Trainee GP placements at Inclusion Healthcare provide unique learning experience

Offering trainee GPs the opportunity to work with Inclusion Healthcare patients is a vital part of their professional development, according to one of our GPs who undertook the placement himself.

Dr Edward Orsi was the first trainee GP to undertake a four-month placement when the scheme was introduced at Inclusion Healthcare in 2012.

He said: “I came here not knowing what to expect and I wasn’t sure if it would be for me, but it taught me a lot about what I thought was important in my career – that everyone should receive good care and that everyone should have access to good care.”

Not long after, Dr Orsi returned to Inclusion Healthcare on a permanent basis and sees the value the placements offer to GPs in training.

He said: “All GP practices and hospitals have some patients who are homeless or waiting for housing, and they do have different issues or present differently – issues that GPs may not have had training to deal with.

“We hope that the trainee GPs we have here on placement take away some understanding for when these patients are in front of them in the future.

“As well as providing care, we also think it’s important to raise the profile of Inclusion Healthcare and the issues our patients face, which is why we think these placements are important.” 

In addition to the four-month placements, Inclusion Healthcare also works with the local NHS deanery to deliver training for groups of trainee GPs, in order to reach a wider cohort of GPs.

Another new project Inclusion Healthcare has had some input into, alongside other organisations, is the development of training and guidance for trainee hospital doctors around the issue of homelessness. It is being piloted in the region along with a handful of other areas in the country, with plans to roll the training out nation-wide. 

Inclusion Healthcare also offers placements to medical students as part of Leicester Medical School’s Project Light and has also welcomed students from Japan as part of an exchange programme.