Kit Byatt

@kitb

Retired geriatrician, now working in human rights medicine & med ed; EBM; patient-centred care; equity & justice; curious about the world and its people; usually optimistic. Refugee from Twitter (@Laconic_doc)!

351 Following1,573 Followers2,719 Posts

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Kit Byatt@kitb· 9d

Excellent blog explaining in detail the anatomy of a Trump con (one of so many), the lazy reporting of it, and also touching on the current strategic state of play in the war. (NB If you want informed, trustworthy commentary on the war, there are few better than @phillipspobrien.bsky.social!)

Extract from cited blog:

'However, what I have discovered, which is not enlightening, is that the actual reporting of war and politics these days in most media outlets can be incredibly weak. The system often seems broken—reporting White House inspired narratives that have no basis in fact as actual events, and replacing rigor with herd behavior.'

Kit Byatt@kitb· 12d

Male pine cones.

Kit Byatt@kitb· 13d

Windfall apple after the rain.

Photo of a very bright red apple, with slightly orangey-yellow highlights, lying top end down on parched ground withweirdos of dried grass stems and dry clay soil.

There is a single raindrop onthe top of the apple.

Kit Byatt@kitb· 17d

Credenhill, yesterday evening, at golden hour (no filters!).

A landscape mode photograph with the sun setting over Credenhill in the middle and yellow-tinged light blue-grey sky above it. This is framed by abundant foliage: a hedge below, and tree leaves above and to the sides.

There is a very warm yellow to amber glow, as well as flare from the sun, in the foreground making the whole picture appear very warm.

Kit Byatt@kitb· 18d

Happy Lammas Day!!

$A portrait orientation photo looking directly down onto a champagne coupe glass of bubbly (actually prosecco) on a light grey background. The shadow of the glass extends upwards and to the right to the top of the tall, narrow image. There is a refracted sunlight sparkle halfway up the shadow of the glass's stem.$

Kit Byatt@kitb· 18d

Venus over Stretton Sugwas

A nighttime photograph of the evening sky.

A dark amber sky over a dark horizon with a small clump of trees.

Above and to the right of the trees is a small bright object in the sky — Venus.

Kit Byatt@kitb· 19d

A feed cleanse — a water lolly.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jul 4

In situ!

Strands of the same material photographed in the tree.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jul 4

Looks like the spaghetti tree is a thing, after!

Photograph of many pale strands on tarmac, looking like pieces of spaghetti.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jun 13

The scaffolding is going up.

Screenshot from live video feed showing workers erecting scaffolding under the name of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center, preparing to remove Donald Trump's name.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jun 12

Another great cricket match which we didn't expect to happen, given the weather forecast for the day! We had a great game and just failed to contain the Hereford Cathedral School staff who scored the winning runs three balls before the end of the last over! #HerefordHospitalsCricketClub

A wide angle view of a cricket ground.

The lower half of the image is grass, bathed in sunshine. There are cricketers fielding in blue kit. The two batters are in white. A white sightscreen is visible towards the right hand edge of the ground.
The back of the ground is bordered by a line of mature trees. Above them is a sky thick with dark grey clouds

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jun 10

Presumably, by his logic, we should ban the sgian-dubh too?

A sgian-dubh (ceremonial Scottish dagger, worn in the hose, or sock).

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jun 8

The hospital team had a wonderful evening's cricket on Thursday! (We came second!)

A spectacular landscape mode wide- angle photo of a cricket ground.
The bottom half is the ground itself, the lower three-quarters is in shadow and the upper quarter in bright sunshine
The horizon between the ground and the dark grey clouds above is formed by mature trees in the sunshine.
Cricketers in white are visible on the ground in the distance.
There is part of a double rainbow over the right hand third of the sky.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jun 5

Exhibit A!

A close up of the popular fluff, lying among the grass.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jun 5

Has it been snowing here in Hereford? No, it's poplar fluff!!

A photograph of a park with most of the picture occupied by an area of open cut grass.

Around it there are some mature trees, and one of these to the left is particularly large. On the grass to the right of that tree is a patch of white which could easily be mistaken for a frosting of snow. However, this is in early June and it is, in fact, poplar fluff.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Jun 5

Trying to switch energy provider to @octopus.energy. Not going so well (see screenshot). Rang the number over 5 minutes ago—lines closed. "Ring in office hours: 9 to 5pm" Frustrating to say the least!!

Screenshot showing error message:

It looks like there was something wrong with your submission.

If this problem persists, please call us on 0808 164 1088.

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to diagnose the issue this time.

Switch to Octopus.

Switching has never been simpler.

Kit Byatt@kitb· May 29

As a geriatrician, I'm contractually obliged to post this at this time of year!

Kit Byatt@kitb· May 25

The first Pimms of the year out on the terrace! 🍹 We didn't have enough good weather last year to justify having any, sadly. 😕

A half pint glass of Pimms standing on a black round glass table. The glass has
'Hereford 2015, 11, Beer on the Wye' on it.
Behind the table and glass are grass and a laurel hedge.
In the background there are two trees (a sycamore and a false acacia, one on either side), they and the clear blue sky, are both reflected in the table.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Apr 28

Preparing the green at the Hereford Bowling Green.

Portrait orientation photograph of a man mowing the diagonal line on the green of Hereford Bowling Green club.
The green is surrounded on two sides by brick walls and on the other two sides by buildings.
The sky is blue with a few small white cumulus clouds and one of the brick walls forms the lower border.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Apr 27

Hereford Town centre this morning ('High Town')... Could easily have been taken 50 or 100 years ago!

A portrait mode monochrome photograph of the 'Black and White House'. There are three storeys with about 16 pigeons sitting on the roof.

In front of the house is the statue of a Herefordshire bull on a low, wide plinth on which a man is sitting, holding a bunch of flowers in his left arm and feeding pigeons on the ground in front of him.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Apr 22

A timeline cleanse: From acouple of nights ago, the evening sky with the moon in the centre, Jupiter above it and to the left, and Venus just above the horizon below the moon and to the right.

Dark blue night sky with the moon and two planets as described in the text

Kit Byatt@kitb· Apr 11

CORRECTION: The same as in the previous post, except there's is only *one* other consultation lasting 15 days (not two). (FWIW the 8-day consultation is a monthly review on catch limits in one fishing area; the other 15-day one is re protecting king scallop stocks in two areas in 2026 & 2027)

Column chart showing 100 consultation durations arranged in increasing values, ranging from the minimum of 8 working days (1.6 weeks) to the maximum of 98 working days (20 weeks).

The shortest duration is for a regular monthly consultation about the catch limit in a specific fishing area.

There are two consultations with the longest duration (98 working days): 'The Future Homes and Buildings Standards: 2023 consultation' and 'New Towns Draft Programme'

The mean duration is 47 days
The median duration is 48 days
The mode (commonest) duration is 61 days

The IAB column is second from lowest, at 15 working days (three weeks), along with one other consultation ('ICES area 7d and 7e king scallop dredge fishery closure 2026 & 2027').

The next highest duration is 21 working days (5 weeks).

The data were the first 100 items, in order of recency of update, on the Government's Consultations website, including both open and closed consultations.

[data source: https://www.gov.uk/search/policy-papers-and-consultations?content_store_document_type%5B%5D=closed_consultations&content_store_document_type%5B%5D=open_consultations&order=updated-newest&page=1]

Kit Byatt@kitb· Apr 9

Fascinating insight into how politics has been changing across European democracies... Not so much Left/Right, but more GAL/TAN ! 👇

Screenshot from cited blog:

Hence, what this election makes clear is that Danish politics is increasingly organised around two cleavages that cut across the old left-right axis: immigration and environmental policy. This pattern is well-documented in comparative European politics — the transformation from one-dimensional left-right competition to multi-dimensional contestation around cultural, communitarian, and ecological values is a central finding of the past decade’s scholarship on Western European party systems. The common term is GAL-TAN: indicating the endpoints of a new “scale” based on ‘Green-Alternative-Libertarian’ and ‘Traditional-Authoritarian-Nationalist’ values.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Apr 1

The view from #ArtemisII rn... (Via www.nasa.gov/live)

Photograph from #ArtemisII.
Parts of the solar 'wings' are visible, though it's mainly black!

Kit Byatt@kitb· Apr 1

Navigating the Portfolio Pathway – Webinar 2026 Experienced consultants & successful PP applicants share practical guidance on evidence collection, GMC submission, career progression & success stories. Esp. useful for CESR/PP in Anaesthesia. 📅 11 April 🕙 10:00 AM 💻 MS Teams (Link in alt text)

Screenshot of Programme of Webinar with QR code.

Link to webinar:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/a4cab3f8-9b60-46d3-ae92-511216bd4068@37c354b2-85b0-47f5-b222-07b48d774ee3

Kit Byatt@kitb· Mar 28

Cracking open access guest-edited issue of @futurehealthj.bsky.social by the peerless @drkathrynmannix.bsky.social ! (Full details in her thread below)

Screenshot of contents page from journal (1/2)

Future Healthcare Journal 13 (2026) i
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Future Healthcare Journal
journal homepage: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/future-healthcare-journal
Contents
Editorial
Acknowledgement of reviewers in 2025 100501
A. Duncombe
Let’s talk about death and dying 100519
K. Mannix
Everybody’s business: insights into palliative and end-of-life care for clinicians who treat
mortals (yes, that means you) 100522
Palliative and End of Life Care
End of Life Care
M. Taylor and K. Frew
Not ready to die yet! A patient perspective of motor neurone disease 100507
K. Mannix
Anticipating, recognising and talking about dying: Can we close the gap? 100510
E. Lester, S. Tavabie, N. White and O. Minton
Recognising dying: Will artificial intelligence (AI) help improve clinical accuracy? 100516
C. Elton
Final costs: The emotional impact of providing end-of-life care 100514
F. Dewhurst, P.M. Edmonds, R.H. Harwood and D.S. Furmedge
Good care for older people at the end of life: Shared responsibilities, flexible boundaries 100515
T. Duffy and M. Lalanda
Changing practice through the art of palliative care – An infographic guide 100511
S. Henderson, C. Lightbody and M. Taubert
Can versus should: Public expectation and the high-intervention death – A practical guide for
clinicians 100518
P. Paes and S. Kite
The state of UK palliative care – time for change at scale and pace 100508
T. Osborne, K. Sleeman and L. Easthope
Intimacy, rites and nuances: An in-depth discussion of the complexities and considerations in
voluntary assisted dying in a UK and Australian context 100517
Debate
C. Lightbody and D. Willis
The FHJ debate: Failure to produce anticipatory care plans should be a never event 100509
Medicine 2050
D. Wakefield, S. Perrott, G. Turner and L. Sallnow
Palliative medicine in 2050: how will people live the last part of life? 100512

Research articles
S.A. Bowyer, E. Pissaridou, J. Booth, D. Key, W.A. Bryant, E. Sheldon, A. Zenonos, R.
Pope, H. Hemingway, A. Taylor and N.J. Sebire
A platform for generating clinical intelligence from routine health data in hospitals: PICTURE 100492
Z.Q. Mufaddal, R. Khan, O.M. Siddiqui, S. Malik, A. Baig, M.A. Siddiq, S.H. Farhan, R.S.
Memon, I. Hameed, C.J. Haas and A. Tammara
Demographic and regional disparities in cancer cachexia-related mortality in the USA from
1999 to 2020 – A retrospective cross-sectional study 100493
L. Jiang, Y.-L. Huang, M.J. Pingree and M.A. Bendel
Multistage machine learning model for automated referral triage in pain medicine 100500
S. McAllister, M. Aurelio, P. Baker, L. Brewer, J. Moore, E. Ndlovu, A. Rutley, J. Stafford
and A. Shah
A trust-wide quality improvement programme to reduce out-of-area placements, length of stay
and costs across inpatient mental health services 100496
Review articles
S. Elkefi, A. Tounsi, S. Boudiche, A.K. Matthews, R. Hernandez and N. Lourimi
Extended reality in supporting cancer patients and survivors: A systematic review on the
benefits and challenges across the cancer care continuum 100483
J.O. Warner and A. Khan
Why is there no regulation despite evidence that ultra-processed foods are hazardous to
long-term health? 100503
Short communication
Opinion articles
E. Prifti, V. Andreou and A. Katsanidou
Environmental and planetary health education for healthcare professionals: A social imperative 100491
T.A.D. Jackson
From Sandhurst to scrubs: Military leadership lessons for healthcare 100497
W. Lea, V. Jayagopal, L. Pointon, R. Ovalekar, R. Singh and J. Johnson
Are we preparing our medical students to fail with a reactive not proactive approach to
managing workplace stress, reducing burnout and addressing mental health problems? 100506
S. Braich
UK Supreme Court Ruling: A step backwards for transgender inclusionary healthcare? 100504
Research letter
C.Y. Ip, E. Yorganci,…

Kit Byatt@kitb· Mar 23

Imagine the Home Office decision-makers being required to be 'satisfied that trafficking occurred', rather than 'to have a credible suspicion’ that the person may be a victim of trafficking or modern slavery, as the law says. Hostile environment indeed!

Screenshot from blog:

'In a significant concession, the Home Secretary has accepted that her decision-makers relied on an internal policy directing them to apply an unlawful evidential threshold. The threshold in question is the one used to decide whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person has been a victim of trafficking or modern slavery. The concession was made following a judicial review brought on behalf of a survivor of trafficking. The Home Secretary has agreed to amend her internal guidance.'

Kit Byatt@kitb· Mar 17

Today really feels like spring has arrived! (This cherry used to blossom at the beginning of April, until a couple of years ago!)

Portrait mode photograph, looking upwards toward clear blue sky.

In the foreground are thin branches with pink, part-opened early cherry blossoms, like small puffs of popcorn.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Mar 13

Greetings from Hereford, where Spring is also in the air!

A close-up photo of a daffodil head, lit up from behind by the sun. Below it is the greenery of grass, just above it are more daffodils and a hedge in the background, and behind that is the sky with some clouds and a bare-branched tree, out of focus.

Kit Byatt@kitb· Mar 13

Correction: Only three horses killed at Cheltenham this week.