Is profit a bad word in healthcare?

I have been involved in the healthcare industry for over 15 years and I’ve worked as a doctor in hospitals, I have worked in medical research for biotech industry, I have worked marketing healthcare products and business strategy in the pharmaceutical industry and I have enjoyed leading my business in holistic health and wellness.

In all my endeavours in healthcare, money was a part of the healthcare paradigm. In the hospitals and practices in the UK and Australia that I worked in, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals didn’t really think about charging patients as healthcare was essentially free. The government essentially paid everyone’s salaries.

Even then we had the occasional patients complain that service was poor!!

And what’s even more interesting, was that nurses were going on strike because they needed better pay and doctors were also about to go on strike.

Ironically, when I left the National Health Service in the UK to leave such disillusionment, the problem was exactly the same – nurses were going on strike because of poor pay and doctors were about to go on strike!

When I was in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, there were no strikes! Essentially, there was medical research performed and a lot of it was commercialised. The reality was that the product (medical drug) in this case would need to serve a need in the market, but would also have to somehow generate revenue for the company.

There was a constant balance of managing the needs of patients who need the drug and setting a price that governments could pay for it, in order to reach the broadest amount of people.

The company on the other hand had to serve its shareholders and make a profit – something many companies did well, but many also struggled with.  This was the development of a drug is very risky business – you could spend over $1billion dollars developing a drug (the average cost these days), only to find weeks after hitting the market that it had to be withdrawn for some unforeseen side-effect.

In my humble opinion, while these companies were commercially driven, there was a line that we would not cross and integrity in how we did our science was paramount. However, this is a topic that is widely debated in modern society. Very often, people struggle to rationalise the concept that healthcare is somehow a business and that finances are involved in delivering healthcare.

This challenge is perpetuated in the field of complementary and alternative health, which I am now involved in. Here we charge patients (who are now called clients instead) and it is interesting to observe the dynamic how many people are quite happy to pay several hundred dollars for a flatscreen TV but will not pay it to solve an emotional issue that they have had since childhood.

It speaks to how much we value our own health these days.

I am a firm believer that in order to be a sustainable organisation long-term, you need good discipline in business and you need to be able to make money, or show a profit. Even a non-for-profit should be able to generate a profit, as long as it is reinvested into the organisation.

This is clearly a challenge in the mindset of many people in healthcare.

However, what do you think – is profit a ‘bad word’ in healthcare?

The Gambles explain why global wellbeing does not THRIVE

As promised, I continue to provide some fascinating insights from all the speakers I heard during the UPLIFT festival in Byron Bay recently. UPLIFT is a gathering of visionaries in science, spirituality, health and sustainability dedicated toward igniting a whole new paradigm of conscious living in the world.

A truly insightful perspective came from Foster and Kimberly Gamble, who are connected to the famous household retail brand Proctor & Gamble. Foster and Kimberly were the producers of the documentary “THRIVE – what on earth will it take” and spoke about their movement at UPLIFT.

The documentary weaves together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and activism with some very interesting research.  It has also been translated into 20 languages and watched by 10 million people in its first year.

The movie inspires global change, by identifying some of the major reasons why society at large is not thriving. Essentially, Foster points to some revolutionary work, particularly in the fields of renewable energy, holistic health and environmental sustainability which are being suppressed from proper commercialisation due to the monopolies held by big corporations.

He also points to several major families, such as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Morgans, who control the agenda of governments and these major corporations in order to hold the balance of power. The documentary uses interesting visuals to depict how these manipulative relationships cascade through international organisations such as the World Bank, World Health Organisation and International Monetary Fund, down to the US healthcare , education and food manufacturing systems.

I must admit, THRIVE had a strong “conspiracy theory” concepts to it. But at the same time, it had some insightful research and observations that I have seen in other independent documentaries and did make me question particularly if our global wellbeing is determined by a much larger agenda.

Having worked in major pharmaceutical companies however, I find I have a balanced perspective of not judging any particular party now, but rather focus on what the solution can be for better healthcare worldwide. Producing medicines was certainly not as easy as the filmmakers make it out to be, yet I do recognise there was always a commercial agenda involved. This is one of the realities of any industry and is always a sensitive topic when it comes to healthcare.

Nonetheless, as I am prefer to be a more solution-focussed individual, I was enticed by Foster closing solutions which rightfully said that ultimately we are all responsible for own health and wellbeing and can still make individual choices.

This is the biggest take-away I got from the movie and which you can apply to your life right now, particularly as we celebrate Xmas and a time for gratitude.

In my experience, we have a choice as to learn more about the true causes of our illnesses, before considering multiple medications or extensive surgeries. Sometimes, all it takes is for us to consider our diet, if we are doing enough exercise or even sleeping enough, before looking at other potentially more toxic solutions.

Whilst I did not agree with everything in THRIVE, I did find it to be a thought-provoking piece that certainly providing me with some ideas on how we can improve global health and wellbeing and particularly integrate modern medicine with Eastern therapies in order to bring the best healthcare for people worldwide.

I also do believe that Foster is on the right track by creating a network for collaboration on the THRIVE movement site, as such major changes can also occur through the force of joint effort under a common vision. This is also what I am doing having started the Global Collaboration for Health & Wellbeing a few weeks ago with Australian leaders.

Have you ever experienced anything to indicate that there is a global conspiracy in healthcare?

 

How do you know you need an ‘Energy Makeover’?

By Martine Negro and Dr Avnesh Ratnanesan

One of the interesting and challenging aspect of understanding your own energy field is that most of us cannot ‘see’ it. In fact most of us cannot taste, hear or smell it.

Most of time however, we can ‘feel’ it or ‘sense’ a problem, though in many cases, we don’t realise that the root cause of the problem is related to our Energy field.

This is common in Western societies as the concept of human energy fields is not widely taught. In Eastern societies however, the concept of a body’s energy as the cause of health problems is pervasive.

I recently spoke to Martine Negro, our Energy Practitioner at the Divinity Wellness Institute with over 30 years experience in diagnosing and treating energy fields, using modalities such as Acupuncture, Reiki and Emotional Freedom Technique.

Here’s what she had to say about “How to Know if you need an Energy Makeover

Q: Martine, how can you tell if there is a problem with your Energy?

A: There are several ways, for example:

  • You have physical symptoms or illnesses that are not responding to conventional treatments or the treatment is taking too long to work. Perhaps you have been taking medication, herbs or supplements for months with little noticeable change or the symptoms return as soon as you stop the treatment.
  • Occasionally, no physical reason can found for your illness, despite extensive tests and medical consultations.
  • You have bouts of feeling physically tired or mentally exhausted for no obvious reason.
  • You become moody, anxious, angry or depressed very easily.
  • You have a history of trauma (physical or psycho-emotional), either a major one (e.g. accident, death of a loved one, miscarriage, abortion, divorce, betrayal, etc.) or multiple minor stresses (long term irritation, financial or relationship frustrations, etc).
  • You are aware that something is not quite right about yourself but you are not sure what is happening
  • You have difficulty moving through a difficult issue, despite your best efforts and counselling from family, friends and professionals.
  • You dislike a habit or phobia and cannot change it
  • You have a destructive addictive pattern that you are unable to control

Q: Is there a way to test yourself to see if your energy is being affected?

A: Sure, focus on the issue or problem that you currently have – can you sense how your body responds? Do you feel any tension or negative change in your emotional state?

Nothing is “trivial”, energetically speaking. Over time, small prolonged stresses can cause as much damage as a major one that happened once!

Our society and “disease care” system rarely encourages people to be aware and listen to the body’s messages. The Western medicine approach is often geared to be more “re-active” rather than “pro-active”.

In order to to be proactive, you need to pay attention to your Mind-Body system.

 

Q: What typically happens at an ‘Energy Makeover’ consultation with you Martine, or in fact with other similar energy practitioners?

A: During an energetic session, you are invited to tune in into your body and start connecting to your innate inner wisdom which knows exactly the core issue behind the symptom.

As you connect, you will be guided to activate the energy flow through various energetic tools (acupressure, hands on, imagery, deep breathing and so on)

Quantum physics research demonstrates that when you observe something for a period of time…it changes! Observation is a major component of the energetic experience, a highly unique, organic and flowing process simultaneously involving mind, body and energy. As the energy block gets untangled, the brain gets “rewired” in such a way that after one or several sessions, you feel different. You may gain new insights, new perceptions of the situation and also have great new tools to engage yourself actively in your treatment.

So an energetic session is very much a “team-working” exercise between you, the ultimate expert on your body and the practitioner’s expertise in energetics.  We explore and work together to allow the energy to naturally get back into balance, ultimately inviting you to trust your amazing Mind-Body system which is designed to heal.