A truly energizing 2 days with the highest quality plenary speakers and plenty of interesting parallel sessions to attend. There was a strong theme of generalism and a return to putting the ‘caritas’ alongside the science-maybe even before, but certainly not as an after thought. Clare Gerada showed true leadership and was awarded with a standing ovation for her rousing address . Liverpool is my birth town and it always feels deeply nostalgic to revisit. The people of the city are unfailing, if irreverent, in their warm welcome and sharp humour!
Adolescent Health appeared like a fire fly and we must build on those sparks to ignite a fire at next year’s conference . Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet (no less!) referred to Adolescent Health as “the new critical discipline”. There is a global movement gaining a groundswell and we need to make sure we are part of this movement.
Whilst we were holding our own symposium on adolescent mental health in primary care at the RCPCH on Friday 14th October, the International Declaration on Youth Mental Health was launched in Dublin. Please see the link below for more details. Thanks to Dr David Shiers for linking us into this wider movement.
Clare Gerada pledged her support to the group at the Moral Maze panel and both Hamish Meldrum,Chairman of Council, BMA and Prof Michael Rawlins, Chairman of NICE admitted that young people have been short changed by a system which operates on a disease silo structure and which does not always recognize the particular needs of adolescents . Dr Meldrum was less inclined to consider young people as a ‘special group’ but one with particular needs. Prof Rawlins conceded that we have not always done the best for them. We aim to move the agenda forward .
Please note the dates for next years’s RCGP annual conference: October 4-6th 2012, Glasgow. Planning for the meeting starts now and we hope to have a significant presence at the event. If you have a particular idea please contact me to discuss.
With best wishes
Jane
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