Frequently-Asked Questions
Here you can find the short answers to typical questions. Please click on a heading to reveal its contents, and click it again to close it.
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
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.
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 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
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