Dr Eugenia Lee is GP lead, Healthy London Partnership’s Children and Young People’s Programme. We asked her to tell us a few of the reasons that she’s so passionate about improving children and young people’s health in the capital.
What is the biggest challenges to improving health for children and young people in London?
There is a huge richness in serving London’s diverse population. It also comes with challenges in London’s embedded health inequalities. Though we have exceptionally good performances in certain areas, nearby neighbours can have poor outcomes. There is an additional challenge in how to disseminate best practice which has a multi-layered challenges.
How do you address those challenges?
There are several ways to facilitate meeting these challenges. Having a forum where best practice is brought and discussed with our GP leads meeting, this helps to stimulate interest and sharing work (such as business cases) has been a good start. We are now looking at how to make data more accessible and meaningful to commissioners and providers through the GP federation pilot.
What is the most satisfying part of your job within Healthy London Partnership?
Being surrounded by a great team, of doers and thinkers and being part of something innovative. Learning about great stories and programs that are done within the capital has been hugely inspiring.
What has been the most difficult moment of your career and how did you deal with it?
I was a house officer for the trauma team at St Thomas Hospital on the day of the London bombing on 7 July, 2005. Seeing patients who were going through their daily routines being brought in such critical condition was very difficult. The journey of helping them back onto their feet and discharge was rewarding to see how a multidisciplinary team can bring a real change amidst such disaster.
In five years’ time what would you wish primary care services for children and young people to look like?
I would hope that the primary care services will be much more accessible for children and young people, where we can be proactive in managing conditions before crisis occur that we are a service promoting health rather than responding to sickness.
In: Blog
Tagged: #AskAboutAsthma, asthma, children and young people, NHS Go