Main description:

When Ivan Illich published Medical Nemesis in 1975, he offered a withering critique of the medical profession and the medical model. 'The medical establishment has become a major threat to health,' he said. Nearly half a century has elapsed since then, and things have got worse. In the UK, only 5 per cent of the health budget is spent on prevention. The system is so strained that the rule is often 'one problem per consultation'. Disease management takes precedence
over disease prevention, and a wider perspective on health and wellbeing is largely absent. At least once a month, one third of GPs consider leaving the profession. Patients are referred to secondary care simply because primary care cannot cope.

But doctors want to practise differently.

People also want more. The global health and wellness industry has stepped into the gap. It offers more holistic and whole-person approach that people seek. And it's big business. It is now estimated to be worth $4.2 trillion per annum.

In this book, David Beaumont proposes a better approach. The current healthcare system is a deficit model. It attempts to address and correct the absence of health, so it is therefore more correctly termed a disease-care system. Positive medicine is an abundance model. It aims not only to help people manage illness and disease, but to enhance their health. Although this book is very specifically about doctors and patients, it will resonate with all healthcare professionals.

Contents:

1: David Beaumont: Doctor becomes patient
2: David Beaumont: There's something wrong
3: The art of medicine
4: What are 'health and wellbeing'?
5: Disability, chronic pain, and medically unexplained symptoms
6: Why should health and wellbeing matter to doctors?
7: How to reclaim your life
8: Physical health - Te Taha Tinana
9: Psychological health - Te Taha Hinengaro
10: Emotional Health - Te Taha Whanau
11: Existential health - Te Taha Hinengaro