Information: the most powerful prescription a clinician can make

At this year’s HETT 21 event, CEO Dr Tim Ringrose gave a talk on why he thinks that information is the most powerful prescription a clinician can make.

If you missed Tim’s talk, you can watch a full re-recording here.

Some quotes from Tim’s  talk can be found below:

“Health is one of those things we fail to appreciate until we have lost it. The Covid pandemic has dramatically reminded us that our health is our most precious asset – without our wealth, our jobs, our lives become meaningless.”

“As we live longer lives, more and more of us will “suffer” from one or more long term conditions.”

“There are more than 15 million people with at least one long term condition in the UK. 70% of healthcare costs are spent on the management of long-term conditions. We need to move to a new model of care that provides care for people with multiple conditions and needs – a personalised approach.”

“To enable all of us to be engaged and informed patients and carers we need trustworthy information about our health and treatment. It’s a fundamental requirement.”

“We have a problem with misinformation and this has been brought into sharp focus in the last 2 years with the spread of rumours and dangerous mis-truths about the Covid virus, vaccines and medical treatment that have spread quickly around the world. One of the most dangerous things we have to deal with in the modern world is misinformation.”

To follow the full talk,  you can watch a re-recording here.

References

1. The WHO Constitution, 2021 https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution#:~:text=World%20Health%20Assembly%20%C2%BB&text=Health%20is%20a%20state%20of,absence%20of%20disease%20or%20infirmity.

2. Nuffield Trust, Supporting patients to manage their long-term condition(s), 2021 https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/supporting-patients-to-manage-their-long-term-condition-s

3. The King’s Fund, Delivering better services for people with long-term conditions. Building the house of care https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/field/field_publication_file/delivering-better-services-for-people-with-long-term-conditions.pdf

4. The Health Foundation, Who is most vulnerable to health-related misinformation about COVID-19? https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/blogs/who-is-most-vulnerable-to-health-related-misinformation-about-covid-19

5. British Journal of General Practice, A mismatch between population health literacy and the complexity of health information: an observational study https://bjgp.org/content/65/635/e379

6. PM Society, Health information needs of patients and care givers, https://pmsociety.org.uk/health-information-needs-of-patients-and-caregivers/