The birth of HealthSense

HealthSense started out in 1988 as CAHF, the Campaign Against Health Fraud. It was targeted specifically at charlatans who were preying on vulnerable patients, including those suffering from cancer. But as more emerged about the extent of quackery and poorly-tested therapies, the aims quickly broadened to challenge all unproven ‘cures’ illness, including those in orthodox medicine, and the charity’s emphasis widened from being against bad treatment to being for high standards of evidence-based medicine and surgery. Accordingly, CAHF became Healthwatch in 1990.

Although HealthWatch grew in influence, it was a relatively small organisation and its name was never registered as a trade mark. Eventually, the NHS decided to pirate the name for Healthwatch England, a new body established under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 which was effectively a committee of the Care Quality Commission, the organisation responsible for standard-setting in health and social care.

For several years the two Healthwatch organisations co-existed, and to some extent shared similar aims of quality control, but there was occasional confusion between the statutory body and the independent charity. The search began for a new badge that was similar yet distinct and which could be registered as a website and on social media, and HealthWatch formally re-registered with the Charity Commission as HealthSense at the end of 2021.

If the defining feature of a good name is that others seek to steal it, then HealthSense has a powerful heritage.

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HealthWatch Symposium 2019

Registration now closed
Registration for the symposium is now closed, but if you have a special interest please contact the symposium coordinator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Evidence, Healthcare and Medical Devices & Implants

Note: correct at 29 May 2019, but subject to further development — check this page for updates.

Date

Monday 17 June 2019

Location

The Garden Room, St Luke’s Community Centre, 90 Central Street, London EC1V 8AJ.

Accessibility

The building and room are fully wheelchair accessible and fitted with a hearing induction loop, but please let us know if you require the hearing loop.

Book your free place now

Aim

To clarify the current issues facing evidence based healthcare in the field of implants and medical devices and to identify areas where organisations (including HealthWatch) might most productively concentrate their efforts.

Objectives

By the end of the symposium participants will:

  • Have a clearer picture of the rules and regulations relating to medical devices
  • Be able to identify areas where evidence requirements coincide with the interests of healthcare organisations
  • Have developed a priority list of potential actions and activities

Structure

Briefing paper on current and proposed approval and regulatory processes in advance, coffee on arrival, brief plenary presentations, working groups with invited introductory presentations and discussants, coffee, report back, summing up.

Book your free place now

Programme

13:00 Introduction and presentation of briefing paper
13:10 Plenary presentations
14:00 Breakout workshops / discussion groups: Part 1: four groups charged with dealing first with one of four major topics. Invited presenter: very brief information handout plus 10 min introduction Structured discussion with conclusions to feedback including proposed actions
14.45 Coffee and return to groups for Part 2: General discussion of the other three topics prior to plenary session
15:30 General session: Five-minute feedback from each group in turn plus five-minute comments from the floor (which will have been enabled by the part 2 workshop discussions) plus final five minutes to gain some sense of collective opinion of main points
16:15 Round up session: Presenters and discussants to give two minutes on their thoughts from the meeting
16:25 Closing comments
16:30 Close
16:30 – 17:00 Optional networking session with tea

Post meeting

Meeting report collated and developed from:

  • Main briefing paper
  • Slides from plenary presenters
  • Brief papers from group presenters
  • Reporters from discussion groups / workshops
  • Report of final plenary session

Introductions

Introduction and Symposium Chair John Kirwan, Emeritus Professor of Rheumatic Diseases, University of Bristol; HealthWatch Trustee
Regulatory Frameworks background paper

Till Bruckner, TranspariMED & Transparify, Bristol and London

Plenary presentations

Lessons from surgical mesh Carl Heneghan Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Oxford University, Oxford
Current regulations fail to protect Deborah Cohen Investigative Journalist, British Medical Journal and BBC, London
The IDEAL Collaboration and necessary evidence Peter McCulloch Professor of Surgical Science and Practice and Chair of the IDEAL Collaboration, Oxford University, Oxford

Discussion Groups

Topic Presenter Moderator Reporter
A: Using a registry: How long term follow-up provides relevant evidence. Andy Judge, Professor of Translational Statistics, University of Bristol Leeza Osipenko, Senior Lecturer in Practice, Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London Mandy Payne, Freelance medical journalist; HealthWatch Newsletter Editor
B: Evidence and evidence synthesis for non-randomised studies of medical devices and implants. Barnaby Reeves, Professorial Research Fellow in Health Services Research, University of Bristol; Co-Chair, Cochrane Non-Randomised Studies Methods Group Peter Wilmshurst, Consultant Cardiologist, Royal Stoke University Hospital, Stoke on Trent Alan Henness, Director of the Nightingale Collaboration; HealthWatch Trustee
C: Risk vs numbers – where do we concentrate? Andrew Cook, Consultant in Public Health Medicine and Fellow in Health Technology Assessment at the University of Southampton Roger Fisken, Consultant Physician; HealthWatch Trustee Jolene Galbreath, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and HealthWatch Junior Doctor Representative
D: How can the healthcare community better support regulation for patient benefit? Neil McGuire, Senior Clinician Devices, Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, London Anne Raikes, Chartered Accountant; HealthWatch Trustee Sofia Hart, HealthWatch Student Representative, London
Book your free place now

HealthWatch Research Fund launched

HealthWatch has received a donation of £50,000 from a private individual who supports our aims and objectives, and who has no connection with any pharmaceutical company, nor any financial interest in any complementary or other therapy or treatment, to establish a research fund.

Applications are now invited for funding to support research projects that meet our aims and objectives. More details here.