This conference had a collection of truly inspiring speakers and I learned a lot. I’m not sure that this is reflected in the notes I made, as I was often too engrossed to really write down that much – but below are the things that I did jot down about the two days. The first day was more theoretical, talking about the potential of GP to effect change, and also about the life and work of Julian Tudor-Hart, who was a dedicated GP to a practice in rural Wales, a very deprived area, and whose work contributed enormously to the body of evidence about health inequalities and about the benefits of continuity of care, and who is most celebrated for his work on the Inverse Care Law.
Day 1 Learning points:
- The life of Julian Tudor Hart and his development of GP mixing research and patient care in rural Wales.
- The inverse care law is inextricably linked to the marketisation of healthcare.
- Deep End GP as an evolving concept and the development of the subspeciality in Glasgow.
- The history of socialism in medicine. The development of the NHS and the GP role in shaping it over the last 60 years. Late to agree to it but soon took it on. Partnerships, CCGs, alternative models of GP provision. Encroaching privatisation, marketisation of healthcare, bringing technology into GP.
- Talking informally to retired GPs and academic GPs about activism and advocacy, service development and effecting change – focussing on preparing for the future.
Reflections from Day 1:
GPs are uniquely placed to effect change in patients’ lives and improve health and social inequalities.
It is a privilege to do our job and advocating for our patients is essential part of this. Looking to develop practical services is something that actually any GP can do, effecting change is possible if you take the opportunity and just “have a go”, but it’s vital to plan for the future and engage younger generations with this.
I will try to observe patterns in my patients and look for areas that I can improve options available for reducing inequality and improving long term health outcomes (taking inspiration from Julian Tudor Hart’s longitudinal study of CVD risk factors in his community).
This session also cemented for me the importance of continuity, for patient and doctor satisfaction and for clinical efficacy. The doctor-patient relationship can be therapeutic and this is actually a really important aspect, expecially working in inclusion healthcare. Trust is a vital part of this and cannot always be transferred between doctors, it may be personal to the individual doctor.
Learning points from day 2:
The Exceptional Potential of GP Conference day 2 (915am – 430pm) This day focussed on what different areas are doing to try to encourage people to work in deep end GP and to give them ideas on how to improve health inequalities.
Northern Dublin training scheme – Austin O Carroll – the most popular GP training scheme in Ireland. GPs tend to stay in the areas that they trained – so we need more trainers in deprived areas.
Yorkshire – the Trailblazer scheme!
Pioneer scheme in Scotland- more structured development time than in the Trailblazer scheme but it’s also longer – 2 years rather than 1 year. Good feedback.
Govan SHIP – excellent multifaceted project with really good outcomes.
Hilltop Surgery in Oldham – Focussed Care workers and the importance of trying to achieve QOF vs making your patients invisible.
Gent, Belgium – the importance of family medicine the community and looking at community assets e.g playgrounds – huge social effect.
The importance of continuity of care, being alongside our patients rather than above them.
Reflection from day 2:
This day focussed on different approaches to realising the exceptional potential of GP rather than the academic background and was inspiring. As a result I’m hoping to become a GP trainer (in a few years) and I have seen the importance of GP networks in pushing for better services, achieving better outcomes and innovative solutions to problems that you just don’t get in posher areas! Coming together and sharing ideas makes a huge difference and seeing how much has been achieved since I last went to a deep end conference a few years ago is incredible. I left the conference inspired and motivated to make changes wherever I can, and to try to help make a West Yorkshire Deep End group this year to share ideas and meet people doing the same kind of thing as us.
Overall it was a very informative conference, the opportunity to hear experts from so many different areas of excellence was incredible and inspiring, and I have taken home with me a renewed enthusiasm and passion for my work – and a recognition that the way many people can achieve such great results is through making the most of connections, networks, peer support and sharing ideas, so that we can inspire each other to keep our passion for the job and make a difference to our patients.
Dr Helen Barclay