Last night, a bevy of medical hacks, PRs and some of the great and the
good from the world of medicine gathered together for the annual
jamboree that is the Medical Journalism Awards.
It was a good night for GP. News reporter Tom Ireland scooped the best newcomer award for his story ‘GPs face charges for patients' visits to A&E'.
‘Within
weeks of starting, Tom got this front page splash which was picked up
by the nationals - a great achievement which bodes well for the
future,' the judges said. Naturally everyone at GP and Healthcare Republic is delighted with the result.
GP's former deputy news editor, Rachel Liddle, was also shortlisted in the trade news category for her story ‘Bid to swap 60 QOF points for extended hours'.
Tom
and Rachel were in good company, other winners included the BBC's
Fergus Walsh, Guardian columnist and standard-bearer for scientific
accuracy Ben Goldacre and The Times's science editor Mark Henderson.
The standard of entries was, as ever, exceptionally high and it is fantastic that members of GP's news team were judged to be among the best around.
As
well as celebrating the best of medical journalism, the awards were
also a chance for us journos to drink far too much wine, eat some
rather nice nibbles and mingle with each other. It was a great
opportunity to talk with our rivals (guardedly, of course), catch up
with former colleagues and find out all the latest gossip.
One
of the things that became clear to me last night is that healthcare
remains a truly exciting area to report on. Whether it's recent scientific
advances, the latest financial calamity or a new bit of DoH policy - there
is always something interesting to write about.
Don't forget, that the GP and Independent Nurse
editorial teams provide you with all the latest primary care and
medical news every day on Healthcare Republic. You can sign up for our
daily bulletin here.