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Ruth Chambers OBE

Retired GP, Technology Enabled Care Lead for Staffordshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership

My background has been varied - a general medical practitioner, academic, writer, project manager, innovator, parent, and I have tried to use this to help other people progress in their careers.

Recent Publications

Our NHS offers a candid and insightful look into the evolution of the UK's National Health Service over the past 50 years. Drawing from her personal experiences as a GP and academic, Dr Ruth Chambers combines historical context, medical anecdotes, and stories from fellow healthcare professionals to paint a comprehensive picture of the NHS's journey. The book covers key topics such as gender inequality in healthcare, the rising stress on NHS workers, and the challenges of integrating digital technology into medical care. What sets this book apart is Dr Ruth's ability to blend the personal with the professional.

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Her reflections are not just about the system but about the individuals - both patients and staff - who make up the NHS. The stories of challenges faced by GPs in the 1970s compared to modern healthcare give a stark perspective on how much (and how little) has changed. She also offers constructive criticism, highlighting systemic issues such as whistleblowing, obesity, and prison healthcare, all while acknowledging the NHS’s many successes.

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This book concludes with 77 ways to Save and Sustain Our NHS.

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£9.99 paperback          ISBN 9798341298170

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Our NHS may be ordered via Amazon (click here)

or the QR code on the right.

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All profits from the sale of the book will go to the

Douglas MacMillan Hospice, North Staffordshire.

Stoke Your Success has been written to highlight tha many achievers of Stoke-on-Trent, who have made a difference despite having often difficult beginnings. Ruth hoped to inspire young people, especially, to realise that success is achieved through hard work, and not necessarily from having an easy start in life, nor by being born in a particular place.  

Our recent publications in journals have centred on raising awareness of how technology can improve patient care. In particular, we have shown how essential it is to give clinicians the tools and confidence to use technology, and the authority to lead innovative methods of care delivery. Here are a few of our articles: 

With an emphasis on digital inclusion, we have used whatever technology we can to help people manage their health better, whether this is Facebook, apps, or personal digital assistants. Here are some of our publications. 

Projects

I've always been committed to making change happen, particularly in trying to reduce health inequality. I have previously worked to reduce teenage pregnancy, supported refugee doctors to become fully-fledged UK doctors, tried to raise quality in general practices,  and my current work has been centred around getting people to look after themselves better. Part of that is to use technology to help. So, rather than simply 'self care', I feel that the way forward is for 'shared care' to empower people, by understanding their medical conditions, and following clinicians' advice, supported by text messages, apps, management plans, video consultations, and social media.

One of the main problems with this has been the lack of confidence of clinicians about using technology in this way. There was a lack of trust in the technology, and also in patients' ability to select reliable information from internet sources.

So there needed to be training of clinicians, and this began with doctors and nurses  - the nurses had a pivotal role in the interface between medical teams and patients -  and then later on with a wider group of professionals, such as social workers, mental health workers, as well as allied health professionals.

Then, the patients, be they elderly, socially disadvantaged, with physical or mental health problems, refugees, or excluded by being in special needs education, all needed some help with unfamiliar technology. Some were able to  adapt with help from a specialised community-focused IT organisation, but there were many who found the sight of a keyboard was enough to deter them, and I had the idea of using Amazon Echo Shows, which required only a voice to control them.  

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Life plans

Often, throughout my working life, people have asked my advice about their own career. Usually, they have not thought through where they want to be, nor how to get there. Some plan is needed.

Here are some ideas which may help to develop a way forward:

 

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There are many aspects of self-care  - physical, psychological, social, technological, medical. Where should we start?

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Self-care

There are different ways of bringing about change. Sometimes it is in influential committees, but it can also be through providing education to a wide range of people, which is much more possible using current technology.

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