Past Events
- Health: an unhealthy obsession?
- Venue: The Museum of London, London Wall, London
- Date: February 12, 2005
- Time: All day
- Tickets: Institutional rate £70, individual rate £40 (£30 concession), IoI Associate rate £30 (£25 concession)
- Booking: 020 7269 9220 or 9224
- THIS EVENT HAS NOW TAKEN PLACE. FURTHER TRANSCRIPTS WILL APPEAR SHORTLY.
Transcripts available:
Government health campaigns, and increasing advertising for everything from cancer research to private health insurance, warn us that our health is in clear and present danger. Obesity epidemics, smoking bans, stress-induced breakdowns, chemical carcinogens, explosions in STIs all shadow our healthy lives. At the same time, our trust in the medical profession to care for us and cure us has been eroded following cases such as the Shipman murders and the MMR controversy. This conference will explore and discuss why we are so concerned about our health at a time when we have never lived longer.
10.30 -11.45amOpening plenary: Health Obsessions
Great strides in science and medicine have significantly improved our capacity to understand, treat and cure serious illnesses. In the developed world, infant mortality has plummeted and vaccination programmes have all but eradicated devastating childhood diseases. Our standard of living has improved enormously as has our ability to live a long and active life.
Yet we worry incessantly about the food we eat, the air we breathe, the amount of exercise we take and the number of vitamins we ingest. We scrutinise our bodies and minds for signs of malaise. In our bid to be healthier are we in danger of worrying ourselves sick? Why are we so troubled by our health – and what can be done to make it better?
Lecture by:
- Frank Furedi
- professor of sociology, University of Kent and author of Therapy Culture, Routledge 2003
- Tim Curry
- Royal College of Nursing Policy Advisor and Registered Nurse
- Dr Sophie Petit-Zeman
- Director of Public Dialogue, Association of Medical Research Charities, and author of Doctor, what's wrong? Making the NHS human again, forthcoming (Routledge)
- Dr Presley Reed
- Reed Group, and medical disability advisor
- Claire Fox
- director, Institute of Ideas
Respondents:
Chair:
12noon -1.25pmHave we lost faith in scientific medicine?
Workshop 1: Patient Power – progress or politicisation?
Paternalism is out, patients are in. From the ‘retained organs’ scandals at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and Alder Hey hospital to the inquiry into the murderous practices of Dr Harold Shipman, recent events have undermined trust in the traditional institutions of medicine and prompted calls to ‘put the patient first’. But does this shift always serve patients’ best interest? Are we in danger of pitching patients against doctors and interfering with the professional judgements of practitioners? Does the medical establishment’s embrace of this ‘democratising’ agenda herald well thought through improvements to the quality of healthcare, or is it an abdication of responsibility? How can the ‘patient-doctor’ relationship best be improved?
Panel:
- Professor Peter Beresford
- director of the Centre for Citizen Participation, Brunel University; chair of Shaping Our Lives and member of INVOLVE
- Mike Bury
- emeritus professor of sociology, University of London, author Health and Illness, forthcoming
- Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
- GP and author of MMR and Autism: What parents need to know, Routledge 2004
- Dr James Le Fanu
- Daily Telegraph
- Brid Hehir
- Lead for Patient and Public Involvement, Camden Primary Care Trust
Chair:
Workshop 2: The fall of scientific medicine?
With burgeoning markets for alternative medicines, vitamin supplements, diets, and self-diagnosis products – for everything from high blood pressure to diabetes – many of us are clearly concerned about our health.
But at a time when a doctor’s diagnosis is increasingly seen as ‘just one opinion’ and there is growing concern about the side-effects of conventional drugs produced by the pharmaceutical industry, what shapes the choices we make and determines the products we purchase? Why is the holistic approach favoured by alternative medicine practitioners so appealing, regardless of verifiable results? Are we turning our backs on science in favour of faddish 'treatments'?
Panel:
- Jerome Burne
- medical and science journalist for the national press
- Dr Eliot Forster
- vice president of development for Pfizer Global Research and Development
- Joe Kaplinsky
- science writer and technology analyst
- Dr Toby Murcott,
- science broadcaster and author of The Whole Story: Alternative Medicine On Trial?, MacMillan, forthcoming
- Dr Ellie Lee
- lecturer in social policy at the University of Kent and author of Abortion, motherhood and mental health: the medicalization of reproduction in the United States and Great Britain
Chair:
1.15 - 2.30pmLunch
2.30 - 3.45pmAwareness or anxiety?
Workshop 1: Cancer - are we too aware?
The government has embraced the idea of 'catching cancer early', ploughing funds into screening programmes and awareness campaigns. This approach has commonsense appeal, but how does it fit with the medical evidence? Do such programmes play a valuable role in reassuring the population and detecting disease, or can they have a more negative effect, causing unnecessary anxiety about relatively rare conditions? What is the right balance between fear, detection and cure?
Panel:
- Michael Baum
- professor emeritus of surgery and visiting professor of medical humanities, University College London
- Dr Liz Frayn
- urology research fellow, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth
- Hazel Thornton
- independent advocate for quality in research and healthcare
- Dr Ellie Lee
- lecturer in social policy at the University of Kent and author of Abortion, motherhood and mental health: the medicalization of reproduction in the United States and Great Britain
Chair:
Workshop 2: Informed choice - whose evidence do we trust?
As public health rises up the political agenda we need to consider how the public gains access to evidence about health matters. From passive smoking to alcohol and childhood vaccinations, we receive a daily barrage of apparently scientific evidence that is often contradictory and sometimes alarmist. Is there a danger of scientific evidence becoming politicised with a pick and mix approach to evidence to meet political priorities? As special interest groups, NGOs, charities and companies compete for funding and public attention, what impact does advocacy have on the reliability of evidence? How can we avoid unbalanced assessments of risk, and ensure that people are allowed to make genuine choices based on sound science?
Panel:
- Tracey Brown
- director, Sense About Science and author of the Working Party’s report, 'Peer Review and the Acceptance of New Scientific Ideas'
- Dr Margaret McCartney
- Glasgow GP and health writer
- Professor Hugh Pennington
- president of the Society for General Microbiology, author When Food Kills
- Jeremy Webb
- editor, New Scientist
- Tony Gilland
- science and society director, Institute of Ideas
Chair:
4.15 -5.45pmClosing plenary: From public health to behaviour modification
Victorian public health measures to improve sanitation and housing played a decisive role in curtailing epidemics of devastating infectious diseases. Today, public health campaigns are high on the political agenda - but with some key differences. The focus is not on society, but on individual lifestyle. Hardly a week goes by without it being public awareness day for some health issue or other. Obesity, salt, and alcohol consumption, not to mention smoking, are rarely out of the news. Prevention is better than cure!
Are initiatives such as the government's 'Five a Day' fruit and veg campaign and its prescriptions for the amount of daily exercise that individuals should take likely to have a major effect on the quality and duration of people's lives? Should we welcome the government's insistence on helping us modify our behaviour or will we end up policing every aspect of our lives? How does today's individuated engagement with health issues compare to past political commitments to the NHS and the welfare state?
Panel:
- George Davey-Smith
- professor of clinical epidemiology, University of Bristol and co-editor, International Journal of Epidemiology
- Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
- GP and author of MMR and Autism: What parents need to know, Routledge 2004
- Professor Sian Griffiths
- Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oxford
- Alastair McCapra
- head of communications, Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
- Tony Gilland
- science and society director, Institute of Ideas
