Dr John Firth

John Firth qualified as a doctor in 1981 and now works as a consultant physician in Cambridge, where he’s the hospital’s medical lead for professional governance and so involved in trying to help sort things out whenever there are serious problems. He has written many scientific papers and textbook chapters and is senior editor of the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, the standard reference work. He’s been very fortunate to have had a ring side seat to learn about, write about and sometimes implement the truly wonderful medical advances made over the last forty years.

The way that medicine is practised reflects society. As well as changing in response to technical developments, John has seen it alter to reflect broad cultural shifts. We are now less deferential to authorities, less willing to accept adversity, less willing to accept that we can’t have something we want, and more likely to look for someone to blame when things aren’t perfect. Mulling over how these shifts have affected medical practice led him to write Kind & Sensible.