The largest event in the UK to focus on the benefits of a healthcare system that combines conventional medical treatment with integrative complementary methods attracts world-renowned speakers and doctors, therapists and complimentary health practitioners from around the globe.
London is to host the inaugural Integrative and Personalised Medicine (IPM) 2022 congress, the largest event in the UK focusing on the benefits of a patient-centred approach to healthcare that combines conventional treatment with integrative, functional, lifestyle, holistic and complementary methods, resulting in better patient outcomes.
Taking place in-person at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, London, from 16th to 18th June 2022, the IPM congress features an impressive line-up of speakers including BBC presenter and author, Dr Rangan Chatterjee; scientist and author, Prof Tim Spector; and neurologist Dr David Perlmutter, recognised as one of the USA’s most influential physicians.
The three-day event combines a world-class international exhibition and three conferences: the already established College of Medicine’s Food on Prescription conference, a new Whole-Person Health conference and an Integrative Mental Health conference. It brings together medical and health practitioners from a variety of different fields to encourage the building of a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare where all practitioners involved work together as a team.
IPM 2022 congress Chair and Chair of the College of Medicine, Dr Michael Dixon believes that, post Covid, there is a growing recognition that we need to look at a new way of approaching healthcare. He states: “Medicine, as we know it, is no longer affordable or sustainable, nor is it able to curb the increase in obesity, mental health problems, and most long-term disease. It is now time for Integrative Care to take centre stage. Combining the best of our current medicine with an approach that enhances our natural abilities to self-heal and stay healthy using lifestyle and a wider range of therapies.
It enables us to reconnect with ourselves, our patients and within our communities, and to recognise the potential of our social and physical environment to heal and enable us to live healthier and happier lives. This conference is a clarion call for Integrative and Personalised Medicine, and marks the dawn of a new era of Post Modern Medicine.”
Research evidence into the health benefits of integrating different types of medical, lifestyle, holistic and complimentary interventions is growing. In September 2021, the UK Government published a report on the findings of Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge, on over-prescribing in England. The report found that 10 percent of prescription items dispensed through primary care are either inappropriate for patients’ needs or that they ‘could be better served with alternative treatments’. As a consequence the College of Medicine launched its Beyond Pills initiative to reduce unnecessary drug prescribing, expand social prescribing, benefit patients’ health, support patient empowerment and save money. It also benefits medical professionals, many of whom may have entered medicine to help patients recover but often find themselves in a position of symptom management that is dependent upon the culture of pills. An integrative and personalised approach to medicine provides them with additional treatment options to help their patients. The campaign will be explored in more detail during a panel discussion on day one of the conference.
Another key session of the IPM’s Whole-Person Health Conference on day one, focuses on ways to enable our doctors and nurses to flourish. The Whole-Person Health Conference will be chaired by Dr Elizabeth Thomson, CEO of the National Centre for Integrative Medicine, and this session includes some of the leading names in integrative, personalised, functional and holistic medicine, such as Prof Dame Clare Gerada, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dame Donna Kinnair, previous Director General of the Royal College of Nursing and Vice Chair of the College of Medicine, Dr Susanna Petche, Functional Medicine Doctor and GP, and Dr Ally Jaffee, NHS Junior Dr, Co-founder Nutritank, NHS Clinical Entrepreneur & 2021 Diana Award recipient. Together they will leave Prof Dame Gerada and Dame Kinnair will lead a discussion on keeping medical professionals themselves healthy to enable them to provide quality healthcare to others. Traditionally, the medical field has faced a culture where sacrifice is prioritised over self-care, leading to severe risk of burnout, but an integrative and personalised approach to medicine, with an emphasis on self-care and wellbeing, can also support the practitioners themselves.
During the Integrative Mental Health Conference on day two, the evidence and impact of integrative medicine on mental health is explored. The event will highlight the benefits of this growing approach to mental illness management that combines nutrition, social prescribing, psychotherapy, cannabinoids, psychedelics and a range of evidence-based complementary therapies to help address the world’s growing mental health crisis.
The Food on Prescription Conference takes place on day three of the congress, marking the fourth year for the College of Medicine’s annual one-day conference. It is the leading UK event on food, lifestyle and medicine, and is a “must attend” for all healthcare professionals, who want to know how to create a healthier future for patients and the wider community.
The incredible line-up of speakers over the three days draws on experts from the conventional and integrative fields of healthcare from around the world. In addition to the aforementioned speakers, the event welcomes Dr Dean Ornish, Doctor, Author, Researcher and Advisor and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; Prof Robert Thomas, consultant Oncologist at Addenbrooke’s and Bedford Hospital; Dr William Li, world-renowned physician, scientist and author of EAT TO BEAT DISEASE – The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself and Dr Aseem Malhotra, Consultant Cardiologist, best-selling author & Chair, Public Health Collaboration. The event also includes free exhibition and workshops.
The tide change towards a more holistic approach to restoring and maintaining health is growing, particularly among younger doctors and newly trained GPs, according to Dr Dixon: “They have a new attitude towards healthcare. They are not interested in whether something is viewed as conventional, complementary, functional or lifestyle, they are just looking at what works for their patients. Through this conference, we aim to capture that sense of hope, open-mindedness, and patient-centred care. By sharing clinical experience, knowledge and ideas, we will see the start of a new revolution that strips away the labels and focuses on whole-person, patient centred care. This congress will bring together some of the best talents, so we can pool our knowledge and resources and leave re-invigorated and inspired.”
For further information and to register, visit: www.ipmcongress.com
The full line up of speakers can be found at www.ipmcongress.com/conference/speakers
