Latest

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.

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?

Incivility between healthcare professionals is damaging. Rudeness impacts on the recipient in ways far greater than making them upset. It disrupts their ability to think, to work in a team and it impacts on their willingness to help others, it even impacts on the people they care for.

The joy I had in my work in the 1980s caused me to create Buurtzorg in 2007. We now employ 14,000 people in Holland, and are expanding across the world – including in the UK. The government came to play an important part in our growth in Holland, but not by accident. 

What “something” are our communities missing which would draw people of all ages together and create a societal shift towards civic mindfulness, wellness and productivity?

I haven’t always loved being a doctor. Too often during my training, I left work wondering how I could drum up the enthusiasm needed to return to work the next morning. Long hours on call, constantly rotating to new wards and clinics, and the sense of futility I felt was intense.

It’s probably a bit strange to see a minor illness as a sign of a successful event. However, as we come to the end of our event series with the British Red Cross and Co-op Partnership on tackling loneliness, I’ve completely lost my voice! And I’m taking that as a good sign, after a few weeks which have brought real focus to the power of conversation and the value of human connection.

How do you know if you're part of a family? Your parents, siblings – that's not too difficult. How about being part of a family of services? It's a question we've been exploring in our shared learning series with the British Red Cross and Co-op partnership tackling loneliness.