The Tuke Institute is a virtual organisation of scientists, clinicians, and other professionals consisting of the organised (the Chairman) and three advisory boards.

The Tuke Institute was founded in 2007 by the current Chairman, Dr. Rupert Whitaker.

The Tuke Institute does a number of things. It does scientific research designed to help to create policy and civil capacity-building in the fields of medicine and medical science. It uses research and policy to design and promote solutions to existing problems in the delivery of health-effective medical services in ‘healthcare’ and ‘social care’. For this, it focuses on new methods of promoting and enabling civil participation in the design and governance of services that affect health and well-being. 

The aims of the Tuke Institute are viewable on a related page: please click on this link [here]. 

The Tuke Institute has worked on a number of initial projects, including:

i) a pilot international, four-language survey of patients’ perceptions of HIV physicians and their practice

ii) a model of how the public can participate in the risk-management, audit, and governance of medical services;

iii) a model analysing the gaps in “translational medical science”—i.e., the research-process that aims to make science provide effective treatments for illness

iv) a model of what patient-centredness means in the era of public participation

v) a design for integrated medical services that ensure they meet patients’ needs effectively

vi) a model of feedback for medical services to make sure they are being as effective as they can be 

The Tuke Institute is continuing to develop the previous projects. In addition, it is planning projects on:

i) a set of measures to determine how effective individual clinicians are when providing services to patients

ii) an online system for patients to report anonymously but publicly on the effectiveness of individual clinicians in helping them to get well

iii) an online system for carers of the chronically or terminally ill to build their own care teams, find resources for caring, share informationand support, and understand the process that they are going through as carers. 

You may contact the Institute through the contact page (here) and your message will be responded to as soon as is possible.

Alternatively, you can contact the Chairman through any of the social media methods that are indicated on his page (here)

The Tuke Institute itself is a virtual body.

Currently, it is also registered in the UK as a Community-Interest Company (a CIC) with Companies House. A CIC is a social enterprise that has to act in the public interest and where all proceeds of trade have to be ploughed back into the work of the organisation. This retains its charitable and non-profit focus without requiring the apparatus of a British charity as such.

The Tuke Institute is also organising to register in the USA as a non-profit 501(c)(3), as both a charitable and a scientific body. This will extend its work into the creating change within a commercial environment (the primary one delivering health-services to the US civilian population) and a civic environment (delivering services to the military, Native Americans, and the elderly, as special groups).

In itself, no.

In Britain, however, the term “Institute’ is a protected term and every body that wishes to use that title must meet certain, stringent criteria. Tuke Institute CIC met those criteria on the basis of its scientific credibility and the nature of the work that it is undertaking. To use this term, approval must be sought and it is normally given to organisations carrying out research at the highest level or to professional bodies of the highest standing. A specific need for the proposed Institute needs to be demonstrated as well as the appropriate regulations and evidence of support from other representative and independent bodies. The list of such terms is here: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp1.shtml#appA