I'm especially interested to hear from anybody thinking about virology research - can discuss my own interests and direct you to clinical/non-clinical colleagues to discuss research happening across Cambridge.

I'm very happy to be contacted with informal queries about any of the posts, and can pass on queries/direct you to people for further discussions.

Four ACF posts in Cambridge in infection, start August 2026, application deadline 30th October:

1 in ID (+GIM/MM/MV) www.oriel.nhs.uk/Web/PermaLin...

2 in MM (alone or +ID) www.oriel.nhs.uk/Web/PermaLin...
www.oriel.nhs.uk/Web/PermaLin...

1 in MV (alone or + ID) www.oriel.nhs.uk/Web/PermaLin...

Earlier this year, @rcpath.bsky.social kindly awarded me a research medal. They interviewed me on a broad range of topics, including my flu research, my career, the impact of COVID-19, and my thoughts on where the area is heading. Link: www.rcpath.org/discover-pat...

qrencode works very nicely as a command line option on an Ubuntu box. It seems to have a Windows port, which I've not tried.

I've had a situation where I've supplied a dataset to a journal for publication, and the journal at proof stage has asked me instead to accept replacement with a "reasonable request" statement. (It may indeed commonly be the authors, but rest of ecosystem definitely not uninvolved.)

Action for infection control nurses/doctors:
1. Call your switchboard’s public number and listen to any recorded message.
2. Check it is in-date and relevant to people who call.
3. Check there is a sensible policy for updating that message.

7/7

It’s not entirely clear to me that the benefits of having a message at all outweigh the costs. But until we know, it would be a good idea at least to ensure that messages are up-to-date and howlers have been filtered out.

6/7

And what was the hold music? Whatever the system default, or whatever was free (often both).

5/7

So we asked the hospitals what their policies were for updating these messages. No hospital had a policy beyond “it’s the infection control team’s/executive office’s responsibility”.

4/7

Messages focussed on visiting and infection control, but varied hugely (no evidence base for what works!). Some messages were out of date, or even potentially misleading (one infection control message told people “if you are in any way unwell, please do not visit our hospitals”).

3/7

Many hospitals updating their switchboard systems record a non-skippable message to all callers. We found most hospitals play these messages so regularly a person with a full-time job could not listen to them all.

2/7

New clinical paper! With @mdfortune.bsky.social. What is in those recorded messages you get when you call a hospital switchboard? And who decides those messages? Does anybody check them? More importantly, what is that earbug track that plays when the messages finish?

doi.org/10.1016/j.fh...

🧵 1/7

2025 RCPath essay prize competitions open to undergraduates studying any field of pathology, and to Foundation Doctors. Friendly reminder (from a virologist) you can submit covering any pathology specialty!

www.rcpath.org/discover-pat...

Review request sent on Christmas Eve, 10-day turnaround. I turned it down today after 2nd reminder on a non-working day. I would have been a suitable reviewer.

Sending the request was probably great for editorial KPIs, but surely selected out reviewers willing to turn down something inappropriate?!

If you are in the UK, eligible for a 'flu vaccine, and have not yet had one, now is the time to get it!

I tend to use the phrase "acute phase of the pandemic". To me, this recognises that (1) there is a long tail to endemicity, and (2) we are no longer taking the extraordinary steps required at the beginning of a pandemic.

On the page you've linked, under the update history. (It's collapsed using css.)

I found the most useful entry to be the paragraph summarizing changes at the bottom of the page.

Ironically, otherwise the largest changes are to layout (helps distinguish between versions, but a pain if you remember the algorithm visually) and to URLs/telephone numbers...

Still pondering implications of 1st UK COVID Enquiry report <https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/reports/>... initial thoughts keep returning to how to build appropriate adaptability into a system. One key lesson? Recognise when a plan no longer covers the situation on the ground.