Just back from the Liberal Democrats conference
ON MONDAY 15th September I spent the day in sunny Bournemouth at the Liberal Democrats conference.
As with the other political parties we are asking the Liberal Democrats to include a commitment for a 10-year National Research Strategy for premature birth in their next election manifesto.
First off was shadow health spokesperson Norman Lamb MP’s health speech during which he outlined the Liberal Democrat vision for health care. Post this I got a chance to have a quick discussion with Mr Lamb, which was extremely helpful and should result in a further meeting.
I then went to a “fringe meeting”. What might you ask is one of these? Fringe meetings are sponsored by charities or businesses who set a topic and then invite MPs, Peers and “the great and good” to speak.
I went to a fringe focused on health poverty- namely the fact that where you live and come from can have a strong influence on the care you feel entitled to ask for and ultimately receive.
The panel was really strong with Jeremy Hughes (Chief Executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer), Angela Coulter of research firm The Picker Institute, Julie Bentley (Chief Executive of the FPA), Baroness Barker (the Liberal Democrat Health Lead spokesperson in the House of Lords) and finally Dr David Kerr, a diabetes consultant from Bournemouth all speaking.
One of the most interesting things that was discussed is how much data is currently swashing around the NHS and how little of it can be made available to researchers to try and understand trends in health and disease.
After the speeches, I was lucky enough to be called to raise a point and talked about the yellow book that all mothers carry which records basic data on their pregnancy. Unfortunately, from the perspective of researchers, this information is not centrally collated. Were this the case researchers could have carefully controlled access to anonymised data on all pregnancies in England and Wales which potentially could make a huge difference to improving understanding as to what risk factors are important at putting a woman at risk of premature birth.
This data is already available in Scotland and according to researchers known to Action Medical Research is proving really useful.
The fringe meeting also resulted in a promise of another briefing meeting at Westminster.
All in all the event was a success, opening up new channels of communication and meeting interesting people.
Next up, the Labour party, which starts Sunday 21st September, in Manchester.
