We’re delighted to announce the winner and runner-up for this year’s Peter Fisher Essay Prize, ‘To what extent are commerce and compassion compatible in healthcare?’
We received 25 entries, all of them worth a read, some outstanding (notably the top 4).
Fraser Brown’s essay was our clear winner for this year. Fraser receives the top prize of £500, with Caroline Packer’s essay a close second, giving her the second prize of £200. Iona Lyell and Gbenga Adesoye share the joint 3rd prize, a year’s free membership to the Royal Society of Medicine. All ‘top 4’ essays will be considered for publication in the JRSM, and we will be publishing them here and in our newsletter over the coming weeks. Congratulations to all.
We were impressed with the quality of the entries, not least because this year’s title was not perhaps the easiest to develop an argument around. But the top four did so with an eloquence and coherence we’re sure will impress others too.
The Essay Prize, named after founder member and former President Dr Peter Fisher, reflects our core values.We focus chiefly on combating NHS privatisation and under-funding, defending the principles the NHS was founded upon. There are certainly more threats to the NHS than there ever has been. We work with a wide range of campaigning organisations, and have always proudly said we will (and do) talk to anyone who is interested to hear our views. Are we political? Absolutely. The NHS is a political idea. It exists through political decisions and willpower, and is threatened by the same. We are not partisan: we owe no affiliation to any one political group or party. We are for the NHS. Encouraging doctors in training to marshal their thoughts in a formal essay is one way of ensuring what we stand for is open to the very best informed debate. And adding to the greater mission, of reaching hearts and minds to persuade them that the NHS is under threat and needs everyone’s help now more than ever.
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