Hello everyone, and welcome back to Money, Power, Health with me, Nason Maani. This week we are speaking to Dr David Blane, a GP in Pollokshaws and Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, and the academic coordinator of the Deep End GP network.

As you know, in this podcast we have spoken about the ways in which the wider physical and social environments people find themselves in can profoundly shape their health, and how these environments are shaped by inequality and powerful commercial forces. In some ways, we have been talking about mich of what shapes health occurs outside of healthcare, and I have been contacted by clinicians who know only too well how frustrating it can be to attempt to treat patients, only to send them back into the conditions that made them sick, and to try to devote themselves to making their communities healthier, when those wider conditions are worsening, particularly for the most vulnerable. 

 Yet, healthcare can, and should engage with these forces, and one example of an initiative that has sought to do so in inspirational and innovative ways, is the Deep end GP here in Scotland. Today I have the great privilege of speaking to Dr David Blane, senior clinical lecturer in General Practice and Primary care, and academic coordinator of the Deep End GP group in Scotland. Glasgow in particular suffers from extremely high levels of health inequality and deprivation, and it is there that The Deep End GP network, while pools the experience and ideas of GPs in the most deprived areas, was established with the goal of increasing advocacy, mitigating burnout, and providing practical, grassroots interventions to improve patient care in areas with the highest patient need.

Together, we explore the origins of the project, how these relate to cost of living challenges, and how one keeps going in spite of sometimes challenging circumstances. I hope you enjoy the conversation. 

More information on the Deep End GP Network can be found below:

The Scottish Deep End Project:

https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/healthwellbeing/research/generalpractice/deepend/

Link to latest Deep End reports, manifesto and newsletters:https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/healthwellbeing/research/generalpractice/deepend/reports/

Davids profile:https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/healthwellbeing/staff/davidblane/

Julian Tudor Harts 1971 article on the inverse care law:https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(71)92410-X/fulltext