This month, London will host the largest event in the UK focusing on the benefits of a patient-centred healthcare, an approach that combines conventional treatment with integrative, functional, lifestyle, holistic and complementary methods, aimed at better patient outcomes.
The inaugural Integrative and Personalised Medicine (IPM) 2022 congress, which takes place in-person at the Queen Elizabeth II on 16-18 June, brings together an impressive line-up of speakers including BBC presenter and author, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, scientist and author, professor Tim Spector, and neurologist, Dr David Perlmutter, one of the USA’s most influential physicians. Leading green thinkers and figures from food and farming are also represented, including the writer and broadcaster, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, author of the National Food Strategy, Henry Dimbleby, Sustainable Food Trust founder, Patrick Holden, and environmentalist, Jonathon Porritt.
IPM 2022 Congress chair and chair of the College of Medicine, Dr Michael Dixon believes that, post Covid, there is growing recognition of the need to look at a new way of approaching healthcare. He says:
“Medicine, as we know it, is no longer affordable or sustainable, nor is it able to curb the increase in obesity, mental health problems, and most long-term diseases. It is now time for Integrative Care to take centre stage”
Dr Michael Dixon
“Medicine, as we know it, is no longer affordable or sustainable, nor is it able to curb the increase in obesity, mental health problems, and most long-term diseases. It is now time for Integrative Care to take centre stage. Combining the best of our current medicine with an approach that enhances our natural abilities to self-heal and stay healthy using lifestyle and a wider range of therapies.
It enables us to reconnect with ourselves, our patients and within our communities, and to recognise the potential of our social and physical environment to heal and enable us to live healthier and happier lives. This conference is a clarion call for integrative and personalised medicine and marks the dawn of a new era of post-modern medicine.”
Research evidence into the health benefits of integrating different types of medical, lifestyle, holistic and complementary interventions continues to grow. In September 2021, the UK Government published a report on the findings of the former chief pharmaceutical officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge, on over-prescribing in England. The report found that 10 percent of prescription items dispensed through primary care are either inappropriate for patients’ needs or that they ‘could be better served with alternative treatments’. As a consequence, the College of Medicine launched its Beyond Pills initiative to reduce unnecessary drug prescribing, expand social prescribing, benefit patients’ health, support patient empowerment and save money, a topic discussed in more detail on day one of the congress.
The line-up of speakers over the three days draws on experts from the conventional and integrative fields of healthcare from around the world and includes:
Dr Dean Ornish, doctor, author, researcher and advisor and clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco
Professor Robert Thomas, consultant Oncologist at Addenbrooke’s and Bedford Hospital
Dr William Li, world-renowned physician, scientist and author of Eat to Beat Disease – The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself
Dr Aseem Malhotra, consultant cardiologist, best-selling author and chair, Public Health Collaboration.
The event also includes free exhibitions and workshops.
The full line up of speakers can be found at http://www.ipmcongress.com/conference/speakers
Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash