Healthcare is increasingly fragmented leaving many ordinary clinicians feeling isolated and alone. Things feel even even worse when you’re trying to change the system.
Through our WHAMinars, WHAM brings together people with lived experience of poverty, parents, young people, practitioners in healthcare and the third sector to learn from each other and discuss how to address health inequalities in clinical practice.
Tackling Health Inequalities in Children with Medical Complexity:
We heard from families of children with medical complexity and their stories of hope through adversity. We heard about children and young persons councils in a London hospital where staff and patients were working together to make a change to the service that really matter to patients. Finally we discussed the importance of connecting across systems to drive lasting change across organisations.
Big change starts small, but no one makes change alone. Use the power of numbers and the collective hive mind to find your partners in crime or gain inspiration from the work of others through our ‘health inequalities action heatmap’ (HIAH). HIAH helps to highlight and connect clinicians working on similar goals; it enables individual clinicians to connect with others who are in a similar position, both geographically and thematically, providing forms of peer-mentorship and exchange of knowledge and practical wisdom.
This is what makes WHAM a ‘social incubator’ for health systems. It builds relationships and promotes collective intelligence, helping to provide conditions through which local teams or national projects can germinate and blossom.
WHAM is a social incubator for conscious clinicians who fight for social justice. By sharing experiences, thoughts and practical wisdom we can support each other to address health inequalities where we work. We love to hear from WHAM members. If you have a blog idea you would like to discuss email us at whamprojectuk@gmail.com
Facing the effects of social deprivation and inequality in our clinical encounters is hard. And it’s contributing to moral injury and burnout amongst the health workforce.
How can we show up to advcoate for our patients if we ourselves are injured?
We are working with the Queens Nursing Institute in Scotland to develop our offerings on self-care, but in the meantime, our network is here to help support those who want to do good work sustainably. Don’t be afraid to reach out.
A space for self care and self compassion. To be an activist is ultimately an act of love - but it must start with ourselves.
Thrive Paediatrics from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) is a project that aims to improve the working lives of paediatricians
Check out the wellbeing resources for paediatricians from Thrive Paediatrics on the RCPCH website here