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Doctors of the World is a leading charitable organisation which aims to break down barriers to healthcare and prevent social injustice for millions, both globally and within the UK. Currently based in London, Doctors of the World provide medical care, information, and practical resources for minority groups who continue to struggle with access to basic healthcare. In this month’s episode of the Practice Manager podcast, Nicola, Robyn and Ben are joined by Dr Yusuf Ciftci, Policy and Advocacy Manager, and National Health Advisor Janet, from Doctors of the World to discuss the issues of access in-depth. From the thorny issues of current bureaucracy, prejudice and misunderstanding to re-education and improvements via the medium of programmes such as the Surgeries Initiative, and a powerful personal account of Janet’s own experiences, today’s podcast is a must-listen for general practice in raising awareness of the importance of inclusion – and improving health outcomes for all.

Introduction (0:09)

Doctors of the World; the charity, and its aims (0:25)

All about Yusuf (1:47)

Janet’s background and her role as a National Health Advisor (2:40)

The disparity between England and Scotland in accessing healthcare, and Janet’s own experiences (3:32)

Why registering with a GP surgery is not necessarily straightforward (4:17)

Prevalence of the registration and access issue (5:21)

Nicola’s view (6:20)

Robyn’s perspective and feedback from the IGPM (8:10)

Re-educating practice staff (9:20)

Improving access and support (10:06)

What changes can be made right now? (12:11)

Doctors of the World’s Safe Surgeries Initiative (13:04)

Signing up for Safe Surgeries (14:24)

Clarification on the resources available (15:05)

Addressing health inequalities as a practice and as a network (15:46)

Robyn’s thoughts about escalation of poor health outcomes and prevention of these locally (17:13)

Janet’s thoughts about how to positively effect change (17:49)

Finding out more (19:26)

The Doctors of the World webpage, which contains all of the resources discussed in this episode, including The Safe Surgeries toolkit, can be found here. You can sign up for the initiative here

The Practice Index website is here

For all enquiries about the Practice Index / Ockham podcast, please contact James Dillon here or Ben Gowland here