Current Fellows
Peter Friend – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
About me:
Since qualifying as a GP I have worked mainly in areas of deprivation including 3 years as a prison GP.
I have developed an interest in alcohol and substance misuse, and currently work solely for the local specialist service.
Alcohol and substance misuse is an area we have very little exposure and training as medical staff, and most people feel poorly equipped to support this group of patients. They often come with considerable physical and mental morbidity and services can find it difficult to accommodate their needs.
About your Fellowship time:
My project is looking at alcohol care in primary care.
I am involving people with lived experience to give their opinion on care received in GP and asking staff in surgeries for their opinions.
This will inform further interventions to seek to support services as possible.
My findings will be used to inform relevant stakeholders of the current situation in GP in regard alcohol care and recommend ways forward.
Deborah Morgan – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
Deborah Morgan – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
About me:
I moved to Exeter 2 years ago and am a salaried GP working in a fairly central city practice in a deprived area of Exeter. Prior to moving here, I worked as a GP for 7 years near Bristol and prior to that in New Zealand after qualification from the Bath VTS scheme.
I am really enjoying getting to know Devon better with my husband and daughter and in my spare time enjoy walking on Dartmoor, singing in a local choir and travelling.
About your Fellowship time:
I am passionate about improving the health inequalities and challenges facing the patients we look after and am using my fellowship time in several ways.
I will be looking at identifying the barriers to cervical screening in our area of Exeter (which has one of the lowest uptakes of screening) and trying to improve this with targeted intervention.
I will also be working with the local community builders to improve integration of community services and health care provision from the surgery, to ensure a multi-faceted approach to improving health globally.
Susannah Rawlinson – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
Susannah Rawlinson – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
About me:
I am a Salaried GP at the Clocktower Surgery in Exeter which is a practice for people who are experiencing homelessness or who are vulnerably housed.
I completed my GP training in Torbay in 2007 before moving to West Wales and then to Western Australia. During my 10 years in Australia I worked as a GP in an Aboriginal Medical Service in the Pilbara region in the northwest and then as a GP in a homeless health clinic in Fremantle. I returned to the UK in 2022.
I have special interests in substance misuse and homeless healthcare. I am currently undertaking my RCGP Level 2 Certificate in Substance misuse to become a GPwSI in substance misuse.
About your Fellowship time:
The health inequalities fellowship is an excellent opportunity to spend time outside my everyday role as a GP to look at the bigger picture of the impact of health inequality on individuals and society. It gives me an opportunity to learn from leading experts in the field of health inequalities and listen to and share experiences with colleagues working in similar fields. It also gives me an opportunity to undertake project work aimed at identifying and addressing an area of unmet need to contribute towards a sustainable reduction in health inequalities in Devon. I also hope to disseminate this learning about reducing health inequalities locally, regionally and at a national level.
Emily Cotton – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
Emily Cotton – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
About me:
I am currently working as a salaried GP at Dartmouth. I am particularly interested in the interplay between mind and body. I think this is a hugely under-recognised proportion of the work that we do as GPs. I have been training and developing my skills in the area of trauma informed care that I think is the “missing puzzle piece” in many presentations.
About your Fellowship time:
My project aims to look at working with the PCN to offer trauma-informed education to staff as well as looking at the challenges of rural poverty in the local area.
John McGuinness – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
John McGuinness – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
About me:
I am a salaried GP at Corner Place Surgery in Paignton. I moved to Devon after my GP training and working as a GP in South London. I have an interest in social prescribing, health inequalities and how primary care works with the community. I enjoy spending time outdoors, running and weekends at the beach with my family.
About your fellowship time:
My fellowship is working with Paignton & Brixham PCN. I plan to continue working with the community on building healthy heart communities.
This will include BP checks in the community, outreach events and linking in with community groups and the Torbay public health teams.
I also want to establish a Torbay wide health inequalities group to share and support education and project work based on health inequalities.
Josie Rosser – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
Josie Rosser – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
About you:
I am a salaried GP working at North Road West Medical Centre in Plymouth for the last seven years. I moved to Plymouth to start my GP training, having previously been a surgical trainee in the West Midlands, and completed my medical degree at Newcastle University. I am a GP trainer and have an interest in education from medical students through to GP trainees.
Outside of being a GP and a health inequalities fellow I enjoy spending time with my two children, gardening and looking after the school allotment.
About your fellowship time:
My fellowship is looking at childhood obesity and developing a more holistic and compassionate approach. I will be working within the Drake primary care network, but also alongside the school nursing team and public health team.
My aim is to gain a greater understanding of how we as health care professionals can best support and help families and children living with weight related problems, and also looking into the impact of adverse childhood events and understanding more about trauma-focused care in relation to obesity.
Marie Larford – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
Marie Larford – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023-2024)
About you:
I completed my GP training in south London before moving to Devon after I qualified. I currently work as a salaried GP in Torquay. I have an interest in health inequalities, with a focus around asylum seeker and refugee health. I have experience in volunteering with Doctors of the World and currently volunteer with Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support in their health triage clinic. I am also planning to train in medico-legal report writing for survivors of torture.
About your fellowship time:
Currently each newly arrived asylum seeker into Devon should receive a health assessment. This presents an opportunity to undertake a holistic assessment of physical, mental health and social needs. There is currently no standardised format for this assessment and there are barriers which can impact upon these being undertaken. I am therefore looking to create a standard model for the health assessments, and within my local area look at the pathway to assessment, aiming to reduce barriers and optimise any referral pathways. I am also keen to roll out further education and teaching to trainees and clinicians in Devon to increase knowledge and confidence in supporting this population.
Sarah Williams – Health Inequalities Fellowship (2023-2024)
Sarah Williams – Health Inequalities Fellowship (2023-2024)
I am a 6 session GP partner working in Ilfracombe in North Devon. I moved to Devon for my GP training in 2013, having previously lived and worked primarily in the North East and Cumbria, but also in South Africa and Sierra Leone at points in my career. Outside of work I am mum to 2 children, and enjoy all things outdoors.
I am passionate about addressing health inequalities and believe that primary care has a crucial role to play in achieving this.
I plan to use my fellowship time to continue developing an outreach clinic that I established last year for homeless and vulnerably housed people in Ilfracombe.
I also plan to use my time working with the ‘Ilfracombe Taskforce’, a multi-agency working group recently developed, seeking to address the high levels of health inequality seen within the town.
Helen Price – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023 – 2024)
Helen Price – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023 – 2024)
I completed my GP training in Plymouth in 2007 and have worked in Devon ever since. I currently work at Devonport Health Centre in Plymouth.
My interest in Health Inequalities developed after working at a number of different practices in Plymouth and I was fortunate to undertake a Deep End Health Inequalities Fellowship in 2021-22 when I focused on improving uptake of local smoking cessation services.
I plan to use my Fellowship time to look into how we can improve COPD diagnosis and lung cancer screening at a practice level. If successful then this could be expanded as a tool to use within other GP practices.
I also intend to use the time to improve my knowledge and understanding of health inequalities and what we can do to improve the health of our local practice population. I will also be spending time exploring local services designed to support those living in areas of high deprivation and from inclusion health groups.
Hamish Duncan – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023 – 2024)
Hamish Duncan – Health Inequality Fellowship (2023 – 2024)
I have been in Exeter for roughly 17 years, via Leeds where I trained and New Zealand where I worked initially, before moving back to GP training in Devon. I enjoyed several years as a GP locum before taking on a full time partnership on the edge of Exeter covering a mixture of city and rural population. With 3 teenage children, I am either to be found at work, or acting as a chauffeur, chef or rugby coach.
Recently a hotel for Asylum Seekers has been opened within out practice area. We are the only practice to over this isolated site, and have had to create an entirely new system of care that fits their varied needs and cultural and health experiences, without detracting from our growing base population. The fellowship has afforded protected time to create a new registration system and moving on service that has been carefully structured around efficiency and access, in order to help identify health needs and target delivery efficiently. I have liaised with Doctors of the World, and linked with teams in Somerset and Manchester to try and share learning and encourage a more unified approach, or at the very list a repository of resources that is transferrable across regions and ICBs.
Lucy Horsley – Health Inequality Fellowship (2024-2025)
Lucy Horsley – Health Inequality Fellowship (2024-2025)
About you:
I am a salaried GP working at Pathfields Medical Group.
I finished my VTS training in April 2021 in Torbay. I had worked at semi-rural practices throughout my registrar training and so working in Plymouth was a bit of a change of pace. Having completed the new to practice fellowship I felt enthused to take on more of a project and be able to combine two of the areas I have become particularly interested in over the past 2-3 years: women’s health and health inequalities.
About your Fellowship time:
During my fellowship I am hoping to understand why women, especially those in our most deprived areas are less likely to engage with routine cervical screening. And what we as a GP practice can do to make this more accessible.
Sarah Jarvis – Health Inequality Fellowship (2024 – 2025)
I am a 6 session GP working at Mayflower Medical Group in Plymouth
I trained at Southampton University and did my foundation years at Torbay hospital before going to work in South Africa.
I returned to complete my VTS training at Torbay and started my GP job in October 2022. As I went to secondary school and lived in an area of social deprivation in Plymouth, health inequality work has always been very close to my heart.
I plan to use my fellowship time to improve education and care around menopause amongst both black and minority ethnic groups and amongst socially deprived area. I hope to use this common human experience of the menopause transition to connect and bring together women from different cultures, races, and class.