Changing the conversation about health

Expert’s view

‘Unless you change your habits, you’re not solving the issues’: Weight-loss drugs to beat diabetes is a quick fix – but not a long-term solution
‘Unless you change your habits, you’re not solving the issues’: Weight-loss drugs to beat diabetes is a quick fix – but not a long-term solution

‘Unless you change your habits, you’re not solving the issues’: Weight-loss drugs to beat diabetes is a quick fix – but not a long-term solution

In the first of a two-part series examining the growing trend for using weight-loss drugs to tackle diabetes Type 2, Sarah Stacey reports on the serious potential risks for patients – and a safe, long-term alternative… The slew of hopeful…

Dr Michael Dixon, our chair, says paper written on Integrated approach to health by King Charles III in 2012 was ‘ahead of its time’
Dr Michael Dixon, our chair, says paper written on Integrated approach to health by King Charles III in 2012 was ‘ahead of its time’

Dr Michael Dixon, our chair, says paper written on Integrated approach to health by King Charles III in 2012 was ‘ahead of its time’

The College of Medicine’s Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, has praised a paper written by our patron, King Charles III, in 2012 on Integrated Health as ‘forward thinking’ and has invited our members to re-read it. The paper, entitled ‘Integrated health…

‘Getting research money for plant medicine is extremely difficult’: Simon Mills in conversation with herbalist Michael McIntyre
‘Getting research money for plant medicine is extremely difficult’: Simon Mills in conversation with herbalist Michael McIntyre

‘Getting research money for plant medicine is extremely difficult’: Simon Mills in conversation with herbalist Michael McIntyre

The College of Medicine’s Self Care Lead, Simon Mills, first encountered herbalist and acupuncturist Michael McIntyre around 45 years ago as the pair met as practitioners trying to drive forward plant medicine in the UK. In 2022, the College of…

English National Opera tells IPM Congress 2023 how singing techniques can help respiratory problems
English National Opera tells IPM Congress 2023 how singing techniques can help respiratory problems

English National Opera tells IPM Congress 2023 how singing techniques can help respiratory problems

The English National Opera (ENO) addressed the Integrative and Personalised Medicine Congress in London last month, offering a fascinating discussion on how research has found that singing techniques can help those with respiratory problems. The four-strong panel included ENO Chairman…

‘For 50 years, we haven’t used a single kilo of pesticide’: Patrick Holden responds to Times article on the future for sustainable farming
‘For 50 years, we haven’t used a single kilo of pesticide’: Patrick Holden responds to Times article on the future for sustainable farming

‘For 50 years, we haven’t used a single kilo of pesticide’: Patrick Holden responds to Times article on the future for sustainable farming

An article, Farming today means thinking of tomorrow, by journalist Alice Thomson published in The Times newspaper this month examined future farming methods, discussing the ongoing conflict between those who produce food and environmental campaigners. Here, Patrick Holden, CEO of…

Beyond Pills Campaign: Dr William Bird on the impact Green Social Prescribing can have
Beyond Pills Campaign: Dr William Bird on the impact Green Social Prescribing can have

Beyond Pills Campaign: Dr William Bird on the impact Green Social Prescribing can have

Reading GP Dr William Bird, the College of Medicine’s Nature Lead and a pioneer of Green Social Prescribing, talks to Sarah Stacey about the healing power of nature for every age group… Think of the shapes, colours and sounds of…

Blog: How arts and creativity can help young people deal with difficult transitions
Blog: How arts and creativity can help young people deal with difficult transitions

Blog: How arts and creativity can help young people deal with difficult transitions

This week, Professor Chris Drinkwater, Executive Lead for Arts and Creativity at the North East & North Cumbria Child Health and Wellbeing Network, wrote a blog for theatre company Damn Cheek on the benefits of drama for helping children to cope…

Professor Sir Sam Everington urges Government to ‘put nurses in schools’, in RSA article
Professor Sir Sam Everington urges Government to ‘put nurses in schools’, in RSA article

Professor Sir Sam Everington urges Government to ‘put nurses in schools’, in RSA article

The College of Medicine’s Deputy Chair, Professor Sir Sam Everington, has called for every school to have access to a qualified nurse, in a passionate article for the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) magazine. Sir Sam, who is a GP…

EXCLUSIVE: NHS Prescribing Director Professor Tony Avery on why unnecessary prescribing must stop – for the sake of both patients and our healthcare system
EXCLUSIVE: NHS Prescribing Director Professor Tony Avery on why unnecessary prescribing must stop – for the sake of both patients and our healthcare system

EXCLUSIVE: NHS Prescribing Director Professor Tony Avery on why unnecessary prescribing must stop – for the sake of both patients and our healthcare system

To mark Social Prescribing Day 2023, Professor Tony Avery OBE, GP and National Clinical Director for Prescribing at NHS England, writes for The College of Medicine on the system approaches needed to optimise medicines to better care for people living…

Herbs that heal: Watch Simon Mills’ discussion with Dr Rupy Ajula on The Doctor’s Kitchen podcast
Herbs that heal: Watch Simon Mills’ discussion with Dr Rupy Ajula on The Doctor’s Kitchen podcast

Herbs that heal: Watch Simon Mills’ discussion with Dr Rupy Ajula on The Doctor’s Kitchen podcast

A podcast discussing how herbs can help health, released in November on Dr Rupy Ajula’s The Doctor’s Kitchen podcast, and featuring herbal practitioner Simon Mills, who is The College of Medicine’s Self Care Lead, has now had more than 80,000…

‘Complementary medicine radically altered my views on how to heal’: Dr Michael Dixon’s blog for the British Association for Holistic Medicine
‘Complementary medicine radically altered my views on how to heal’: Dr Michael Dixon’s blog for the British Association for Holistic Medicine

‘Complementary medicine radically altered my views on how to heal’: Dr Michael Dixon’s blog for the British Association for Holistic Medicine

In a 2018 article for the Journal of Holistic Healthcare – republished last month by the British Association for Holistic Medicine and Health Care (BHMA), our Chair, Dr Michael Dixon (pictured below), recounts how, in his own career as a…

Beyond Pills Campaign: A message from our Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, on how The College of Medicine is at ‘the forefront of reducing overprescribing’
Beyond Pills Campaign: A message from our Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, on how The College of Medicine is at ‘the forefront of reducing overprescribing’

Beyond Pills Campaign: A message from our Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, on how The College of Medicine is at ‘the forefront of reducing overprescribing’

In his latest blog post, ‘Reflections from the Bridge’, Dr Michael Dixon, The College of Medicine’s Chair, looks at how social prescribing is changing the landscape of health for the better… Change is as inevitable as death and taxes. As…

How to stop NHS overprescribing? Key voices in healthcare call for longer GP appointment slots, improved sharing of medical records and patients being empowered to make better decisions on their own health
How to stop NHS overprescribing? Key voices in healthcare call for longer GP appointment slots, improved sharing of medical records and patients being empowered to make better decisions on their own health

How to stop NHS overprescribing? Key voices in healthcare call for longer GP appointment slots, improved sharing of medical records and patients being empowered to make better decisions on their own health

Some of the leading voices in UK health are calling for better support of healthcare professionals in tackling overprescribing that is crippling the NHS, saying GPs currently receive ‘lots of guidance on when and how to prescribe – but much…

Food on Prescription: Ahead of a stark winter, key voices at The College of Medicine unite on why healthy food must be accessible for everyone
Food on Prescription: Ahead of a stark winter, key voices at The College of Medicine unite on why healthy food must be accessible for everyone

Food on Prescription: Ahead of a stark winter, key voices at The College of Medicine unite on why healthy food must be accessible for everyone

Back in early summer, eight of the most progressive minds on how healthy eating and food impacts our societies in the 21st century set out their views on the seismic shift needed to protect our health and healthcare systems. Eight…

WATCH: Dr Michael Dixon appears on The Doctor’s Kitchen podcast
WATCH: Dr Michael Dixon appears on The Doctor’s Kitchen podcast

WATCH: Dr Michael Dixon appears on The Doctor’s Kitchen podcast

NHS doctor Dr Rupy Aujla founded The Doctor’s Kitchen after he was diagnosed with a significant heart condition, which he subsequently reversed using a food and lifestyle approach. Sharing his knowledge on The Doctor’s Kitchen, which has nearly 300,000 followers…

The College of Medicine in HSJ: “Patients are being deprived of better outcomes because of a lack of awareness of social prescribing”
The College of Medicine in HSJ: “Patients are being deprived of better outcomes because of a lack of awareness of social prescribing”

The College of Medicine in HSJ: “Patients are being deprived of better outcomes because of a lack of awareness of social prescribing”

Patients are potentially being prevented from accessing beneficial non-medical treatments simply because healthcare providers don’t know about them, two leading voices from The College of Medicine have said in an article for the Health Service Journal. Promoting The College of…

“Current medicine is failing spectacularly”: Dr Michael Dixon’s opening address at the IPM Congress
“Current medicine is failing spectacularly”: Dr Michael Dixon’s opening address at the IPM Congress

“Current medicine is failing spectacularly”: Dr Michael Dixon’s opening address at the IPM Congress

On June 17th, The College of Medicine’s Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, took to the stage at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in central London. Moments earlier, attendees had been played a rallying video message by our patron, HRH The Prince…

Face to face once more! The College of Medicine’s Food on Prescription conference takes place in London
Face to face once more! The College of Medicine’s Food on Prescription conference takes place in London

Face to face once more! The College of Medicine’s Food on Prescription conference takes place in London

The College of Medicine enjoyed a hugely successful return to in-person conferences at the Integrative and Personalised Medicine Congress on June 16th to 18th, which took place at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in central London. Our own Food on…

“Prioritise children and value primary care”: Sam Everington pens an open letter to new NHS England chair Richard Meddings
“Prioritise children and value primary care”: Sam Everington pens an open letter to new NHS England chair Richard Meddings

“Prioritise children and value primary care”: Sam Everington pens an open letter to new NHS England chair Richard Meddings

The College of Medicine’s Sir Sam Everington has penned an open letter, published in the Health Service Journal, to the new NHS England chair Richard Meddings on the future of the NHS and how the healthcare system can be improved. You…

Dr Michael Dixon tells the Westminster Health Forum that GPs need to re-build patient relationships that were lost to the pandemic
Dr Michael Dixon tells the Westminster Health Forum that GPs need to re-build patient relationships that were lost to the pandemic

Dr Michael Dixon tells the Westminster Health Forum that GPs need to re-build patient relationships that were lost to the pandemic

Dr Michael Dixon, Chair of The College of Medicine and Co-Chair of the National Social Prescribing Network, delivered the following speech in his opening address at the Westminster Health Forum on March 9th 2022… ‘General practice is on the edge…

Dr Toh Wong, co-organiser of February’s Integrative Health Convention, on how a life-changing illness changed his approach to health
Dr Toh Wong, co-organiser of February’s Integrative Health Convention, on how a life-changing illness changed his approach to health

Dr Toh Wong, co-organiser of February’s Integrative Health Convention, on how a life-changing illness changed his approach to health

Dr Toh Wong, a GP living and working in Devon, tells the College of Medicine how a Bell’s Palsy diagnosis – and a course in neurolinguistic programming – made him realise that health and healing requires an Integrative Health approach. On February…

“How much does evidence matter when driving health policy?”
“How much does evidence matter when driving health policy?”

“How much does evidence matter when driving health policy?”

Speaking at the European Congress for Integrative Medicine (ECIM) in November 2021, our Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, debated how much evidence should drive health policy in modern healthcare. Here, Dr Dixon expands on that debate… “I am sure that everyone…

‘We’re on the verge of breaking the glass ceiling on conventional medical thinking…’ Dr Michael Dixon tells European Congress for Integrative Medicine
‘We’re on the verge of breaking the glass ceiling on conventional medical thinking…’ Dr Michael Dixon tells European Congress for Integrative Medicine

‘We’re on the verge of breaking the glass ceiling on conventional medical thinking…’ Dr Michael Dixon tells European Congress for Integrative Medicine

Dr Michael Dixon, the College of Medicine’s Chair, addressed the European Congress for Integrative Medicine (ECIM) on November 4th 2021, telling those attending that the conference marked ‘a new dawn for integrative medicine and the beginning of a new age…

A lockdown success! How a team of healthcare professionals is transforming mental health support in their region
A lockdown success! How a team of healthcare professionals is transforming mental health support in their region

A lockdown success! How a team of healthcare professionals is transforming mental health support in their region

Two GPs who helped to create a mental health referral team during the height of the first lock-down have shared with the College of Medicine the challenges and successes of its first year in operation. The Andover Primary Care Mental…

“There’s no pressure to produce anything” Art counsellors reveal how simply doodling can boost mental health and well-being
“There’s no pressure to produce anything” Art counsellors reveal how simply doodling can boost mental health and well-being

“There’s no pressure to produce anything” Art counsellors reveal how simply doodling can boost mental health and well-being

Nour Saleh says she first realised the positive influence of art as a child, noticing ‘the power of it to gather people and unite them’ and how drawing or doodling ‘appeased’ her own emotions, offering moments of calm. Nour, a…