Intended for healthcare professionals
MONK'S MOMENTS

Optical Illusion

Barry Monk

MA FRCP Consultant Dermatologist BMI The Manor Hospital, Bedfordshire

In April 2020, during the frst wave of COVID-19-19, Matt Hancock, UK Secretary of State for Health at the time, announced that the government would be performing 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month. When he said that the target had been achieved, there was widespread disbelief and it transpired that 40,000 had been home-testing kits which had been posted out but not actually returned. The government’s claims were challenged by the UK Statistics Authority, which suggested that Mr Hancock needed to be more careful with his use of numbers in future. One commentator described them as ‘Potemkin village tests’. For the beneft of anyone who is not familiar with the term ‘Potemkin village’, let me explain.

Dermatology in practice 2021; 27(4): 110–110
To continue reading this article, please sign in or register.

Dermatology in practice was previously supported by Wyeth from 2008 to 2010, by Wyeth and Serono in 2007, by Wyeth and Shire from 2005 to 2006, by Medlock Medical in 2004 and by SSL International from 2001 to 2003.

The data, opinions and statements appearing in the articles herein are those of the contributor(s) concerned; they are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher, Editor or Editorial Board. Accordingly the publisher, Editor and Editorial Board and their respective employees, officers and agents accept no liability for the consequences of any such inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement.

The title Dermatology in practice is the property of Hayward Medical Publishing and PMGroup Worldwide Ltd and, together with the content, is bound by copyright. Copyright © 2021 PMGroup Worldwide Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained on the site may not be reproduced, distributed or published, in whole or in part, in any form without the permission of the publishers. All correspondence should be addressed to:

ISSN 0262-5504 (Print) ISSN 2049-8446 (Online)