Presenter Biographies

Bobby Lowen

Bobby is the Programme Director at Changing Futures in Nottingham, one of 15 partnerships across the country working to realise sustainable improvements in the way that their local system responds to the needs of people who experience severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD). Before taking up his current role, Bobby worked for over 15 years in local government leading commissioning programmes relating to mental health, homelessness, adult social care, substance use treatment and other areas of provision that support people experiencing SMD.

Bobby is passionate about working with people with their own, first-hand experiences of SMD and believes in the power of effective partnerships to improve lives and help with challenges across the health and care system.

Dr Andrew Foster

Andy has been a GP Partner in Bulwell Nottingham for 14 years. He is a GP Federation Director and has previously worked a Primary Care Network Clinical Director. He is the Deputy Clinical Director of the Nottingham City Place Based Partnership. Andy creates content about General Practice policy with a GP.
He has years of experience working patients living with high levels of deprivation and complex challenges at his practice. In 2022 he collaborated with colleagues and Changing Futures Nottingham to create a Severe Multiple Disadvantage General Practice Centre of Excellence based at their GP Federation with the goals of; improving the experience of primary care for people with SMD, supporting staff and organisational resilience when dealing with SMD, connecting Primary Care Staff more effectively with wider SMD services, and advocating for SMD patients in service design.

Dr Jane Turrill

After a long career in clinical practice as a GP partner, clinical assistant in ED, an occupational health physician and latterly as the salaried lead GP of an inner city APMS practice Jane now works part time as the SMD strategy lead for Nottingham City GP Alliance SMD Centre of Excellence. She is passionate about accessible non judgmental health care and parity of esteem for Mental Health. She has been involved in Nottingham City Changing Futures since its inception and represents NCGPA on the Nottingham City SMD Partnership.

Martin Marcus

Martin has an extensive background supporting vulnerable cohorts across different sectors, including Housing, Adult Social Care, Employment & Skills, Education, and Harmful Substance Usage (CBT and MI). Martin has chartered manager status.
Martin joined the NHS in January 2022 when he was recruited as the Severe Multiple Disadvantage Practitioner for NCGPA. Martin is a social prescribing champion and ambassador for personalised care.
Martin is the founder & chair of the Homeless Health network meeting for primary care and leads on different projects such as the I need extra help card & coding vulnerable patients.
Martin is passionate about learning from the voice of Lived Experience and strives to improve the outcomes and responses for the homeless sector.

Overview

This module will take approximately 90 minutes to complete and includes the following elements. 

• What is meant by severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD), and an understanding of what SMD means for the individual.
• The hidden problems and the impact of stigma and discrimination.
• A review of the trauma-informed approach.
• A spotlight on the centre of excellence group working to improve the life of patients experiencing severe multiple disadvantage & how to get involved.
• Review of the challenges in Nottingham related to unfair differences in primary healthcare, including inequalities in access to primary care services and innovative responses to inequities.
• Examples, clips and case studies provided throughout before the final question-and-answer session.

Topics covered