We hope you are keeping safe and well during this extremely challenging time. Once again, we find ourselves facing severe restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic - and our healthcare systems, and those working on the frontline, are under huge pressure. Meanwhile, patients with severe chronic conditions remain the most at risk from the virus. 

It is the complex factors underlying those conditions which lifestyle medicine seeks to address - and as such it offers huge potential to help us find a way out of the current crisis.

As one of our speakers at BSLM2020 Edward Kunonga asked: is lifestyle medicine the Holy Grail of Healthcare and population health improvement? It certainly must be front and centre of the pandemic response - offering as it does a holistic view which takes into account the  multi-faceted determinants of our health.   

BSLM2020 Conference

If you joined us for our fourth annual conference in September - just a quick reminder that access to the online event closed on October 5th. However, this week we have made available all speaker presentations and live Q&As in our website members area.

Please log into the members' area at your leisure and access three days worth of superb content from the world's leading lifestyle medicine experts.

In this month's newsletter we have an update for those sitting the IBLM & BSLM board certification exam in just a few days - as well as a new date for our next virtual group consultations webinar. 

We're also pleased to share details of our latest Sound Living Podcast episodes, as well as an update on plans for the new BSLM Learning Academy from its newly appointed director Dr Ellen Fallows.

Don't forget you can read a full report on the BSLM20200 conference on our website.

This newsletter contains images. Download them for the full experience.

The countdown is on to the IBLM and BSLM certification exam which is being held online on the weekend of October 24th – 25th 2020. 

This year we have a record 300+ students sitting the exam. Good luck to everyone taking part - and thank you for your incredible commitment to lifestyle medicine: both in theory and in practice! If you are sitting the exam, detailed instructions are available on the BSLM website. 

The Lifestyle Medicine diploma provides an opportunity to augment your clinical or public health practice with a solid grounding in preventing, managing and reversing chronic and lifestyle-related disease.

Find our more at bslm.org.uk/education/iblm-certification

Next year's exam takes place in Edinburgh in September. Please note: we will be accepting new applications for the 2021 diploma from October 26, 2020.

Our sixth virtual group consultations webinar takes place on Thursday, November 5. 

The free webinar will provide you with an overview of Virtual Group Consultations, as well as the skills and resources to safely and efficiently support patients with chronic disease during the international lockdown.

For a full list of speakers and to sign up head to the BSLM website.

Group consultations survey

Please take a few moments to complete a quick survey put together by Fraser Birrell, BSLM Director of Science & Research and the Group Consultations team.

Your responses will help us to determine the current take up of virtual group consultations and assess their potential as an alternative to one-to-one consultations.

BSLM latest news

Member spotlight: Anant Shah

Anant Shah is a junior doctor currently working in Kent. His main interests are sports medicine and lifestyle medicine. Anant aims to become a GP to improve health and wellbeing in his local community and for our newsletter this month he has written a thought-provoking opinion piece entitled: 'If I were health minister'. 

"The greatest burden on the UK health and social care system is preventable chronic disease," writes Anant. "15 million people have at least one long-term condition ... and in 2018 there were 88,299 preventable deaths in the UK."

But what's the solution? And how can lifestyle medicine help? Read more in Anant's blog on the BSLM website.

Health and wellbeing conversations - advice for leaders: New guidance for leaders to promote better health and wellbeing conversations in organisations.

Funding mental healthcare in England: Paper from The RCPsych focusing on the next steps for funding mental health care in England.

Learning resources to prevent suicide and self-harm: New online resources from Health Education England to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day. 

People in most deprived areas were almost twice as likely to visit A&E: Figures published by NHS Digital have revealed attendances at A&E departments in England are almost twice as high in deprived areas compared with the least deprived areas.