Archive for July, 2012

Mobile health is an expression we are hearing more and more about in healthcare and a big part of this area is apps. Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary, recently voiced his opinion on healthcare apps for patients: “Information about your health is a service, just like the GP surgeries, Walk-in Centres and hospitals that millions of people access every week. With more information at their fingertips, patients can truly be in the driving seat.”

With this in mind, these are some of the most innovative and practical patient apps available for download:

Patient.co.uk - Free
This app contains over 600 patient information leaflets on a multitude of medical conditions and diseases, written by independent GPs. The best feature of this app is that it allows users to locate their nearest healthcare services including emergency clinics, hospitals, GP surgeries, dentists and pharmacists (England only).

NHS quit smoking - Free
Smokers may find it easier to quit by using this app which sends daily supportive and motivational messages, as well as tips from other smokers who have stopped smoking. It also shows the benefits of staying smoke-free, including a running total of the money saved since quitting.

Alcohol units calculator - £0.69
Have you ever wanted to calculate how many units you consumed down the pub? This app does it for you and also enables you to track units consumed over a time period and compare against average guidelines. Great if you are trying to cut down!

Couch-to-5k - £1.49
An award-winning app from The Active Network which features a training plan to help new runners. It consists of three 20-30 minute work outs a week to help users be able to run 5km within nine weeks of starting training. The highlights of this app are that human audio cues are provided during workouts and users can share their progress on Facebook.

Visible Body - £6.99
Whilst this app is a bit pricey, the graphics are superb and allow patients, as well as doctors and medical students, to see the human body visually and interactively in 3D. The app consists of over 2,500 images of body systems and also provides accompanying definitions.

Get downloading and join the mobile health revolution!

Wasim has been with us for a fortnight and shared his experiences in the post below:

My name is Wasim, I’m 15 and I’m writing about my 2 week work experience placement at Ruder Finn. Here I am on my last day, trying to make the most of it. Straight from the first day I knew it wasn’t going to be your average office, the guys play ps3 in the corner, everyone just casually has a laugh with each other and there’s a coffee machine that tells you what to do!

Yeah not average at all.

As I walked in I was welcomed by Natalie who showed me around and introduced me to the people in the office. My nerves disappeared as everyone made me feel part of their team and I was shown to my seat by Natalie, which was where the healthcare department work. I was glued to my seat for almost the whole day and my lips were sealed, that for me was unbelievable. By Wednesday I was beginning to feel comfortable and started to have conversations with the people around me. To help me understand PR different members of the Ruder Finn departments sat down with me and told me about what they do which I found really interesting - thanks! (Brittany, Mark, Clemmie, Abigail and Sarah).

The whole reason for choosing Ruder Finn was to be in a good working environment and gain experience. The environment here is very friendly and there was never a dull moment, it was relaxed and fun at the same time. I mean my definition of the word office is ‘come in, stare at the computer and go home’, but I guess Ruder Finn changed that, them having a laugh with each other doesn’t actually get in the way of their work as they’re really dedicated. Seriously this is probably the best place for any person who wants to do work experience; I hate offices but for some reason this one is just unique.

At lunchtime I would play FIFA with the guys and took the pride of the office, sorry Will. I would like to say thank you to the whole of Ruder Finn for making my work experience fun but thanks again to all the guys (for losing to me at FIFA), Ged (for always making sure I’m ok ), Glover (for being my teacher when I’m doing the teaching), Sarah(for being the guiding light..), Josie (for answering every question I threw at her and showing me how to do my job) and to Natalie (for looking out for me and helping me out with everything), but thanks to the whole team for the enjoyable experience.

All the best in the future!

Our intern Brittany got a bit of a shock when we talked about fuel prices as it relates to running a car in the UK. We didn’t even bother telling her about insurance premiums, here is her thoughts:

This week I had an interesting lesson in gas prices. Back home I drive a 2009 Ford Focus (pictured below). As far as American cars go this is pretty small. A huge benefit of having a car this size is that I do not have to empty out my wallet just to fill the gas tank (or petrol as you say in London).

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that gas prices have gone down a bit since I came to the UK in June. In Boston, gas is at about $3.28 per gallon. Hearing about the cost of fuel back home got me thinking about the gas prices in London. According to the AA fuel price index the cost of petrol is about 133.8 p per litre. After converting litres to gallons and GBP to USD this evens out to $7.86 per gallon.

Wow. I was shocked when those numbers appeared on the calculator. People in America would riot if gas prices went that high. Personally, I would have to give up driving because I could not afford to fill my 11 gallon tank every week. Now I can understand the draw to the teeny, tiny European smart cars. I had always noticed that motor vehicles in London generally seemed smaller. Ged pointed out the comparison of a Mustang on the road in the UK to one on the road in the US. Apparently, a Mustang looks like a big car when driving on the streets of London. I found that really interesting because in America a Mustang fits comfortably on the road with the other cars. If anything I find them to be on the smaller side.

Just goes to show you can find subtle cultural differences anywhere – and if I move to London I am selling my car!

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

UK fuel price information thanks to the AA.

US gas prices from Boston.com

And so on to another awards this week, this time the Medical Journalists’ Association Summer awards, hosted by Dr Phil Hammond.

Dr Phil, an MJA member, has successfully combined a career as a doctor, one of the most trusted professions, with that of a journalist, one of the least trusted professions. He said the similarities between the two professions were the urge to get to the heart of the matter, whether that be a diagnosis or the truth.

It was Dr Phil, writing in Private Eye 20 years ago, who first detailed serious failings in children’s heart surgery in Bristol and his delight in presenting Shaun Lintern with Staff Journalist of the Year for his work in exposing problems at Stafford Hospital, was obvious.

Both pieces of investigative journalism have lead to changes, however slowly, of health services that one hopes will result in better care of patients. Dr Phil commended the MJA finalists for their ability to handle sometimes complex stories, making them not only engaging to readers and viewers, but also for the light it shone on the health services we all receive.

Contrast this to last week’s lecture on Value and Trust In The Digital Age, where former BBC Director of Global News, Richard Sambrook, said the public’s demand for a clear and simple narrative was bad news for complicated news stories.
Sambrook, now Professor of Journalism and Director of the Centre for Journalism at Cardiff, was joined on stage by Helen Boaden, Director BBC News Group and John Lloyd, Director Journalism, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. They both agreed it was difficult to get strong investigative pieces into the media. Lloyd noted that “facts don’t always command attention” and “people don’t like complexity”, which leads investigative journalism to suffer.

Good job Shaun Lintern didn’t know this when he began his investigations into Stafford Hospital.

Communique 2012

…don’t we just! As promised, here is a picture of members of the Ruder Finn healthcare team looking fabulous before leaving the office yesterday for the Communiqué awards (the healthcare PR industry’s version of the Oscars). Hosted by Jimmy Carr, it was a great do with lovely food and lots of laughs (especially courtesy of the dress up photo booth). Although we didn’t get our moment on the stage, we were very proud to be shortlisted in the Excellence in media relations - UK category for our Meningitis Matters campaign. It was great to catch up with old friends and genuinely inspirational to see such great examples of work from across the industry.

A guest post by Daniel Walsh who has spent the last fortnight helping us out:

I have to say, what a lucky person I was to be able to come here and work for a global PR company. My name’s Daniel, I’m 15 year olds and I go to Willowfield School and this blog is about my two weeks work experience.

Right from the very first day, I felt comfortable and welcomed as part of their team. As I walked through the front door, the nerves quickly dissipated as Natalie (who has been great the whole time) gave me a quick intro into what I’d be doing for my two weeks. Soon after, I was introduced to all the staff at their different ‘pods’ and of they worked for different sectors; Healthcare, Digital and Public Affairs. My first thoughts were how I was going to remember everybody’s names as I sat down next to Esmé and basically stayed quiet on my first day, too nervous to start chatting. The main reason for choosing Ruder Finn was to learn more about PR and as a company, what they actually do to promote products to the public.

Once I had settled in, I quickly began talking to the people around me (Esmé, Sarah and Josie) and I didn’t feel out of place at all. On the first day, I was lucky enough to be invited to a ‘Waving for Arthritis’ brainstorm where lots of ideas were thrown around about the best way to reach that 100,000 waver mark. It was interesting to see how the team all worked together and how quickly ideas were thought of and adapted.

The office is very impressive, all brand new and updated, flat screen TVs, iPads and a PS3 console, who said that the working environment had to be boring and outdated. A favourite of mine was the kitchen’s coffee and tea machine; it was nice not to have to use a kettle for once! I never felt the need to rush off for lunch, I knew I would get my hour anyway and I was enjoying my placement too much to rush off anyway. However, I avoided the bad habit (Claire and Charlotte) of staying behind after 4pm.

I would like to say a big thank you again to the whole Ruder Finn team for making my work experience so enjoyable but thanks again to Natalie (for looking out for me), Josie, Sarah, Claire and Esmé (my first jobs), Maya and Charlotte H. (for all your interesting research tasks), Hugh (Mr. Parliamentary Committee and for all the interesting discussions), Mark (For Comet and Hoovers…) and finally to Alison for giving me the opportunity in the first place.

All the best and good luck in the future!!!

Having spent most of my childhood and adolescence in Basel and enjoyed its proximity to the Alps, the peace and quiet of the countryside, and secretly loving how punctual the Swiss are, I really have to vouch for the city and all it has to offer.

But my affection for Basel is not shared by my colleagues who travel there on business and moan about the outdated 80s music played in cabs and bars, the abundance of stereotypical English pubs, and lack of culture.

With this in mind, here’s a list of fun things to do while in Basel on business. 

Bar Rouge - On the 31^st floor of the Messeturm, the tallest building in Switzerland. It offers amazing views of France, Germany and Switzerland and has an impressive cocktail list.

Noohn - This trendy Japanese restaurant and bar is popular with young professionals and is a far cry from your stereotypical English pub. It offers warm sake and sushi, along with other delicacies and has a great roof terrace.

Kunsthalle - A little known fact about Basel is that the city has the highest density of museums in Switzerland. One of these is the Kunsthalle, which is centrally located and has a number of great Swiss and international works on display. During the winter months, the inner courtyard is turned into a public ice rink.

Basler Münster - Situated next to the Rhine, overlooking the city, the Munster was originally built as a Catholic cathedral but has since been converted to a Protestant church. Like many buildings in Basel, the Munster dates back to the 11th century. It is also the resting place of Desiderius Erasmus and provides great views of the city. 

“Münschter-Fähri” - A great feature of Basel are the four wooden ferries situated along the Rhine. The ferries are pushed across the Rhine by the water current and are a great alternative to walking across the bridge. Although they aren’t free (approx. 2 CHFs from previous experience) they can also be rented by the hour in the evenings should you wish to host some drinks onboard.

So if you’re Under Pressure in your meeting, make sure you Wake Up Before You Go-Go and see some of the sights. You’ll soon be saying, ‘I Just Can’t Get Enough’ of Basel!