Here are 10 questions we cannot answer after nearly 70 years of a purportedly National Health Service. The lecture will address these questions and how they can be answered.

1. Is the service for people with seizures & epilepsy in Manchester of higher value than the service in Liverpool?

2. How many liver disease service s are there in England and how many should there be?

3. Which service for people at the end of life in London provides the best value?

4. Is the service for people with asthma of higher than the service in Somerset?

5. How many services are there for people with MusculoSkeletal Disease in the North East, and which gives best value?

We cannot answer them because we deliver care that is institutionally based not population based but to do so will need new knowledge and skills to answer questions such as:

1. What do you understand by the term complexity?

2. What is meant by the term system and how does it differ from a network?

3. What is meant by population based healthcare rather than bureaucracy based care?

4. What are the three meanings of the term value in 21st Century healthcare? Not ‘values’ as in ‘we value diversity’ but the economic meanings

5. What is the relationship between value and efficiency

6. What is meant by the optimal use of resources?

7. What is meant by the term quality and how does it relate to value?

8. What is a system and a standard?

9. How would you assess the culture of an organisation?

10. How would you decide if an organisation had a strong culture of stewardship?

Muir Gray is now working with both NHS England and Public Health England to bring about a transformation of care with the aim of increasing value for both populations and individuals and published a series of How To Handbooks for example, How to Get Better Value Healthcare, How To Build Healthcare Systems and How To Create the Right Healthcare Culture.

His hobby is ageing and how to cope with it and he has published books for publish a book for people aged seventy called Sod 70! one for the younger decade called Sod 60! This with Dr Claire Parker, and his book for people aged 40-60, titled Midlife, appeared in January 2017. Other books in series on Sod Ageing are Sod it, Eat Well, with Anita Bean and Sod Sitting, Get Moving with Diana Moran, the Green Goddess. For people of all ages Dr Gray’s Walking Cure summarises the evidence on this wonderful means of feeling well, reducing the risk of disease and minimising disability should disease strike.

This talk is being held as part of the Practice of Evidence-Based Health Care course which is part of the Evidence-Based Health Care Programme. This is a free event and members of the public are welcome to attend.