Studying Shakespeare could help medical students connect with patients
2 April 2021
A palliative care doctor has suggested that studying Shakespeare’s plays could help medical students connect more closely with their patients.
Media office
Read our information for journalists, latest media releases and how to contact the media office.
The Royal Society of Medicine is a leading provider of high-quality continuing postgraduate education and learning to the medical profession. Its mission is to advance health, through education and innovation.
The Society actively encourages and supports all those entering medicine and aims to be a significant provider of education to the wider healthcare team.
Each year the RSM organises over 350 academic and public events spanning 55 areas of special interest, providing over 35,000 doctors and other health professionals with a multi-disciplinary forum for discussion and debate.
The RSM is home to one of the finest medical libraries in the world, with an extensive collection of books, journals, electronic journals and online medical databases.
As well as providing education for doctors and other health professionals, the Society aims to promote an exchange of information and ideas on the science, practice and organisation of medicine, both within the health professions and with responsible and informed public opinion.
Independent and apolitical, the Society provides a neutral platform for informed debate about important, often controversial, healthcare topics.
The Society does not campaign or lobby for policy change and is not a policy-making body. It does not issue guidelines or standards of care.
Contact the media office
To request a press pass or to inquire about press releases, JRSM papers or filming on RSM premises, contact:
Rosalind Dewar, Media Manager
Tel: +44 (0)1580 764 713
Mobile: +44 (0)7785 182732
Email: media@rsm.ac.uk
Latest media releases
Covid-19: Strategy proposed for safe re-opening of mass live events
20 March 2021
A model that has the potential to support the live events industry to re-open safely at full capacity while reducing the risk of Covid-19 transmission has been proposed by a team of public health doctors from Imperial College London and the University of Tartu, Estonia.
COVID-19: UK’s colour-blind vaccine allocation strategy putting ethnic minorities at higher risk of illness and death
10 March 2021
Omitting ethnic minorities from the vaccine priority list is putting these groups at a significantly higher risk of COVID-19 illness and death.
HRH The Prince of Wales to open Royal Society of Medicine series on health impacts of climate change
4 March 2021
A series of webinars that will position health and wellbeing at the centre of the climate change debate will be opened with a pre-recorded video message from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales on Tuesday 16 March.
COVID-19: Schools urgently need guidelines on improving ventilation in classrooms
6 February 2021
There is an urgent need for guidelines on how schools can use ventilation to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the classroom, according to doctors at Imperial College London and the headteacher of a secondary school in Pinner, Middlesex.
COVID-19: Science scepticism may be reinforced by UK rush to approve vaccines
15 January 2021
Former director of public health Professor John Ashton has said that scientific scepticism may be reinforced by the UK’s rush to approve COVID vaccines for public use and the apparent political desire to be the first out of the blocks in contrast to our European neighbours.
COVID-19: Call for millions spent on failing privatised test and trace system to be diverted to local services
28 October 2020
A group of doctors is calling on the government to divert the hundreds of millions of pounds being spent on the failing centralised privatised COVID-19 national test and trace service into local primary care, local NHS labs and local public health services.
Covid-19: Pooled testing among recommendations to fix test, trace and isolate system
16 October 2020
In a series of recommendations to fix the struggling Covid-19 test, trace and isolate system in England, health researchers say that pooled testing for Covid-19 could significantly increase testing capacity in a relatively short space of time.
Professor Humphrey Scott appointed Dean of the Royal Society of Medicine
2 October 2020
Professor Humphrey Scott has been appointed Dean of the Royal Society of Medicine. He will take up the post on Friday 23 October 2020.
Drugs bill warning over US/UK trade deal
11 September 2020
The NHS would spend billions of pounds more on drugs if it had to pay US prices following a US/UK trade deal, according to a new study published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Covid-19: herd immunity in Sweden fails to materialise
12 August 2020
Sweden’s policy of allowing the controlled spread of Covid-19 viral infection among the population has so far failed to deliver the country’s previously stated goal of herd immunity.
Royal Society of Medicine convenes global Covid-19 clinical conference
16 July 2020
An international Covid-19 conference to consolidate key clinical learnings from across the globe will take place online on Monday 27 July from 16.00 hrs to 18.15 hrs (UK time), hosted by the Royal Society of Medicine.
COVID-19: Cuba offers UK salutary lesson in ‘shoe-leather’ epidemiology
15 July 2020
Cuba’s successful containment of COVID-19 through door-to-door screening of every home in the country, shows how ‘shoe-leather’ epidemiology could have averted the dramatic failure of the UK’s response to the pandemic.
COVID-19: society's response discriminates against ethnic minorities and migrants
11 June 2020
Society's response to COVID-19 is harming ethnic minorities and migrants, according to global health experts writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Covid-19: hospital response risks worsening health inequalities
15 May 2020
Disadvantaged and marginalised people face worsening health inequalities as a result of the difficult choices made by NHS hospitals in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
UK coronavirus policy places people aged 60-69 at increased risk
22 April 2020
The 7.3 million people in the UK aged between 60 and 69 are at increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.
Stress in small children separated from their parents may alter genes
14 February 2020
Experts in the emotional needs of small children say increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol in babies and small children who are separated from their parents, especially their mothers, could have a long-term genetic impact on future generations.
Doctors urged to recognise post-antidepressant sexual dysfunction
24 January 2020
A psychiatrist specialising in sexual dysfunction caused by antidepressants is calling for greater recognition of the problems that can endure after treatment stops.
Doubts raised about effectiveness of HPV vaccines
22 January 2020
A new analysis of the clinical trials of HPV vaccines to prevent cervical cancer raises doubts about the vaccines’ effectiveness.
Use of locum doctors rising despite limited evidence on quality and safety
12 November 2019
There is little hard evidence to support the widely held perception that locum doctors present a greater risk of causing harm to patients, according to new research published by the JRSM.
Emotional trauma and fear most likely cause of ‘Havana Syndrome’
1 November 2019
The cause of the mystery illness among US and Canadian diplomats in Havana is most likely to be emotional trauma and fear according to a leading sociologist and an expert in neurodegenerative diseases.
Systemic failures in public health system led to deaths in elderly patients
23 August 2019
The deaths of 17 elderly people earlier this summer were the result of systemic failures in the public health system in England, according to a leading public health expert.
Call for green burial corridors alongside roads, railways and country footpaths
5 July 2019
A leading public health expert is calling for a strategic initiative to develop green burial corridors alongside major transport routes because British graveyards and cemeteries are rapidly running out of room.
NHS-funded private sector hip operations worsening health inequality
7 June 2019
New research in JRSM shows that the increasing use of the private sector for hip surgery in England is driving down NHS provision.
Visible public health leadership needed to boost vaccine coverage
5 June 2019
Public health expert Professor John Ashton is calling for local directors of public health to provide visible leadership to address the recent systematic deterioration of vaccine coverage levels.
Da Vinci’s hand impairment caused by nerve damage, not stroke, suggests new study
4 May 2019
New analysis of 16th-century drawing by Italian doctors concludes da Vinci’s right hand affected by ulnar palsy, rather than stroke
Lung cancer under-recognised in people who have never smoked
26 April 2019
A group of respiratory medicine and public health experts are calling for lung cancer in never-smokers to be given greater recognition
Colombia experience could help reduce UK knife crime and street violence
12 April 2019
A leading public health expert says the UK should learn lessons from systematic violence reduction work in Cali, Colombia to tackle rising rates of knife crime on British streets. The work in Colombia resulted in significant reductions in homicides between 1995 and 2018.
NICE marks 20th anniversary by dropping social and ethical values from revised social value judgements document
3 April 2019
The former Clinical and Public Health Director at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has expressed dismay at the removal of explicit ethics and values in the proposed revision of the NICE Social Value Judgements document.
Transgender archive to be showcased at Royal Society of Medicine
28 February 2019
Items from an important archive of materials on transgender issues will be presented for the first time at the Royal Society of Medicine in June to accompany an event focusing on LGBTQ+ health.
UK must not fall behind in race to ‘humanise’ drug discovery
16 November 2018
Researchers are warning that current research models and regulation are blocking the development of human-relevant approaches to drug discovery and are perpetuating animal-based approaches.
Children account for almost half of sport injury-related A&E attendances
2 November 2018
Study finds almost half of sport injury-related emergency department attendances and almost a quarter of sport injury-related hospital admissions were in children and adolescents aged 0 – 19 years.
Immigration restrictions for EU citizens could damage UK research and healthcare environment post-Brexit
11 October 2018
An analysis of senior European scientists and doctors working in the UK underlines the high risk of considerable damage to the UK’s science output and international research reputation caused by any post-Brexit immigration restrictions, as well as an associated reduction in healthcare quality.
Community health workers could help tackle NHS workload crisis
5 October 2018
The growing workload crisis in NHS primary care could be helped by the systematic integration of community health workers at scale, a study shows. Published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the modelling study was led by researchers at Imperial College London.
Access to medical school narrowing for graduate-entry students
20 September 2018
Access to medical school is narrowing for people wishing to study medicine who already have a degree, according to a group of current graduate-entry medical students. In a letter to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine they describe how, in recent years, several four-year graduate-entry courses have closed or narrowed requirements to exclude individuals with non-scientific backgrounds.
Newspaper reporting of NHS Cancer Drugs Fund misleading
14 September 2018
An analysis of UK newspaper reporting of the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) between 2010 and 2015 shows that despite some critical analysis, the mostly positive stories are likely to have contributed to the CDF’s continuation, despite mounting evidence of its ineffectiveness.
Prescription costs increase for low-value treatments despite reduction in numbers
23 May 2018
Despite a fall in prescription numbers for low-value treatments, the overall cost of prescribing these items in English primary care has risen, according to new research published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Practices with poor prescribing performance more likely to prescribe homeopathy
19 April 2018
New research published today by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine finds that general practices in England with the worst prescribing quality scores are 2.1 times more likely to prescribe homeopathy than practices with the best prescribing quality scores.
Past media releases
Poor rural population had best diet and health in mid-Victorian years
9 March 2018
A new study, published in JRSM Open, examined the impact of regional diets on the health of the poor during mid-19th century Britain and compared it with mortality data over the same period.
Experts call for more evidence to test impact of GP video consultations
1 February 2018
In a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, researchers have called for more evidence to understand the safety and effectiveness of video consultation, and its impact on patient access and GP workload.
Drug trial protocol redactions by industry sponsors exposed
26 January 2018
New research published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine exposes the extent of redactions in protocols for industry-sponsored randomised drug trials.
ITN Productions & The Royal Society of Medicine
13 December 2017
The Royal Society of Medicine and ITN Productions have launched ‘21st Century Healthcare,’ a news and current affairs-style programme which explores the need for a collaborative approach to medicine to encourage new thinking. The programme brings to life the solutions to some prominent healthcare issues.
Catastrophic failures in the NHS can be caused by breakdowns in basic communication systems
29 November 2017
Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Carl Macrae, of the University of Oxford, reports that many communication processes in the NHS are still commonly viewed as mundane administrative tasks, instead of safety-critical processes that are essential to safe care.
Serious mortuary errors could be reduced by applying common patient safety protocols
24 November 2017
New research investigating serious incidents occurring in the management of patient remains after their death concludes that safe mortuary care may be improved by applying lessons learned from existing patient safety work.
Patients report worse care experience in GP practices owned by limited companies
3 November 2017
New research published today by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine concludes that patients registered to general practices owned by limited companies, including large organisations, reported worse experiences of their care than other patients.
The RSM presents 21st century healthcare, a collaboration with ITN Productions
21 September 2017
The Royal Society of Medicine and ITN Productions are partnering for a consecutive year to produce a news and current affairs-style programme that will explore the collaborative approach to medicine, encourage new thinking and look at solutions to prominent healthcare issues.
Met Commissioner Cressida Dick to speak at Royal Society of Medicine terror response meeting
19 July 2017
Cressida Dick, London Metropolitan Police Commissioner, will join trauma doctors and representatives from the London Ambulance Service at a meeting specially convened by the Royal Society of Medicine to focus on the lessons to be learned by the emergency response services from the recent major terror incidents in London and Manchester.
Professor Sir Simon Wessely becomes President of the Royal Society of Medicine
18 July 2017
Professor Sir Simon Wessely will today, Tuesday 18 July, be inaugurated as President of the Royal Society of Medicine. Regius Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College London, Sir Simon is the first psychiatrist to hold the office of RSM President.
Technology should be used to boost empathy-based medicine
28 June 2017
Technology should be used to boost empathy-based medicine according to a paper published today by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Populist radical right a threat to core values of medicine and public health
2 June 2017
The populist radical right is a threat to core values of medicine and public health, even within a functioning democratic system, according to a commentary published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Actress Kiruna Stamell debates gene editing with ethicist Dr Christopher Gyngell
27 April 2017
Two papers published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, debate gene editing and the health of future generations.
New NHS safety investigator must become fully independent body
10 February 2017
The new NHS safety investigator for England, which starts work in April 2017, must become a fully independent body through primary legislation, according to healthcare safety experts.
New analysis links 30,000 excess deaths in 2015 to cuts in health and social care
17 February 2017
Researchers exploring why there has been a substantial increase in mortality in England and Wales in 2015 conclude that failures in the health and social care system linked to disinvestment are likely to be the main cause.
Crossbench peer calls for expansion of mandatory sobriety programme
7 February 2017
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff has called for a scheme that successfully reduced alcohol-related crime and disorder in London to be rolled out across England and Wales.