Between 4-7 October 2016, a group of invited international experts in health, public policy, public health, law and ethics assembled at Ickworth House, (Suffolk, UK) for a meeting entitled Personalised healthcare: bringing the future into focus.
The meeting was convened by Prof. Walter, Ricciardi, Dr Eric Meslin, Prof. Bartha Knoppers and Dr Ron Zimmern. Their goal in arranging the meeting was to encourage open and wide ranging discussions about the future of health and healthcare, looking at least 15-20 years into the future. In particular the meeting considered the greater personalisation of healthcare, the benefits and consequences that might accompany such a radical shift in the way in which we achieve better health, and some of the steps that policy makers and practitioners would need to take to realise its potential. This report presents a summary of the wide ranging discussions that took place at this meeting. It is divided into two parts. The first part captures some of the elements of a more personalised health system and the benefits and limitations associated with such a system that were discussed by the delegates on Day 1. The second part summarises the key themes that emerged from our attempts to address these benefits and limitations.
By Walter Ricciardi, Eric Meslin, Bartha Knoppers and Ron Zimmern
