The Brighton and Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society (“Med-Chi”, pronounced “med-ki” to rhyme with sky) was founded in 1847 as a forum for medical professionals to meet, learn and socialise. Today our function is similar but more inclusive. Membership is open to practising or retired medical practitioners, allied healthcare professionals, pharmacists or individuals whose interests align with the objects of the Society.
Our meeting programme is always diverse and typically includes topics such as the following: clinical medicine and surgery, public health, global health, medical humanities, history of medicine, medical ethics, personal experience and talks by experts in specific fields. Meetings normally take place face-to-face and are delivered live online. Please note that attendees under the age of eighteen must be accompanied by a responsible adult. For reasons of fire safety, all attendees are required to sign a register before entering the lecture hall. Staff/students at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and Brighton and Sussex Medical School do not need to book a seat in the lecture hall. These are offered on a first come first served basis.
We are one of the oldest medico-chirurgical societies in England and strive to preserve this important tradition. New members are always welcome. (see ‘Join’ link at top of page)
Find out more about the organisation and its history!
October Announcement: Next Lecture
The robot will see you now: communicating the complexity of modern medicine- past, present and future
with Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield
Tuesday 4 November 2025 | 6 pm for 6:30 pm start
Lecture Theatre, Audrey Emerton Building, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton, BN2 5BE
In the past few decades research has increased our understanding of many diseases and exciting advances have been made in both diagnostics and treatments. The doctor-patient relationship has also changed significantly from the paternalism of ‘doctor knows best’ to a more patient-centric approach with expectations of shared decision-making. Unfortunately explaining the rationale and logic for some of the complexities of modern medicine to sometimes anxious and fearful patients can be a challenge.
Communication is core clinical skill which, when done well, positively influences physical, emotional and social outcomes. Sadly the constraints of throughput and cost-containment in busy NHS clinics often prohibits the effective, therapeutic communication that patients crave and which makes medicine fulfilling and rewarding for HCPs. So can AI systems, which have already infiltrated modern life help? In this talk I will look at some of the data emerging from the use of AI in healthcare such as machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, the ubiquitous chatbots, and clinical decision support systems and consider what impacts these might have on the doctor/patient relationship.
Lesley Fallowfield DBE, BSc, DPhil, FMedSci. is Professor of Psycho-oncology and Director of Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C) at Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Her research interests are wide and include design of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) many of which are used in major international clinical trials of cancer therapy. Her team has developed evidence-based communication skills training programmes for HCPs discussing complex information with patients such as talking about:- Randomised and Phase I cancer trials, metastatic disease, genomic and genetic testing (see https://shore-c.sussex.ac.uk).
Professor Fallowfield holds numerous research grants, has written >500 papers, many book chapters and 3 text books. She lectures and runs workshops throughout the world in psychosocial oncology, quality of life assessment and communication skills and serves on the scientific boards of many cancer charities and international guidelines committees. Her expertise in these fields has resulted in many prestigious eponymous lectures, awards and visiting professorships. In 2008 she became a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and in 2016 Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame Commander of the British Empire for services to psycho-oncology. In 2019 she was given the European School of Oncology Umberto Veronesi Memorial Award and made an honorary fellow of the Association of Cancer Physicians for outstanding contributions to patient-centred cancer research and cancer care.
Please register here: https://forms.office.com/e/
