Are we really well?
In 19th Century France there was a philosophical ‘battle royale’ between two great giants of the scientific world, which has shaped western medicine for the last 150 years. On one side, Louis Pasteur, declared: “we must prevent disease and kill disease in order to create health”. Antoine Bechamp disagreed, saying: “No, it is poor environments that lead to poor health and therefore we must create wellness. If we do that, illness will be far from us.” Dr Andy Knox, a General Practitioner based in North West England, looks at how this debate has shaped our way of working in healthcare and the impact of massive health inequalities across the UK. He focuses on the culture that’s needed to develop together in order to create real wellness within our communities, including the four cultural foundations of Hope, Inclusivity, Joy and Kindness. Andy trained as a doctor in Manchester, England and worked in various hospitals across the city before training as a GP. He is now an executive GP for Lancashire North Clinical Commissioning Group and works with the Better Care Together Team for Morecambe Bay. His particular area of interest is ‘Health and Wellbeing’. As a qualified facilitator he loves to host and facilitate conversations about re-imagining cities and regions as healthy places and generally re-imagining the future.