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The HealthSense annual award is presented to an individual who has had an important impact on medical research or has advanced the public understanding of health issues.
Since 1993, notable award recipients have included the statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter, broadcaster and agony-aunt Claire Rayner, BMJ editor Fiona Godlee, Bad Science author Ben Goldacre, cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst, epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll, journalist John Diamond and the BBC’s Deborah Cohen.
The HealthSense Award is presented each October in central London at a public meeting that is free to attend. It includes a presentation by the award winner who usually also delivers a short address.
HealthSense holds popular public debates, lectures and symposia.
HealthSense debates feature prominent experts and commentators, and explore topical health questions such as the sugar tax, Lord Saatchi’s Medical Innovation Bill, and how to debunk false health news and views.
In 2019 our symposium on Evidence, Healthcare and Medical Devices & Implants took place in central London, and the collaboration resulted in recommendations towards better regulation of medical devices.
Experts serving on the HealthSense committee have been interviewed on BBC TV’s Newsnight, Panorama, Woman’s Hour and BBC Radio Four’s Today programme. Our commentators are sought by national press and science media as well as local radio and TV news.
Experts drawn from the HealthSense committee and membership have responded to government consultations on topics relevant to our aims and expertise. These have included the UK Universities’ Research Integrity Concordat, and the House of Commons Select Committee inquiries into Screening, and Homeopathic Products.
They have also acted as Expert Witnesses for UK Trading Standards in cases involving the marketing of unproven health remedies.
HealthSense has partnered with organizations who share our aims, including Sense About Science, Friends of Science in Medicine, and Students 4 Best Evidence. In 2015 we supported the campaign to prevent the passing of a Bill that could have exposed patients the harm of untested medicines without ethical protections.
Since 1992, the HealthSense quarterly newsletter has been a forum for informed articles, letters and discussion on evidence and integrity in health care. It is fully and freely accessible online. The editor welcomes contributions from experts, students and the public.
HealthSense authors are published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including the British Medical Journal, the Medico-Legal Journal, and Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies.
Letters over the HealthSense byline have appeared in national newspapers on issues focused upon evidence in healthcare. Recent topics have included the licensing of medical devices, unsubstantiated health claims, and concerns over mass population screening.
HealthSense committee members maintain a lively social media presence, with a focus on respectful, thoughtful engagement.
Since the charity’s inception in 1991, HealthSense volunteers have worked diligently on their own initiative to correct health misinformation: from alerting the Advertising Standards Authority about misleading advertisements to filing Freedom of Information Requests on questionable activities by public bodies.
HealthSense supports members with friendly advice, sharing our expertise and experience on the best ways to get misinformation corrected.
HealthSense passed information to UK Trading Standards, highlighting misleading medical claims made for healthcare products. It also challenges the registration of organisations that promote unsubstantiated and potentially hazardous health treatments with the Charity Commission.
HealthSense is above all passionate about evidence. Medical intervention can have risks as well as benefits, and high quality evidence is vital to make decisions on health care and health policy.
That is why HealthSense has sponsored important research into the transparency of clinical trial reporting in the UK, and on transparency in the way European health agencies (including the UK’s NICE) assess new drugs.
The charity has supported a student-led project investigating the teaching of complementary and alternative medicine as part of medical school curricula, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal.
HealthSense welcomes applications to fund research projects that will generate evidence in topics in line with our charitable aims.
Free HealthSense membership is available to qualifying students, and cash prizes are awarded for outstanding entries to the annual Student Prize competition.
The HealthSense Student Prize aims to cultivate a sharp eye for evidence in future health professionals by challenging them to evaluate the quality of clinical trial protocols.
The competition runs every year until Easter and is open to full-time students of medicine, dentistry, nursing and professions allied to medicine.
Since 2002 a total of over £20,000 has been presented to winners and runners-up of these awards.
All full-time and recently-qualified students are eligible for free Student Membership of HealthSense.
Honorary President Nick Ross
Patrons
Robin Ince | Professor Steve Jones FRS | Dr Margaret McCartney | Lord Dick Taverne QC