Dr Shehla

Kate : Please can you tell me your name and your specialism and why did you choose this particular specialism? 

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Dr Shehla: So my name is Shella Imtiaz Omar. I have specialised in general practice, so I'm a GP. I chose general practice after a few years of making a decision about what I wanted to specialize  in. I came into medicine as a graduate entry, so I had worked in research before doing medicine. I was a bit older in age and I had had a very young child going through medical school, so inevitably, you know, thinking about family life and personal professional. Kind of motivation and aspirations has definitely helped shape me and move me into general practice. I think general practice has given me the opportunity to get to know my patients, work with them over a long period of time, get to know their family. Is, I think it tests me intellectually in lots of different areas on a daily basis because there's so many different things and problems that walk through the door and I just like that. 

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Kate: How did you find medical school?

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Dr Shehla: So medical school was great. I mean, I enjoyed it. It was, you know, something that I had never really thought I'd be able to do. So just the opportunity of being in. Med school was fantasy. I started medical school, as I said, with a young child. So I found out I'd been accepted to medical school the same week I found I was pregnant with my first child and decided to bite the bullet and just go ahead with it. So my daughter was born on the 1st of September 2008 and I started medical school the 15th of September. It was, yeah. It was a huge challenge in the sense of I was trying to be a new mum first time mum. I'm balancing that out with, you know, what is traditionally a very demanding course. Yeah, but the graduate entry medical programme at University of. Nottingham is based in Derby and I'm originally from Derby so I had fantastic family support, particularly my mum, my husband, my siblings to allow me to try and balance that out. So yeah, medical school was interesting, navigating with a young child and really treating it as a job and coming home and  being a mum, but also trying to prep for exams. I managed to get through it full time and was very fortunate to pass my exams without having to resit and go through various challenges in that in that sense. But it's not something I would recommend and probably something I won't do again. 

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Kate :Yeah, yeah, that must have been an incredibly intense period of time. 

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Dr Shehla: It was. It was. When I look back now, I think I was in my 20s and I think you  have a sense of I can do anything. And I as I've got older, I just think actually, you know having. One year extra, taking time out wouldn't have been detrimental either to my medical career or being a mum. But you know I I was very fortunate in the support. That I had there were definitely challenges in terms of maternal guilt, as there is with any working mum. Yeah, but my daughters a couple of weeks away from being 15 now. And you know, she's absolutely brilliant and amazing. And on reflection, I won’t change. What I did, I think, you know, life throws challenges at you and you either work through it or, you know, you change your path. And I don't regret any of it at all actually. 

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Kate: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is. I mean, this leads well to the next question, how is your work life balance if? 

Dr Shehla: I think work life balance as a as a GP at the moment is difficult depending on what you choose to do. So, I'm a GP partner, which means that I own the GP business as along with my fellow partners and that has a huge amount of demand on us. I think general practice. Is a very difficult environment within the NHS to work in because of pressures across the NHS and general practice is just at the forefront of some of that. I do enjoy a lot of what I do, so I have lots of opportunities to do lots of different roles and you know, I work 3 days clinically, but during the other. The rest of the week I do nonclinical work so I do things in leadership and management. And interest in equality, diversity and inclusion. So, work around that. So that also really fulfills me and you know is challenging as well. But I definitely feel that my work life balance is more towards the work currently, but it's certainly something that I'm reflecting on currently. Just to try and get the balance a. Bit more towards life. Yeah, yeah. 

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Kate: Yeah, for sure. It's a struggle, isn't it? 

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Dr Shehla: It is. I mean, sometimes in in medicine you get just get so many opportunities thrown at you and you just feel like, oh, shall I do it? And then you like, oh yeah, this sounds amazing. I'll go ahead and do it. And before you know, you've got 10 different things that you're trying to balance, and you get yourself into that kind of circle of burnout. And I hopefully I'm not there yet. But I I absolutely see how it happens. For sure, yeah. 

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Kate: Ummmm. How has the NHS changed since your time within it? 

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Dr Shehla: I think it's changed hugely even in the 10 years since I've been qualified. So, I graduated in 2012 and you know, we're eleven years down the line and I've seen. The challenges of the NHS and what I see as you know, defunding and the impact that has on colleagues but also on patients, I think being a patient in the NHS now is very different to what it was 10 years ago. We have less staff, the staff that we do have. Are stretched. They're not valued and I feel that these are policy decisions that are made and I'm quite firm in my political view about, you know, what's happening and why it's happening. And I genuinely do feel that the patients that we see are not getting the quality of care that we aspired to and have previously been able to achieve. And that's really morally difficult for us to work within in that environment where external changes and pressures and political movement impacts on the care that we give to our patients on a daily basis and. The NHS is seen as a bit of a pawn in the political game, and you know absolutely, as I see a shift towards privatisation and I genuinely fear for the care of patients moving forward and that the NHS will never be what it was at its peak and at its best. Which is a huge shame. And it and it actually instills a lot of sadness actually in in a lot of us who have been working within the NHS over at least the last decade to see the changes that have happened. 

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Kate:It's quite scary, isn't it, when you see like these small parts being sort of siphoned off.

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Dr Shehla: Yeah, it's happening and it's something that, you know, a lot of us have been worried and

concerned about and you know, some of my colleagues have been very vocal about the privatisation. Stealth and are certainly more articulate in their arguments about how it's happened and why it's happened. But as a frontline GP, I’ve absolutely seen the impact of that. Patients are waiting longer to be seen by secondary care colleagues, and that's because of wider pressures and then that inevitably feeds back on GP because patients can't be seen anywhere else and that increases the demand and the frustration and so on so. It's it seems like a vicious circle and. I know I do and some of my colleagues just despair at the privatisation that's occurring and what will happen, even though we've been shouting about it and talking about it and trying to raise awareness, it's still going ahead and. We'll see what where the NHS is in a few years, yeah. 

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Kate: I'm also an art teacher, and sometimes with the recent strikes, it does feel a bit like rhetoric is that we are lazy. 

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Dr Shehla: Yes. Yeah. NHS staff it is absolutely and  there is a lot of that rhetoric around actually public sector workers are not valued in the way that they should be and you know, we are members of society that are trying to work for the betterment of society. And we do have a vocational aspect to a lot of what we do, but there has to be a time when there has to be. You know, value to what we do in terms of us being able to live our lives in the way that we want to. 

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Nobody comes into a public sector job to become a millionaire or a billionaire. And you know to not be able to afford bills because of the cost of living and not be able to provide a  living for our families. It is incredibly difficult, and I recognise that doctors are privileged in, many ways, but there is no value attached or very little value attached to what we do. And what we give and the government seems adamant at the moment to not engage with. The Junior Doctor strikes to give them the value that they deserve, particularly having worked through COVID and that's why there's an exodus going on at the moment and we will get to a point where we used to be the destination to go to, for worldwide doctors and we no longer will be that and. That will only worsen. Staffing, recruitment and retention crisis that we're in at. 

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Kate: have you been affected by the strike action and kind of what? Are your thoughts on it? 

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Dr Shehla: I 100% support my junior doctor colleagues. I went through junior doctors’ kind of training I was. Part of the strike several years ago because at that time we recognised the direction that we were going in. I'm not a junior doctor anymore, obviously as a as a GP, but I certainly support all of my colleagues who are taking part in strike actions and I, and I think that unless our colleagues take the stands that they are doing, that the working conditions will only worsen. And under the guise of austerity many years ago, you know, doctors did not have any pay increases to keep in line with inflation and that kind of continued to the point where now you know there are some jobs, and this is you know that that pay more than junior doctors do get paid and these are the people who are trying. To save our lives. And keep us healthy and be productive members of society. And we've got to the situation now, I think that. Unless they take a stand, it's just going to get worse, and I fully support them. It does have an impact on our practice. We've got junior doctors who train our practice, so inevitably when they're striking, we have less capacity, but that goes across the system and across the whole of the NHS, so we adapt and move with it. 

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Kate: I know for, unfortunately my union wasn't striking, but my partners was, and I know that they found it incredibly challenging as on like an ethical level. 

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Dr Shehla: It is it is I. Mean, you know, as a junior doctor, you go into work thinking you're gonna help people and you know you're going to make a positive difference to people's lives and then to withhold that. Umm, is difficult. But you know, if you get to the point where you have no other options, then. You know, I hope that the public understand that, and they really appreciate the background as to why the junior doctors are doing what they're doing because ultimately it will be for the, you know, for the benefit of society and for patients who need the. HS so I hope that the government will negotiate fully and properly with the with the Union and I don't think what the junior doctors are asking is unreasonable. You go anywhere else in the world and doctors are valued way more than they are in the NHS and I think that needs to. Happen now, yeah. And it's the teachers and  I and I agree with all public sector workers, you know, it's frustrating as a parent when teachers have been striking, the kids have been at home. But I absolutely support the principle of valuing our public sector workers, including teachers and doctors, and rail workers and every other sector. That's striking. And it's, you know, a reflection of. What the government has been doing for many, many years, and people have finally just said enough is enough, yeah. And you get to that point. Actually, don't you? 

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Kate:Don't you? 

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Dr Shehla: So, and we're at it now. 

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Kate: You hearing about doctors as well going to food banks? It's just, yeah. 

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Dr Shehla: And why? Why do we have to live in a society? Where that is happening and why? Why is there, you know, so many food banks all over the country that you wouldn't even have heard of 1520 years ago. And, you know, people can't even. Get basics like food. How were you expecting society to move forward and be progressive and actually inclusive? You just can't. People aren't able to function, yeah. Yeah, it's just ridiculous. 

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Kate: Have you or a colleague ever experienced sexism, homophobia or racism within the workplace? 

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Dr Shehla: So I obviously have an intersectional identity. So, I'm female. I'm Asian, Pakistani background and I'm obviously Muslim because. Of the way you can see, I'll wear a headscarf, hijab and that has absolutely been a factor in how patients interact with me. 

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I have had patients refused to see me. I've had patients call me racial slurs like PAKKI, which is something that I grew up with as a child. In the 80s and 90s and it's incredibly difficult and being an overtly Muslim woman has had its own challenges people have. Accepted Islamophobia as something that just happens because of certain media and political rhetoric that has been not only kind of based in the UK but also worldwide and the actions of a minority have had a huge detrimental. Impact on the majority of us who are peace loving Muslims and want to be part and of society and integrate and work in all kinds of sectors that we do. Being judged on my faith has had implications in terms of how I interact with patients, because there's always that fear of actually, are you gonna judge me before I've even had a chance to speak to you and show you that? Actually, I'm a doctor that works well and I think I'm, you know, I don't think I'm a bad doctor at all. But you know one instance that I have talked about. On a number of occasions and publicly is about an occasion when a patient refused to see me. When I went to see him about a specific issue, and he interrupted what I was saying and said I refuse to talk to you because your religion is about killing people and my religion is about. Saving lives. UM, and that was probably one of the most difficult experiences that I've had as a as a Muslim healthcare professional because it was in the middle of a night shift. I was there. At, you know, past eleven 12:00 at night, trying to speak to a patient about a matter, and then to be confronted with that attitude. Tells you how pervasive Islamophobia is, not only within the NHS but also within society and how those views permeate. Interactions that should have no kind of. There shouldn't be any kind of level of judgment based on religion. I treat all patients, have all faced all backgrounds, all ethnicities. I certainly don't make a judgment about their lives and their lifestyles and their beliefs, but Islamophobia has absolutely been taken as being an acceptable part of being a Muslim in the UK and. I feel strongly that. It shouldn't be. You know, I've got plenty of Muslim colleagues who do phenomenal amounts of work in, in lots of different places and that's why I advocate a lot for Muslim women and try and speak up about my experiences because it's something that we shouldn't accept and. And, you know, I . It can be it. It is distressing when those incidents happen, it definitely takes a dent on you personally and professionally as well for sure. 

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Kate: I mean, I've only ever experienced sexism in the workplace, but sometimes I don’t know if you feel the same with it feels like you've been grated away out. And it's like it just feels like it's one after the other and it's. It's just exhausting sometimes. 

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Dr Shehla: It is, it is and that’s where the kind of where the being concept comes from is that people from an ethnic background or a marginalised protected characteristic have this kind of daily grind of yeah, you know, either microaggressions or overt racism or over Islamophobia or over sexism. And that does impact on people’s ability to live healthy long lives and there is data showing that and you know it it's in you know you put being a woman with being an Asian and then being a Muslim and that intersectionality just compounds and transforms any type of discriminatory behaviors that you face. Because of the kind of multitudes of, you know, the different lenses that are being affected by that. 

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Kate: I really appreciate your honesty. 

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Dr Shehla: Ohh no it's fine and that's and that's what drives my kind of work in in EDI and that's why I chose to do well. I have an interest in equality, diversity and inclusion just because of my own lived experiences in in having the multiple marginalized identities and recognising how that impacts on on our colleagues in the workplace. Also, our patients, so it's something that you know hopefully has allowed me to channel those experiences into being something positive and allow me to do the roles that I do. 

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Kate: But do you feel like there is sufficient healthcare for medical professionals? 

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Dr Shehla: I think there's increasing awareness of mental health issues affecting medical professionals. So, you know, we have the. Practitioners’ health service, available particularly during the pandemic when there was a huge mental health burden on healthcare professionals facing. Really difficult clinical scenarios. Yeah, there was increasing recognition and awareness of support being needed for for healthcare professionals. I don't think we're there yet fully in terms of people being more open about their mental health. I think we have definitely made progress and but certainly I think there's more work to be done to recognise the impact of. Being a healthcare professional in the NHS as it is at the moment, I think if the NHS is a great place to work that will inevitably improve well-being but. The environment that we work within is so challenging that unless we change the environment, we can't keep putting well-being strategies in place to say, you know, let's give you a bit of mindfulness to yeah, to cope with the environment that you're in, how about we change the environment and stop trying to put these interventions in just seems like we're working the. 

You have colleagues who can be discriminated towards colleagues, but you also have. Patients who can be discriminatory and some of the work that I've been doing around in EDI is is actually looking at colleague experience from patients but also. From other colleagues who are discriminate and you know, until we recognise the impact that that has on recruitment and retention and all, we're gonna keep doing is trying to firefight. But you need to be working more upstream and actually resolving or trying to change the culture within which we're working. Yeah, to prevent those incidents happening, which then caused the. The kind of attrition rate that we see. 

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Kate: I think sometimes you feel like, I don't know, but I definitely feel like you’re kind of bringing these problems to the surface. Yeah, the higher powers it be, and it doesn't even need to be on like a. Yes, on a micro level, like just in a school. They almost don't believe that its happening or yeah. 

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Dr Shehla: and that does happen even in the NHS, you know, for somebody. So for the example that I just gave a few minutes ago when I spoke to my colleagues and said that this has happened immediately, my colleagues were just deadly silence. There was no supportive kind of. Are you OK? And then that later when I've. Talked about it subsequently to other senior colleagues. They said, well actually maybe the patient wasn't feeling well or Are you sure that's what they meant? Right. And that element of gaslighting and disbelief just compounds. Yeah, the the distress that you have from that. 

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Kate: And yeah, you start to question. Maybe I misinterpreted. 

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Dr Shehla: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you sure? Are you sure you're not being overly sensitive? And maybe they didn't mean that, given the benefit of the doubt, but you know it it, it is gaslighting, as far as I'm concerned, because you're questioning. Somebody's reality of a lived experience because you yourself don't believe it. You don't want to believe it or you. You choose to deny that person. The opportunity to voice their difficulties and shut down any question of the behaviors that are being displayed and that happens, but we need to, you know, develop ways of teaching and empowering our colleagues and people that we live and work with and about. How to speak up and how to be active bystander and actually say I've witnessed this and although I can't intervene immediately in that situation for my own safety or for whatever else reason, but you can at least be supportive to the person who's gone through that. And I think sometimes we lack the skills and knowledge in terms of how. To do that, yeah. Yeah, and that that can make a difference.

 

Kate: What would you do if you had the power to change elements of the NHS? 

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Dr Shehla: What would I do? Ohh goodness I am. To change element I, I would absolutely keep the NHS as a as a public service I would. That would, I know there's an argument that how much more money can we pump into the NHS, but I think we also need to recognise that we have people living longer because of how well the NHS has been working and we can manage lots more medical problems. But one thing that I would hope that as a frontline GP is to recognize. And value GP's, I think we do a huge amount of work. And there has been a concerted media narrative and rhetoric around so-called lazy GP who are not doing enough to pull their weight. And then there are political reasons behind that which, you know, I'm sure the listeners don't want. They don't want to know about, but you know. I think unless we value public health and the benefit that GP's can give in preventing. Illness and disease and progression. Then we're going to be in a situation where we're going to lose a hugely valuable part of the NHS and that's already happening with UPS leaving almost on a daily basis. So and the one thing that I would absolute change is. Funding the NHS better so that GP's, at least can do their job in a way that we feel fulfilled, and our patients are happy with what we're doing for. 

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Kate: How do you feel women are represented within the NHS or the medical profession? 

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Dr Shehla: I mean, thinking back, I think women are better represented now than they probably have been in the past. I'm thinking particularly the BMA kind of GP committee chair for the first time in over 100 years was Doctor Farrah Jamil. She's again from an intersectional background, so. You know, Asian international medical graduate and female and was able to take a senior position but her experience has been enlightening in ways. That actually, you know, she went on maternity leave, and she's had a vote of no confidence against her and has been removed from that post. So, in some ways you think, wow, you know, we've made so much progress, but then you look at other things and you think actually having made as much progress as we think we have. And, you know, she was suspended just before she went on maternity leave for apparent. You know, issues within the workplace, which I'm not Privy to, so I can't comment on. But my kind of reflection is that when a woman is in a position of power and leadership, she is criticised in ways that a man doing the same behaviors or doing the same thing would be seen as being an assertive leader. Yeah, a woman doing that is deemed to be bullying and I think yes, progress has been made. So, I think enough is being done. No, I think there have been some amazing female leaders. So, Nikki can only be one of them. And that was when I was very much newly qualified GP and she's been great in psychiatry, says Doctor Lade Smith. An anti Dave, you know, as Chief medical officer for Black Country system, so you see women Ebola, you know leading on the health inequalities agenda. So, there are absolutely women from different backgrounds and obviously there's a shout out to Katie Bramwell Stoner. Who's the new newly elected BMA GP. The chair, again female in in in a position of power and leadership. So, you know there are some phenomenal women out there. I think they're scoped to do more, but I also think they're sexism is still something that they face, and even, you know, people like me as a. As a GP in a practice, there are elements of sexism in that in the work that I face, because although I'm a leader within my practice, there are elements. People may think that I don't do things, in a certain way, whereas if a male colleague was doing it then that's deemed acceptable. But if I do exactly the same thing, then people feel the need to check that out or you, OK? 

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Kate:Right. 

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Dr Shehla: And it's very frustrating. Yeah, so. Yeah, I I think there's a lot more that we can be doing. But it it's heartening to see that those opportunities are now opening up and you're seeing prominent healthcare professionals and in in leadership positions and that could be really empowering for you know people like me who are on the front lines seeing actually there's leaders who have managed to navigate the this the system to get to. Places where they can influence change. Yeah, yeah. 

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Kate: OK, this is a final question. When you're thinking about the history of medicine and the NHS, or maybe in your life, just your personal life, is there a particular influential woman you would consider a hero or an idol? 

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Dr Shehla: This is gonna sound incredibly cliched, but my mum. 

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Kate: Everyone said that so far, it's so interesting. 

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Dr Shehla: Really. Yeah. I think where whenever I think of a woman that I would aspire to be or has been steadfast in their support of me, it has to be my mum and I know a lot of people say that and I'm very fortunate to have a mum that has sacrificed a lot, so you know. My mum grew up in Pakistan and was not educated, got married at a very young age, had children and you know to give me the opportunities and make so many sacrifices which I won't be able to talk about without crying about it. To allow me to do whatever I've been able to do is something that you can never repay back.