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There are words that we use in our private lives. Words like love, and grief, joy, desire, loss and hate. We talk about intuition, and instinct. And there are words we use professionally. Words like impact, and metrics, indicators and scrutiny.

What’s a hyper-acute stroke unit got to do with maternity services? What can the roll-out of psychological therapies teach those leading STPs? What could a researcher counting strokes in London possibly gain from talking to a Danish hospital-designer?

Mary is in her late sixties and lives alone. She has diabetes, angina and hypertension. Her hearing is deteriorating and her mobility is becoming difficult. Everyday normal things are a struggle for Mary. 

Health policy loves a good cliché. Prevention better than cure. Care closer to home. Of late, we can add another: that social prescribing - a means for GPs, nurses and others to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services - is the future.

What gets in the way of professional-client communication? What was it that stopped me saying to our accountant, “Sorry, I didn’t get that. Could you explain?” What was it that stopped my patients doing that to me?

We've pulled together the learnings from the recent meeting of the Loneliness Action Group, a partnership convened and supported by the British Red Cross and the Co-op.

Ohio. Famous for picking US presidents (28 out of the last 30), and the birthplace of aviation (the Wright brothers grew up here in 1870s). Less famous for being home of a number of the most advanced healthcare networks in the world.

“Making something a reality.” Roll the phrase around. When would you use it? In your personal life, if you’re anything like me, not much. If so, it’s probably something which won’t actually happen. Making daily gym-going a reality. Making my-attachment-to-ebay-less-all-consuming a reality. 

There’s a lot of hype around artificial intelligence (AI). The discussions swing between AI killing off cancer to AI killing us via autonomous robots. These technologies are not science fiction, they are here now – in retail, finance, those recommendations you get on Amazon and Netflix.

If “sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium” and “sitting is the new smoking” then what needs to change? ​Is it individuals, their habits and the choices they make? Or is it in fact their environments, the places where they live, work and socialise, that will determine whether or not they will live long healthy lives?