TY - JOUR T1 - A message from HRH The Prince of Wales, honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians JF - Future Healthcare Journal JO - Future Healthc J SP - 5 LP - 8 DO - 10.7861/fhj.8.1.hrh VL - 8 IS - 1 AU - HRH The Prince of Wales Y1 - 2021/03/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/8/1/5.abstract N2 - KEYWORDS:The COVID-19 pandemic has focused people's minds on healthcare as never before. No-one who has witnessed the events of the past year could fail to be profoundly impressed with the dedication and selfless commitment of all in our NHS.Researchers have devised pioneering vaccines and treatments under conditions of the most pressing urgency. Public authorities have responded with patient persistence to an ever-mutating threat. Volunteers have given their time and their talents to assist those less fortunate than themselves. Communities have shown their willingness to make costly sacrifices to help society tackle its greatest-ever peacetime crisis. And the importance of taking regular exercise has been specifically built into government guidelines.This whole experience has shown the transformative effect on health outcomes that can be achieved with an integrated approach combining science, public policy and personal behaviour. In this case, it has been the necessary response to a sudden acute threat. I have long wished for a similarly integrated approach to the more chronic health issues our society experiences.For as long as I care to remember, I have suggested that medicine should become more integrated and inclusive. Integration is not simply about how we bring together different perspectives and traditions in diagnosis and treatment. Nor is it about rejecting conventional medicines in favour of other treatments: the term ‘complementary’ medicine means precisely what it says. I believe we must also integrate the treatment of disease with the prevention of disease, and the subsequent improvement in people's lifestyles, genuinely to promote national health and not just remediate national illness. Whatever we do to improve the health of an individual should be matched with our attempts to improve the health of whole communities and, on a larger scale still, we should aim for a better balance between short-term economics and the long-term … ER -