Interview: Prof Kamila Hawthorne

BREAKING A NUMBER OF GLASS CEILINGS

Professor Kamila Hawthorne wants to create a 'welcoming College with a voice for all' when she takes over as the RCGP's first-ever South Asian woman Chair this November.

Kamila Hawthorne was welcoming a Ukrainian refugee family to her home when she received the news that she had been elected as the next Chair of the RCGP.

”It really put things into perspective,” she says, describing the contrast between her professional joy and the sobering reality of listening to their experiences of fleeing a war-torn country.

Nevertheless, her achievement is historic as she will be the first South Asian woman, and first working GP in Wales to become Chair of Council, which she describes as ‘breaking a number of glass ceilings'.

Prof Kamila Hawthorne

Grainge Photography

”I am not here on a race or gender card, but I think it is important to recognise I am the first South Asian woman in this role. There is still an awful lot of work to be done to improve equality in medicine, particularly for women and international doctors. The saying that ‘you can't be it until you see it’, carries some weight, I hope my election will inspire other GPs,” she says.

Kamila came to Britain with her family from Tanzania in 1970, qualified from Somerville College, Oxford in 1984, and did her VTS training in Nottingham. She has been a GP Principal in Nottingham, Manchester and Cardiff, and now works as a salaried GP in Mountain Ash, South Wales.

A Bevan Commissioner, she is currently Provost of the South East Wales Faculty and sits on the College’s Trustee Board and Ethics Committee. She was Vice Chair (Professional Development) of the College from 2015 to 2018, working closely with Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard.

There is still an awful lot of work to be done to improve equality in medicine, particularly for women and international doctors. The saying that ‘you can't be it until you see it’, carries some weight. I hope my election will inspire other GPs.

Yet things could have turned out very differently as she remembers leaving the RCGP's former headquarters at Princes Gate in 1988 after sitting her MRCGP viva exam, and thinking, 'I'm never going back there again!'.

Kamila started attending faculty board meetings, then applied successfully for an MIA/RCGP Research Training Fellowship in 1991 to work on culturally appropriate health education for British South Asian patients with Type 2 Diabetes, prompted by patients she was seeing in Nottingham at the time.

Looking for ways to get more for her membership of the College, and wanting to get more involved, she became an MRCGP examiner in 1997 which, in common with all College examiners, required her to sit the MRCGP written paper a second time, and which sparked her interest in medical education and assessment. Over the years, from teaching medical

students in her practice in Cardiff, she has gone on to leading roles at Cardiff University Medical School, and to the University of Surrey in 2015 to help develop a bid for a new medical school. She is currently Head of Graduate Entry Medicine at Swansea University, where she has loved the opportunity to develop the curriculum, showcase general practice and influence cohorts of new graduates to medicine.

She is under no illusions about the challenges she faces over the next three years, leading the College as GPs struggle with arguably the toughest workforce and workload pressures in the history of the profession.

Building on current Chair Martin Marshall's work around relationship-based care, she wants to ‘keep alive the essence of the GP’. ”Patients refer to their GP as 'my doctor’, not 'the doctor’, and that is a very special professional relationship that would be tragic to lose,” she says.

”But there just aren’t enough of us, 6,000 GPs aren’t going to suddenly appear, so we have to find ways of doing things differently, and a one size solution won’t fit all.”

One of her solutions is to maximise the potential of the College membership, encouraging GPs to support and help each other.

”Our members are our biggest resource”, she says. ”I’m a collaborative worker and I think there’s a lot we could do for each other within the membership network. There are many practices out there that have found solutions to dealing with these pressures and it's important that we find a way to applaud, share and promote these to other practices,” she says.

Kamila is clear that more needs to be done to highlight to members the opportunities the College is offering.

Married to a gastroenterologist and with two grown-up children, one of whom is now a GP, she still recalls sitting in her kitchen, opening her College membership subscription renewal notice. At that stage, she was a young parttime Cardiff GP with two children aged under five.

”I thought 'that's a lot of money, what do I get for that? Either I get involved, and make sure I get value for my subscription, or I leave…’, so I got stuck in,” she says. ”It has really paid off.”

”I've had loads of opportunities from the College to develop myself professionally and made many lasting friendships with GPs from all over the UK. I want the same, or better, for all our members. Now I know that I get more value from my membership than the money I actually pay.”

She wants to add further value to College membership by improving the CPD offer, exploring options for paying exam fees and looking at the RCGP's future relationship with allied health professionals.

Grainge Photography

She is determined to improve the experiences of International Medical Graduates and support them to reach their full potential, in general practice and within the structures of the College itself.

I've had loads of opportunities from the College to develop myself professionally and made many lasting friendships with GPs from all over the UK. I want the same, or better, for all our members.

”I've noticed that what is happening centrally in the College doesn't always reflect what is going on at the grassroots. I want the College to be a more inclusive and welcoming environment, we need to have a voice for all,” she says.

With her daughter, her sister and brother-in-law all working as GPs, she already has a valuable sounding board and plans to run monthly 'surgeries', initially for Faculty Chairs and board members, to give them an opportunity to ask questions and give their feedback. If successful, she is keen to roll these out to the wider membership.

Addressing health inequalities will also be a priority during her time as Chair. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2017 for services to general practice and her work on culturally appropriate diabetes health education with Bangladeshi patients in Cardiff (26 years after getting that crucial Research Training Fellowship).

As November approaches, she is starting to scale back on her other commitments so she can focus fully on her responsibilities as Chair – and ‘doing everything I can’ to support GPs to have intellectually satisfying and fulfilling careers, despite the current pressures.

”The RCGP has been instrumental in my career, enhancing my professional, intellectual, and personal development in ways that I would have never predicted. I am committed to trying to make sure every member feels this way. I want all members to feel that this is their College,” she said. •

MORE CHANGE AT THE TOP

As well as welcoming a new Chair of Council this Autumn, the College will also see some other new faces join its Leadership team.

Dr Victoria Tzortziou-Brown will take up the post of Vice Chair for External Affairs, succeeding Dr Gary Howsam who comes to the end of his three-year term.

Victoria has been a GP in Tower Hamlets, east London, for almost 20 years and has a keen interest in health policy and research. Whilst joint-Honorary Secretary between 2017-2021 she led on the College`s primary care ethics guidance during the pandemic, put in place policies for improving transparency within the College and oversaw high profile College consultations on decriminalisation of abortion and assisted dying. She has served as London Faculties Chair and has most recently been co-chairing the RCGP's Health Inequalities standing group – addressing health inequalities being another passion of hers.

Victoria told GP Frontline she is 'thrilled' to have been elected to the role: ”It's a great honour and a huge responsibility. I'm looking forward to working with colleagues and wider stakeholders towards supporting general practice, our members and the patents they care for.”

Over in Northern Ireland, RCGPNI Chair Dr Laurence Dorman is coming to the end of his term, making the way for Dr Ursula Mason, a GP in Carryduff, South Belfast, a GP trainer and Associate Director of GP Specialty Training at NIMDTA, Northern Ireland's medical training body.

Ursula told GP Frontline that the greatest challenge facing her leading the profession in NI is: ”No Government, no agreed budget and resultantly, no ability to deliver the change we need.” Read more about Ursula in our 10-minute consultation on p15.

Also new in post is Professor Mike Holmes, Chair of Trustee Board, which works to safeguard the charitable status and finances of the RCGP. He took up his post in April, taking over from Dr John Chisolm who was serving as interim-Chair.

Mike is a GP partner at the Haxby Group, which provides care to more than 100,000 patients across York, Hull and Scarborough. He has a long history and understanding of the College having been Vice Chair for Membership and International from 2018-2021 and is heavily involved in his local Humber and Ridings Faculty. •