Description
Healthy Visions offers five expert views of how healthcare can and must change if current levels of provision are to be maintained and grown - meeting the high level of expectation from patients as medical advances continue and as the population becomes larger and older. In this edition Dr Michael Dixon argues that the idea of doctor as ultimate dispenser of all medicine, may have to be sacrificed, with the expertise of a wide range of health practitioners called upon to get best care. Dixon has been implementing his views successfully in his Devon GP practice for a number of years and his ideas are now being extended elsewhere. The programme visits a Brighton surgery which practices "narrative" surgery - instead of patients turning up for specific treatment for specific ailments, they tell their "health story", throwing up a list of possible medical issues which can be treated as a whole. Recommendations include singing and writing sessions which can help deal with some of the underlying causes of ill health. The emphasis is, not just making people "better" in the conventional sense, but helping them to be well - in a wider and deeper sense.
Producer:Arlene Gregorius
Presenter:Dr Michael Dixon
Editor:Andrew Smith
Recording of singing provided by Grey Matters Productions.
5/5. The NHS is under huge strain as it struggles to cope with an ageing population and illnesses caused by unhealthy lifestyles on top of increasingly expensive drugs, procedures and treatments. It's an unsustainable situation, says former NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp, and requires a complete...
Published 04/03/15
4/5. In 1900 about 4% of the population was aged over 65 - now it is over 20%. And within the foreseeable future we can expect most people to live to the age of 90 . This, says Professor John Ashton of the Faculty of Public Health, means we need big changes to how older people live - especially...
Published 04/02/15