What is Think About Health?



What is Think about Health?

Think About Health is a group of philosophers, clinicians and managers who believe it is important to do just that: think, really think, about health and its care.

We offer a space for passionate , intelligent discussion, supported and provoked by rich and rigorous ‘think pieces’,  in which to explore alternative ways of thinking about health care provision, and our experience within the health care system, and our practices as health care professionals.  We are looking for ways to articulate what is happening in health care,  for new ways to reflect upon and talk about who we are and what the NHS is.

At the root of our work are our conferences. These aim to stand out from all the rest  in offering opportunities to go beyond the usual simplistic prescriptions and unexamined assumptions. They are unashamedly intelligent and passionately committed.

They have been called ‘jewels’. They allow those concerned about the direction and destiny of the NHS to discuss, openly and freely, in a reflective and friendly atmosphere - and leave seeing the world slightly differently.

Typically people talk of how enriching it is to feel  part of a community of people interested in ways of thinking, valid and coherent  ways of looking at the world that lie beyond  the mainstream management world view. 

Click here to see papers presented and explored at recent conferences:

And here to book for our next one, Compassion Fatigue: What are we missing, what is not being said in the current diagnosis that the culture of the NHS needs to be changed?

These conferences are what we are about, they are different from what everyone else is doing, if you want to be different, to have the opportunity to think freshly then click here and come along ....

In between these conferences our website aims to keep the spirit alive. Have a look at our Luminous Words project and please feel free to submit a description of your own luminous word.

You may also like to browse these links to the thinking of some of our members:

Members of the network, such as Stephen Pattison and Andrew Edgar (writing on integrity (here )),  Val Iles (on health care reform (here)), and Andrew Edgar (on the political philosophy of health (here)) have begun to explore new ways of discussing health care.

Summer 2013 Conference:



Compassion fatigue: Changing Culture in the NHS

26th to 28th June 2013
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham 

In our next conference,  Compassion Fatigue: changing culture in the NHS’, we will examine what is being said about compassion, compassionate care, culture and culture change, who is saying it and what is the meaning underneath the words.

We will also look at what is NOT being said.

We may consider what a compassionate response to concerns about care might look like, and ask ourselves whether the response to concerns about care in Mid Staffordshire was the most appropriate, effective and... compassionate?  

We will also wonder whether compassion is the right word – or whether there are others that encapsulate more valuably what it is we care about offering and receiving in the NHS.

And perhaps too how we can save significant concepts like compassion from being diminished into  a set of tickboxes – how we can keep them luminous and inspiring.  

This will be a feast for your intellect and your energy. If you want to really think about compassion and care and go away refreshed with new ways of looking at both then come and join us.

For further information and a booking form, click here.

Other Think about Health events in the near future:

Cardiff University Festival of Death, May 2013
Re-thinking the Organisation of Death
A round table discussion of how death is organised and understood within the NHS
Tuesday 17th May, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XW
Further details here, or contact edgar@cf.ac.uk



The Hay Festival                                                                                                                    

Tuesday 28th May at 7 pm, Digital Stage

Dr Andrew Edgar (Think about Health convenor) speaking on:

A moral conception of the NHS

Further details here, or contact edgar@cf.ac.uk


You may also be interested in:

Compassion in Healthcare Conference

Compassion in healthcare: Exploring and sustaining compassionate practice in healthcare. A multidisciplinary conference
Wednesday 8 May 2013
Venue: University Of Liverpool, 1 Brownlow Street, LIVERPOOL, L69 3GL 

Full details available on their website.