Part One: Social touch

Susannah will explore social touch and engaging with people across the lifespan. Positive social, tactile interactions support our well-being, a lack of physical contact is detrimental to both our physical and mental health. In this talk, Susannah will explore the benefits of social touch and the science underpinning its effects.

Part Two: Working with the NHS

Alan will discuss his lived experience of living with Diabetes type2 and how he used his expertise of project management from the world of work, to address his own health challenges. He also shares his experiences with his mother’s care in her last years. “We should remember the great service the staff provide to millions, even when we have a concern.”

Dr Susannah Walker is an Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health at Liverpool John Moores University. Her research interests lie in the neuroscience of the sense of touch, and particularly the functions of a specific nerve fibre which is proposed to underpin the rewarding properties of social touch.

Alan Hastings has held a variety of voluntary roles in primary and secondary care in the NHS from the chair of his local GP surgery’s Patient Participation Group, to being elected Lead Governor of Milton Keynes University Hospital. Alan is a long-time supporter of the Ageing Well Public Talks Series and brings expertise by lived experience and applied knowledge to caring for his own and his family's health and wellbeing.

Accessible Document:

AWPTS_25_26_Talk_2_Social_Touch_and_experience_of_using_and_working_with_the_NHS_FINAL.pdf