Today’s guest is Steve Brine, @BrineHealth, former Health Minister and Chair of the Health Select Committee, and co-host of the podcast, Prevention is the New Cure, @PreventionPodc.

Steve tells us about his journey into politics. His interest in the environment was sparked as a youngster, and he thought that politics might be the place to go if he wanted to change the world. On his arrival at the House of Commons when asked what he wanted to do, he said he was interested in health. When Theresa May became Prime Minister, he became Public Health Minister.

We talk about how the world of politics and health worked, and some of the initiatives that Steve put into place during his time in the role. Interestingly, Steve explains how influence in politics works and differs depending on your job, and when chairing the Health Select Committee you are able to have significant influence on the agenda. He understands the value of primary care, and was instrumental in the development of Pharmacy First. He has also strongly campaigned for earlier cancer diagnosis.

We have a conversation about the disparity in NHS funding between primary and secondary care. He certainly doesn’t believe it should be the way it is, and shares his thoughts on the conundrum that faces the government, and the difficult political conversations that are needed.

Steve also talks about how important integrated care is for us to be able to be as inclusive as possible.

If you’d like to contact Steve:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-brine-00979b1a1/
X: https://x.com/BrineHealth
Website: https://www.stevebrine.com/

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Keith Wilson lives near Darlington, and before he retired, he worked in education. His last job was director of higher education at a local college. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Keith shares that as an active person, he began to notice problems with his movement. Initially he thought it might be a brain tumour or multiple sclerosis, and his diagnosis of Parkinson’s was a slight relief.

His diagnosis was confirmed after doing lots of different tests, one of which was a DaTscan. A DaTscan is a brain scan which helps to diagnose conditions like dementia and Parkinson’s. It works by detecting the loss of nerve cells in the brain. Keith felt he was lucky having that, as it is less common here in the UK than it is in the US.

Because of Keith’s love of running and mountaineering, he wanted to keep active and not become a couch potato. He continued to climb and recognised that the adrenaline he got from climbing actually helped the symptoms of Parkinson’s to go away for a couple of hours. So, he started to explore the idea of creating dopamine or adrenaline hits on a daily basis to help fight his disease. To this end, he bought two VR headsets and he and his wife download activities and have found that these help.

Keith then bought 10 other VR headsets via crowdfunding and started to give talks around the region, showing what he was doing to help himself. He now runs regular events to help other people with both neurological conditions, and Parkinson’s to enjoy a huge range of different virtual activities. He shares some of the examples of how it has helped people. The program that Keith uses is accessible to everyone, and not an expensive solution.

He also talks about how, when he started this venture of using VR headsets, there was no research at all about VR and Parkinson’s. There were others for Alzheimer’s, dementia and strokes, but now there are many different research articles appearing.

You can find Keith on:
Facebook; the Darlington Parkinson’s support group page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/719576183066014

Email: kwilson252@hotmail.co.uk


You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/

Our podcast guest today is Nicole Smith from Australia. She is a nurse and a gerontologist who is extremely passionate about giving people who have dementia their best lives.

When you hear the story of Nicole’s upbringing, you will understand why she loves being with older people and why she fights for human rights for our elders.

After becoming a registered nurse, she was recruited by a nursing home and quickly given responsibility for a large dementia unit others didn’t want to manage. After many successful years working in this area, she decided there must be a better way to support our elders.

This is when she decided to create a different social model based around community, where people feel safe, happy and are connected with different generations. She established this model while bring up her children and studying for her master’s in Gerontology. Her model showed a difference, was recognised and shared on social media. This is when Dr Rodney stepped in and supported her to create a training programme enabling her to share the model with other professionals.

When the pandemic happened and people couldn’t meet, Nicole became a COVID responder, spending large chunks of time away from her family, responsible for crisis management in different Care Home throughout Australia. This reinforced a desperate need for alternatives to care homes and gave her renewed self confidence to reconnect with Dr Rodney to create a better model.

Together they have created their own care model, Community Home Australia. Listen and understand their care home solution and consider what you could learn and apply to your own life. Its truly person centred, where everybody supports one another as part of an extended family, with medical care available when needed.

Hear more about Nicole’s latest inclusive movement linking bright minds from across the globe who are passionately dedicated to making changes in the lives of our elders/older adults/loved ones.

You can email Nicole Smith at nicole@communityhomeaustralia.org
Find out about Community home Australia https://communityhomeaustralia.org/
Sign up for OpenTheDoors https://openthedoors.au/

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/