Swimming upstream: practising whole-person medicine in a reductionist medical culture

Scientific advances have prolonged many peoples’ lives though medicine, surgery and public health measures. The NHS has performance targets that enumerate how effectively this is being done. As the targets are linked to finance, some argue that compassion for the patient has been lost, or considered of less importance than physical outcomes.¹ There are no targets that measure hope, empowerment, or comfort, no boxes ticked when a guideline is set aside to accommodate a patient’s wishes. Reductionism has reduced the practise of medicine to the biomedical model, to the detriment of the mental, emotional, spiritual and social aspects.