It's probably seems a bit rich coming from me, writing about possible solutions for healthcare in equalities.
What with my private specialist practice in the leafy suburb of West Bridgford in Nottingham.
I can slightly defend myself with the help and contributions that we have made to the charity Bridge2Aid improving health across East Africa.
It has now been 3 years since I stopped working within the National Health Service. For 20 years I worked within NHS dentistry in both a hospital setting and a practice setting. One memory though stands out most clearly regarding healthcare and equalities.
For some years I was ‘the dentist’ in Bilborough in Nottingham, this is one of the most socially deprived areas in Nottingham; our practice was up some back stairs above a small Halifax branch on the main street in Bilborough. The really sad thing about working in Bilborough was that if you drove for 1 mile down the road you would reach Trowell Road. If you lived on the other side of Trowell Road from Bilborough (literally the opposite side of the street) you were statistically liable to live 10 years longer.
When I first arrived there I was going to change the world. I was quickly ground down by the vast nature of the task of even improving a few peoples oral health in the environment that I found myself in.
The system I was asked to work within would not promote prevention and it was difficult to engage a positive change with very few individuals. In those circumstances, morale suffers terribly.
Fast forward 15 years and I read the blog by Margaret McCartney It is absolutely clear that there are no such things as healthcare in equalities, they’re just social population in equalities. If we don’t fix the equalities in society we will not fix the equalities in healthcare, end of story. Going forward I would like to search for opportunities to allow me to at least make some sort of small difference in that way. Some of the work we have done in Nottingham with The Friary, the homeless shelter, will actually in some way do that. But so much more needs to be done and the truth is it is not the Government’s responsibility, it’s ours.
Blog Post Number - 1318
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