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Opening the event, Sneha Bedi, elected patient governor and lead governor, looked ahead to 2040, when it is predicted more than nine million people in England will be living with a major illness such as cancer, diabetes, and kidney disease.
She continued by explaining that improving the health and wellbeing of our local communities is at the heart of our five-year clinical vision, which is our blueprint for bringing the best of the NHS to all of our patients.
Our first speaker of the evening, Dr Judith Stanton, director of population health, gave attendees an overview of what population health looks like at the Royal Free London.
She highlighted some of the health challenges facing our local communities and explained how they have influenced our trust’s population health strategy.
She said: “We define our approach to population health as improving physical and mental health outcomes, promoting wellbeing and reducing health inequalities across the entire population, both within and beyond our hospital walls.”
Judith continued by sharing her breast cancer journey, and how taking care of her health and wellbeing made a real difference to her recovery.
“As a patient, I learnt that the medication I was prescribed increased my chances of survival by 5%,” said Judith. “But I also discovered that I could increase my chances of survival by 40% by being physically active.”
Next, Dr Aalaa Jawad, consultant in population health, discussed how health inequalities are affecting our local populations in north central London.
She said: “If you were to get a bus from Barnet to Edmonton and Enfield, the people you meet at the end of your bus journey would be more likely to die between 11 and 12 years earlier than the people you would have met at the start of your journey.”
Aalaa continued by explaining that these health inequalities were the main driving force behind introducing our Faculty of Population Health, which was generously funded by the Royal Free Charity. The faculty supports staff to have conversations about healthy habits with patients with the aim of preventing illness and ultimately reducing unnecessary hospital admissions.
The final speaker of the evening, Dr Maria Goddard, active hospital lead and lifestyle physician, highlighted the importance of physical activity in reducing the risk of developing a major illness and supporting mental wellbeing.
“Staying physically active has huge positive impacts in reducing long term diseases,” said Maria. “For example, it can reduce your chances of dementia, colon cancer and depression by up to 30%.”
To help attendees put this advice into practice, Maria, Judith and Aalaa led them through an interactive chair dance at the end of the presentations.
Medicine for Members’ events are hosted by our governors and focus on topics which are important to patients, staff and the local community. You can find out more about Medicine for Members' events on our website.
We hope you can join us at future Medicine for Members’ events.
