Ruth Chambers DM FRCGP

Her present role includes direct patient care, alongside ensuring high standards from all the general practices in Stoke-on-Trent. She has used innovative approaches to raise the level of knowledge of local GPs, and improve communication between hospital doctors and those in primary care. A feature of this has been a number of educational events, master classes, and initiatives to enable patient care to be transferred from hospital to primary care.

Over the last few years she has led on establishing a Quality Improvement Framework across Stoke-on-Trent which has raised standards in general practices on a wide range of measures, from staff development to patient amenities, communication to clinical practice and patients’ health outcomes. Where practices were found to be weak, her team has offered support, enabling them to build on their strengths, and incorporate changes within a culture of learning. Having established this pattern, she was able to support other areas to make similar changes as a consultant in various areas of the UK, and her practical clinical background enabled other clinicians to accept local initiatives more readily.

She has been directly involved in successfully implementing the NHS Health Check in Stoke-on-Trent, and has been Clinical Champion for initiatives to reduce cardiovascular illness. The Lifestyle Programme whereby ’ life coaches’ were trained to advise about diet, exercise, and lifestyle and then used to support vulnerable patients to reduce their cardiovascular risk has been very successful. Ruth has a particular interest in combating obesity, and has spoken at international conferences on this subject, as well as carrying out research.

Ruth is keen to introduce innovative approaches to healthcare, and has been a driving force behind the introduction of telehealthcare for patients with long-term conditions, to provide monitoring and support, together with current community staff, to enhance patient care and enable patients to remain at home, rather than needing to be admitted to hospital.

One of her present responsibilities is clinical lead for patient and public involvement in the Clinical Commissioning Group; her experience of this in the past has involved recruiting patients as researchers, teaching them how to undertake meaningful projects of their own. One of Ruth’s many books (she has written or contributed to about seventy books) has been on this topic, which is now in its second edition.

Ruth writes regularly on current issues for medical newspapers and journals, and speaks at, or chairs, national conferences having broad experience as an academic , being Honorary Professor of Health Care at Staffordshire University, and as a clinician having contributed to various committees at the Department of Health and the Royal College of General Practitioners. She has maintained an interest in alternative medicine, while also being educational lead for the NHS Alliance.