Midspan Meetings 2014
Two Midspan meetings held over consecutive days in 2014.
The first of the two meetings was a scientific symposium, funded and co-organised by NHS Health Scotland, which took place on Friday, 31st October, at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (see Midspan programme). Following a brief overview of the studies, there were nine presentations on Midspan publications in the past nine years, encompassing a variety of different topics. The morning session ended with an overview of 50 Midspan papers on mortality, and the afternoon session ended with a general overview by Professor George Davey Smith of the University of Bristol. A research briefing summarised Midspan publications in the previous nine years (see delegate comments).
A public meeting, hosted by Renfrewshire Council, was held in the recently refurbished Renfrew Town Hall the following day, Saturday, 1st November, at which the Midspan Study’s main findings were explained. An invited panel discussed with a lively audience the significance of the findings for people living in the area today. The meeting was well attended (with numbers in excess of 115) by Family study participants, some of whom arrived with their parents who had taken part in the Renfrew and Paisley Study in the 1970s.
Professor Phil Hanlon of the University of Glasgow chaired the meeting, which included a presentation of the main findings by Professor Laurence Gruer (see presentation). Panel members were Professor Graham Watt, Dr Linda De Caestecker (Director of Public Health for Greater Glasgow & Clyde), local GP Dr Chris Johnstone and Peter Macleod, Director of Social Work for Renfrewshire Council. The main findings were included in a leaflet which was sent out to study participants prior to the meeting (see attendee comments).