The third week in November marks World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week, a global annual campaign to improve awareness and understanding of Antimicrobial Resistance amongst patients and healthcare professionals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared AMR one of the…
Social prescribing could help young people suffering with mental health problems, new research says. Children’s charity Barnardo’s says referrals for non-clinical treatments could help to ease current pressure on child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) and help young patients…
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…
Social prescribing comes in many forms, as a pilot scheme offering games of golf to help boost health and wellbeing has proved. The Golf for Health pilot took place recently in Fife, Scotland and saw patients with varying health conditions…
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…
Actress Jenny Seagrove told audience members at the Integrative & Personalised Medicine conference 2023 in London last week that her own approach to health was radically impacted by watching her mother being prescribed ‘pills, pills and more pills’ when she…
The College of Medicine’s Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, has announced he is leaving the Social Prescribing Network, after co-founding the organisation in 2015. Current Co-Chair Sian Brand announced the news, saying Dr Dixon had been the SPN’s ‘constant’ over the…
Dr Michael Dixon, The College of Medicine Chair, reveals a busy summer calendar in his latest address… “Our cold spring is struggling to get to summer but we can look forward to warmer days with the Coronation of our Patron,…
Social isolation can be as damaging for health as a smoking habit, a top US health official has warned, saying loneliness can potentially hasten death by nearly 30 per cent. Speaking to BBC News, Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General, said that…
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…
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…
One of The College of Medicine’s Young Fellows, Hamaad Khan, delivered a powerful speech to students on Social Prescribing Day 2023, which took place on March 9th, about how Social Prescribing is vital to the future success of the NHS.…
The UK minister for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, has said the Government is committed to Social Prescribing, following last week’s Social Prescribing Day, saying funding of £3.6million will be poured into it over the next two years. Writing…
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…
Social Prescribing Day is an annual celebration of social prescribing, recognising link workers, local community groups and regional and national organisations which support people’s health and wellbeing. This year Social Prescribing Day fell on Thursday 9th March – with many…
Social prescribing and The College of Medicine’s Beyond Pills Campaign made the headlines this weekend, with a detailed article in The Sunday Express highlighting our call for urgent reform on unnecessary prescribing within the current healthcare system. The article, written…
An article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) this month debates how recent research on the treatment of chronic pain suggests social prescribing – including exercise and psychological and social support – could have a positive impact for patients living…
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…
Support groups for people suffering from chronic pain, dubbed ‘Pain Cafes‘, have opened across Cornwall in a bid to help people manage their pain without relying solely on prescription painkillers. The Pain Cafes, led by Chronic Pain in Cornwall (CPIC),…
GP surgeries in the UK should evolve to be more like ‘mini hospitals’ to help the whole NHS system run more effectively, The College of Medicine’s Vice President, Professor Sir Sam Everington, has said. Speaking to the Sunday Express, Sir…
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…
Sarah Stacey meets Gay Palmer, a Social Prescriber Link Worker Team Lead in South Southwark, who explains how her work successfully went online during the pandemic – and how the power of community can help transform individual lives… Until autumn…
As we welcome a new year, our Chair, Dr Michael Dixon, looks back at what The College of Medicine has achieved in the last 12 months, and what the year ahead looks like for our organisation… ‘2022 was a mix…
With inflation at its highest level in the last 40 years, interest rates looking set to continue to rise until the summer at least and energy prices significantly higher than in recent years, the UK is bracing for a stark…
Those following a plant-based diet could be better placed to fight off the symptoms of Covid, a new study has found. The major research, published in the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health journal, found that following a non-meat diet reduced the…
