantastic Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines. Mouthcare: tinyurl.com/5n6v38st Spiritual Distress: tinyurl.com/y4k67ja5

Absolutely not…

Disability advocacy groups in the Australian Capital Territory have withdrawn from gment consultation on #assisteddying Why? Cos 2 years later their well informed reasonable requests haven’t been actioned Being invited to the table is not enough @francesryan.bsky.social @sonia-sodha.bsky.social

The draft Scottish budget published today included welcome recognition that Scotland's hospices need more support. But we need clarity on what the funding announced is intended to cover - especially given the hospice sector still faces a significant deficit this year. Read more: bit.ly/3ZNc8tz

We started our Advent at Church this morning by reflecting on this poem by Emily Dickinson. However you spend this season, learn to see.

I have given a lot of stuff away on Facebook Marketplace this week and it has made me feel so accomplished. I am so good at handing things I don’t want to strangers!

Here's the homily that I preached at Janey Godley's funeral today. "Janey Godley died having forgiven everyone. But she still believed to her dying day, that Trump..." #JaneyGodley #pisky #Glasgow #FrankGetTheDoor www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNof...

I’ve been clearing some stuff out of my car and have discovered that my fit tested masks from visiting patients at the height of the pandemic have expired. The passage of time is a strange thing.

This is an important point. Yesterday’s vote on assisted dying / suicide affects our patients now, not just at some future date. They may be pleased by the outcome, confused by it, or frightened. All heath and care professionals need to be able to sensitively discuss this. Guidance is needed.

Around 600,000 people who die in the UK each year could benefit from palliative care. Palliative care needs to be state funded, as it is now in the Republic of Ireland. @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... (See estimates of need - Tables 3+4)

I don’t think I’ve ever recommended watching a funeral on catchup but I’m watching this as it happens and it is absolutely life affirming. What a woman. #frankgetthedoor