XR, the new Cool? - if you know you know

Now J may tell you that I spend a great deal of time (and effort) to ensure I’m looking cool. But I don't. However, I think ‘looking cool’ is an interesting concept. The word ‘cool’ can be an adjective, verb, noun, or adverb. Ok that is as far as my understanding of grammar goes. Anyway, I was thinking about this while I watched one of the ‘coolest’ men I have long admired the other evening.

I had been invited to a dinner and celebration meal to both mark the 200 years of the University of Manchester’s existence, and to participate in the award of an Honorary Doctorate in Medicine to Professor Sir Chris Whitty. For me, he is coolness personified. When he speaks, it is with a completely assured approach, built, I guess, on years of education, experience and oodles of confidence that comes from possessing such knowledge. Who could forget his contribution to keeping the UK safe and informed during the pandemic? He had a measured delivery of ‘the science’ we were all expected to follow and a natural assertiveness in recommending adherence to the public safety measures of lockdown, mask wearing and keeping our distance. He was certainly the right person at the right time to provide such leadership.

Well last week, I was privileged to see and hear him in person. His presentation and talk were simply riveting; perhaps, something in itself given his softly spoken delivery. He started by reminding us of what life was like in 1824 (the year the University of Manchester was formed). Disease, environmental conditions, and poverty all contributed to a short life expectancy. Then as Chris Whitty took us through the years following 1824 to the present day, he was able to show how science, particularly medicine (and the University of Manchester) had contributed to the eradication of many diseases, and increased life expectancy. Perhaps, most importantly he was able to show what the health impacting determinants today are and how these are still impacting upon our quality of life and life expectancy.

Poverty, in all its manifestations, still has the largest impact on our health and wellbeing. Whilst many previous killer diseases are no longer with us today, there are other life-shortening health conditions that still impact upon our mortality. Last year, the leading cause of death in the UK was dementia. The sad fact is that if we survive other illnesses, and reach a plus 80 year age we are all likely to develop the condition. Men, however are more likely to die of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) before dementia.

Smoking, eating high cholesterol saturated and processed food, stress, high blood pressure, obesity, lack of exercise and of course, drinking too much alcohol all contribute to the development of CHD. These are mostly avoidable factors; some folk might describe them as ‘lifestyle choices’ – I don’t. If you live without what might be considered the basic necessities of a good life, with little or limited opportunity to improve your life, finding yourself in such a situation cannot be considered a life choice. When and where you are born will also have an impact. Here is a personal example.

I was born in 1955. My first house cost £6,000. I bought it in 1975. The average cost of a house in the UK at that time was £9,096. So, I was already in a good place. Today, £6,000 equates to £63,077. Now even if I had that money available, would I be able to buy a similar house today? The answer is probably no. These days, J and I live just outside of Blackpool. The average house price in Blackpool is £136,835, so we would be priced out of the house ownership market. To put this fact into context, Blackpool is the local authority in the whole of the UK with the highest mortality rate for people of all ages last year (1,382 per 100,000 population, almost double the rate in the South East of England, which was 718 per 100,000).

It feels to me that we may have a way to go when it comes to levelling up and truly addressing health and other inequalities across all our communities. Chris Whitty was fulsome in his recognition of the way medicine and science have improved all our lives, but was quick to point out that this wasn’t the case with mental health care. He acknowledged that science and medicine have a way to go with levelling up our understanding and response to mental illness and mental health concerns. I wasn’t surprised, but was pleased to hear him recognise the task facing us all in ensuring parity of esteem and resources in how we respond to both physical and mental health challenges.  

So I was really pleased later on in the week to be back at the University of Manchester and to be part of a workshop that was truly at the frontiers of what might be possible in addressing this science gap. The event was facilitated by colleagues from our Trust, and the University of Manchester, and looked at what is best described at immersive technologies. These are, in terms of mental health care, the next generation of precision medicine used to facilitate person-centred care. It was a mind-blowing workshop and a window into a brave new world. The technology was ultra cool – have a look here and consider how you might become what will be a great future that whole heartedly embraces the opportunities a new digital age offers us all.