Two afternoons in the past week at the Royal College of Art for IDE and SustainRCA discussing future issues covered a wide range of topics from pregnancy and currency to disaster recovery and the future of work. One common discussion in both sessions focused on improving urban mobility and the concept of recapturing lost time. [Read more...]
Sickcare vs. Healthcare – Which has priority?
March 20, 2012 By
Last week’s future of oncology event prompted us to take a refresh on some of the issues highlighted in the Future Agenda programme about the unsustainable costs of today’s healthcare priorities. What is increasingly apparent to a widening audience is that with the ageing demographic, shifting dependency ratios, the increase in chronic disease in the young and the relative costs of prevention vs. cure, we are heading for a showdown pretty soon. In most economies, public funding for end of life sick-care will be coming under greater pressure as preventative healthcare for the working population takes priority. At the same time, it is unlikely that patients will step in to fill the gap themselves. We may be entering a period when society has to make some pretty hard calls and who to treat for what diseases and at what stages in life. [Read more...]