At our annual conference in May, Prof Martin Marshall, vice-chair of RCGP Council, spoke about the need to reconsider what general practice and community medicine looks like. Reinventing medicine is about re-prioritising what is important about supporting patients to improve their health; the wider determinants of health; the inverse care law; recognising that the biomedical model has limitations and that the GP’s holistic approach can benefit all medicine.
We will be convening a round-table to consider these issues and feed into his work. We are hoping to hold a meeting at Londonwide LMCs’ offices on Tuesday 21 August 2018. Prof Marshall has defined re-inventing medicine as being about:
- Being more explicit about the limitations of the established model of medicine.
- Encouraging a more central role for people using health services in making decisions about their own health and care.
- Reducing the waste and risk associated with inappropriate medical interventions and utilising social interventions when they are likely to be more effective.
- Supporting health professionals to practice medicine in a way that improves the health and wellbeing of patients and communities.
We would be interested to hear your thoughts on other areas the round-table could consider, via info@lmc.org.uk. There are also a very limited number of places at the round-table available.
Last updated : 18 Jul 2018