A lecture for our times: Pandemic legacy - narrowing the healthcare inequalities gap
The fourth annual FMLM Keogh Lecture is now available to watch online. The lecture, which took place in London on 12 July, was given by Dr Bola Owolabi, practising GP and Director of Healthcare Inequalities, NHS England and NHS Improvement, whose theme focused “very much around that context of leaving legacies”.
Referring to the NHS as the legacy that arose from the ashes of the second world war, and which culminated in its well-deserved George Cross on behalf of a grateful nation – bestowed by The Queen on the day the lecture took place – Dr Owolabi put forward the challenge:
"What is the legacy that will be left behind by us?”
Describing the pandemic as potentially “the greatest public health catastrophe of our lives”, Dr Owolabi urged: “I would say the greatest collective legacy we can leave is to narrow the health inequalities gap”.
She went on to outline the evidence for that, describing the human, economic and system costs, and asserted:
"The data from the pandemic is not the only reason why our legacy must be to narrow health inequalities. It is the fact that, for at least four decades, we have been describing what health inequalities are.
"So the question we must ask ourselves is why has it taken a pandemic for those health inequalities to be thrust so forcefully into all of our consciousness, in a way we can no longer ignore?"
Dr Owolabi then introduced her vision: “The vision that I call you to this evening is that of exceptional healthcare for all..."
The full lecture is now available to FMLM members
The FMLM Keogh Lecture is instituted in honour of Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, a tireless supporter of the FMLM-produced National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow Scheme (NMD CFS), who delivered the inaugural lecture in 2018.
The 2022 lecture followed the annual national and regional CFS graduation event, hosted by Dr Dal Hothi, FMLM Associate for Leadership Development and Education, which was attended by more than 90 graduating clinical fellows, scheme sponsors and hosts, and in the presence of Professor Sir Stephen Powis, National Medical Director for NHS England, and Professor Sir Bruce Keogh.