Looking forward – Council considers future work topics

The Council held its annual Forward Look seminar on 13 May, where it considered possible future work topics. This year, three new topics were discussed by Council members and invited experts:

• Funding pressures in the NHS
• Complementary medicine
• Sports science and medicine

For each of these topics, a background paper was produced to inform the discussions. Download the background papers. Over the course of the day, speakers included academics, former regulators, medical professionals, members of interest organisations and former athletes. Issues that were under discussion included:

• Current and potential future impacts of funding pressures on the NHS
• Possible ways of dealing with such pressures, including user charges in healthcare
• The role of complementary healthcare in the NHS
• Difficulties in evaluating the evidence-base in complementary medicine
• Anti-doping in sport and the challenge of advances in science
• Ethical issues around enhancement in sport, the responsibilities of healthcare professionals, and the pressure on athletes to perform despite potential risks to their health.

The Council will now deliberate which of these topics, or of others identified in earlier Forward Look discussions, to take forward as future work. A note of the Forward Look seminar will be available soon.