Public Health Collaboration Conference

Imagine a society where everyone enjoys good metabolic health. Motivated by this vision, the Public Health Collaboration (PHC) www.PHCuk.org was founded in 2016 with a mission to ‘empower, inspire and educate people that most chronic diseases can be prevented and reversed by maintaining good metabolic health through sustainable lifestyle changes.’ With the NHS celebrating its 75th anniversary, the theme of this year's PHC Conference at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre (19 and 20 May) was ‘Fixing the NHS – One Person at a Time’, and 400 delegates, together with a further 100 watching online, saw a total of 24 speakers share their expertise on how we can harness the power of lifestyle to help fix the NHS together.

PHC director Sam Feltham reminded delegates that the need to fix the NHS was acute given that type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease (CVD), obesity, cancer, dementia, and stroke cost the NHS £35 billion annually and take up 50% of GP appointments and 70% of inpatient bed days. However, it became clear over the course of the weekend that a spirit of curiosity, combined with a determination to assert evidence-based science in the service of common sense, can meet this challenge.