Health:  an unhealthy obsession?


A major Institute of Ideas national conference on all aspects of healthcare

Date
11 and 12 February 2005

Venue
The Museum of London, EC2



'the government ... wants to make health a central feature of  policy,... the medical establishment ... wants publicity

We rarely hear the term hypochondria these days.
People see it as a virtuous state of awareness of health problems'

Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, author of 'The Tyranny of Health' and conference
speaker, quoted in the New Statesman 1 November 2004

Selected speakers, including Dr Michael Fitzpatrick,


Conference outline

The UK has never been so concerned by the state of its health.

Are medical professionals and public health promotions hurting or helping us? Has more information, more readily available, made us better judges of our health or more nervous patients? Are we seeing the rise and rise of patient power or hearing the moans and groans of a nation of hypochondriacs, where one aim of the government white paper on health is to tackle 'sick-note' society? Has 'trust me, I'm a doctor' been replaced by 'listen to me, I'm an expert patient'?

Major health indicators show that we have never been healthier. For example, the Office of National Statistics 'Healthy Life Expectancy' data shows a steady increase in healthy life expectancy in the last twenty years, with the life expectancy of males in Great Britain increasing from 70.86 to 75.70 years, and females' life expectancy increasing from 76.64 to 80.46 years between 1981 and 2001. Yet at the same time, a recent Mintel study found that one in four adults aged between 25 - 34 owned three or more pieces of medical equipment to help them self-diagnose illness, the most popular test being the urine sugar monitoring kits to detect diabetes. Is this a sign of well-informed citizens taking care of their health, or evidence of an unhealthy obsession with illness amongst some of the healthiest people in a
healthy society?

Both government health campaigns and increasing health advertising, for, everything from cancer research to private health insurance, warn us that our health is in clear and present danger. Obesity epidemics, smoking wars, stress-induced breakdowns, chemical carcinogens, explosions in STIs all
shadow our healthly lives. And when we are ill, our trust in the medical profession to care for us and cure us has been eroded following cases such as Shipman and the MMR controversy.

The Institute of Ideas conference will put public and professional attitudes to health and healthcare under scrutiny.

Bringing together major UK commentators on medicine and healthcare with international experts and key policy makers, we will explore the future of healthcare in the 21st century.

During two days of engaged and vibrant public debate on critical questions facing the medical, scientific and political establishment, we aim to explore amongst other topics:

* Clinical practice
* Biomedical research
* Public health promotion

With a capacity audience of 250 per day, comprised of health and medical professionals, policy makers, clinicians, academics and members of the public, we predict that this conference will be a landmark event in the debate on health and society in the UK.

Confirmed speakers

* Professor Michael Baum, professor emeritus of surgery and visiting professor of medical humanities, UCL
* Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, GP and author of 'MMR and Autism: What parents need to know' Routledge 2004
* Professor Frank Furedi, professor of sociology, University of Kent and author of 'Therapy Culture' Routledge 2004
* Professor Hugh Pennington, president of the Society of General Macrobiology and author of 'When Food Kills'
* Professor Julian Peto, Institute of Cancer Research
* Dr James Le Fanu, the Daily Telegraph
* Dr Toby Murcott, science broadcaster and author of the 'The Whole Story: Alternative Medicine on Trial?", Macmillan, forthcoming
* Professor Raymond Tallis, professor of geriatric medicine, University of Manchester and author of 'Hippocratic Oaths: Medicine and its Discontents' Atlantic Books, 2004
* Professor Mike Buy, emeritus professor of sociology, University of London and author of 'Health and Illness', forthcoming.

Confirmed sessions

* From Alder Hey to MMR - who is to blame for the culture of distrust?
* Patient power - progress or politicisation?
* Medical accidents - are doctors allowed to make mistakes?
* Clinical trials in a risk averse world
* Alternative medicine and anti-science attitudes
* Health obsessions
* From public health to behaviour modification
* The politics of obesity
* STIs and the regulation of sex
* Public health advocacy and the politicisation of evidence

For further information contact:

Tony Gilland
Science and Society Director
Institute of Ideas

020 7269 9229



Institute of Ideas Ltd,
Signet House,
49-51 Farringdon Road,
London
EC1M 3JP

Tel +44 (0)20 7269 9220
Fax (0)20 7269 9235

(19/11/04)