Speakers
Dr. Mercer is a Professor of Primary Care Research at the University of Glasgow, who leads a national research programme on multimorbidity in Scotland with the Scottish School of Primary Care. Dr. Mercer is a national lead for research into the problems of multimorbidity in primary care in Scotland. His research interests include chronic disease management, consultation quality and health outcomes in different settings, inequalities, mental health and empathy/patient-centred care. He is currently involved in many research projects including being principal investigator on ‘Living Well with Multiple Morbidity’, a collaborative programme of research with the NHS funded by the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government. Dr. Mercer is a member of several advisory groups and editorial boards and actively participates in international research, particularly in Hong Kong, where he is a Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and has several ongoing projects. Dr. Stewart was born and raised in Edinburgh, and trained in basic science at Aberdeen University gaining BSc Honours and MSc (distinction) before carrying out his PhD at the Dunn Nutrition Unit, Cambridge University. He completed postdoctoral studies in the Metabolic Research Laboratory at Oxford University, and then went on to medical school as a mature student, receiving his medical degree from Bristol University in 1992. After working as a junior doctor in medicine and surgery in South West England, he returned to Scotland to complete his training as a general practitioner, carrying out senior house officer posts and his GP trainee year in a semi-rural area in South East Scotland, gaining MRCGP in 1996. He then worked as a volunteer doctor with the Tibetan community in North India and in the aboriginal settlement on Palm Island, Australia in 1997. He joined the Department of General Practice at Glasgow University in 1998, and has remained there since, combining academic work with clinical practice, and building his research career through a series of fellowships.
Details
There is a global rise in the burden on mental and physical long-term conditions, with ‘multimorbidity’ becoming the norm rather than the exception. Multimorbidity raises profound challenges of integration for patients, professionals, health care systems, and governments around the world. Using the example of Scotland, he will discuss some of these challenges, and will describe how, at all levels, multimorbidity challenges the current norms of healthcare organization, delivery and and practice. Furthermore, he will explain why multimorbidity is not simply a problem of the elderly, and how it contributes to health inequalities across the life-course. He will review some new approaches as to how care might be better delivered, including recent and ongoing work in Scotland. Finally, the societal values that are required to underpin the required policy and practice changes will be discussed.