The Ethics of Health Communication

British Academy/Wellcome Trust Conferences bring together scholars and specialists from around the world to explore themes related to health and wellbeing.

Health care and medicine are technical disciplines. However, they demand effective communication with those who are not experts in the relevant technical areas: patients, families, politicians, and the general public. Health care workers, public health professionals, health economists and other health professionals are thus often confronted with circumstances demanding communication skills, often where ineffective communication can lead to serious consequences. Examples where communication is key in healthcare contexts include  how public health officials should communicate risk to public audiences, how doctors should communicate uncertainty to patients, when and whether it is appropriate for medical professionals to raise ethical issues with patients, how medical students should be taught to communicate, the use of inclusive language in maternity services, and the role of communication in the democratisation of healthcare decision-making, for instance through Patient and Public Involvement.

This conference brings together a variety of speakers working at the intersection of philosophical ethics and health practice, to engage with a range of ethical and political issues that can arise in the context of communicating about health and health care.

Conference convenor

Dr Ben Davies, University of Sheffield

Speakers

• Dr Teresa Baron, University of Nottingham  
• Professor Ruth Bromley, University of Manchester 
• Dr Rebecca Brown, Uehiro Oxford Institute  
• Dr Ben Davies, University of Sheffield
• Dr Hugh Desmond, Wageningen University
• Greg Fell, President of UK Association of Directors of Public Health
• Dr Lisa Forsberg, Uehiro Oxford Institute 
• Dr Zoë Fritz, University of Cambridge
• Dr Katherine Furman, University of Liverpool
• Dr Jules Holroyd, University of Sheffield  
• Dr Harleen Johal, University of Bristol 
• Dr Joshua Parker, Lancaster University 
• Dr Alfred Moore, University of York 
• Dr Clare Moriarty, Trinity College Dublin

Chairs

• Joe Holmes, University of Sheffield 
• Charlie Potter, University of Sheffield 

Image credit: Photo by Richard Stone/ Wikimedia Commons