Re: Industry sponsorship hits the headlines - let's not be part of the problem
We live in a consumerist society so we consume. Most of us consume too much overall, and often the wrong stuff. This makes us ill. We are persuaded to do this through marketing of products, especially advertising. We are all susceptible, even doctors. For instance we may try to avoid being influenced in our prescribing choice, but we are still likely to accept the metamessage - that this patient's problem needs to be fixed by something to be 'consumed' by the patient - whether it be medicines or investigations or operations. Of course, these tools often help, but too often they leave a more fundamental problem unaddressed. So it comes back, in the same or a different form.
Living in a fix-it culture, especially when the fixes are complex or baffling, disempowers us. It helps to keep us dependent and vulnerable and wanting more stuff. If the NHS continues to run along the same lines, we will be continue to be part of the problem and be unsustainable. By relying on commercial sponsorship the RCGP is colluding with this sorry state. There is little point in waiting for government to take action on this. Successive governments have clearly seen the NHS and its academic and commercial partners as primarily part of the economy, so there is no incentive to take the actions that would reduce demand. It is only the grass-roots that can change this. So congratulations to Zosia for raising this issue. Now lets put pressure on the College to show a lead: scrap the commercial sponsorship.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
27 October 2016
William House
Retired GP, voluntary community development for health
Rapid Response:
Re: Industry sponsorship hits the headlines - let's not be part of the problem
We live in a consumerist society so we consume. Most of us consume too much overall, and often the wrong stuff. This makes us ill. We are persuaded to do this through marketing of products, especially advertising. We are all susceptible, even doctors. For instance we may try to avoid being influenced in our prescribing choice, but we are still likely to accept the metamessage - that this patient's problem needs to be fixed by something to be 'consumed' by the patient - whether it be medicines or investigations or operations. Of course, these tools often help, but too often they leave a more fundamental problem unaddressed. So it comes back, in the same or a different form.
Living in a fix-it culture, especially when the fixes are complex or baffling, disempowers us. It helps to keep us dependent and vulnerable and wanting more stuff. If the NHS continues to run along the same lines, we will be continue to be part of the problem and be unsustainable. By relying on commercial sponsorship the RCGP is colluding with this sorry state. There is little point in waiting for government to take action on this. Successive governments have clearly seen the NHS and its academic and commercial partners as primarily part of the economy, so there is no incentive to take the actions that would reduce demand. It is only the grass-roots that can change this. So congratulations to Zosia for raising this issue. Now lets put pressure on the College to show a lead: scrap the commercial sponsorship.
Competing interests: No competing interests