Join us for a webinar exploring the complex challenges and transformative possibilities of providing surgical care for people experiencing homelessness.
Despite suffering from disproportionately high rates of physical trauma and injury, people experiencing homelessness frequently encounter significant obstacles to accessing high-quality surgical care, ranging from bureaucratic constraints to long-standing patterns of discrimination and mistrust. Meanwhile, for those who do make it to the operating theatre, the recovery process is similarly complex. Patients can often find themselves discharged back onto the street or into precarious accommodation, which can in turn delay and disrupt post-operative healing. However, at the same time, surgical procedures can provide health and social care professionals with a valuable opportunity: a chance to work with patients to identify their underlying needs and arrange access to healthcare, housing, and social support.
In this 90-minute webinar, we will explore the complex challenges and transformative possibilities of providing surgical treatment for people experiencing homelessness. We will investigate the common challenges and obstacles that delay or prevent individuals from accessing surgical care, as well as the significant challenges homelessness creates for patients’ post-operative recovery and long-term follow-up. More broadly, this webinar will provide an opportunity to discuss what surgeons and other healthcare professionals can do to address issues of homelessness, poverty, and social inequality in their everyday work.
This webinar will also provide a unique opportunity to hear the perspective of a patient with recent experience of surgery and homelessness, exploring the physical and emotional impact of prolonged injury and the transformative effects of a successful operation.
Speakers:
Samantha Dorney-Smith: Sam is a Community Nurse Specialist Practitioner and Nurse Prescriber, with a national profile in inclusion health. She is a Nursing Fellow for the Pathway charity that sets up homeless hospital discharge teams around the country and is also currently the Nurse Project Lead for the Queen’s Nursing Institute Homeless Health Programme. She also works for Doctors of the World doing street outreach in the City of London one evening a week.
Sukhpreet Dubb: Sukh is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Registrar. Originally from an underprivileged background, Sukh now helps to run national schemes to help other children from underprivileged areas including homeless backgrounds. While studying at Imperial College London, Sukh founded ICSM Vision, an established society focused on widening participation in medicine. He has given talks at both the White House and the House of Commons.
David Saunders (chair): David is a historian of medicine, currently working on a new project exploring the history of homelessness and emergency care in the NHS between the 1970s and the present day. From 2020 to 2021, he was the Research and Engagement Fellow for the Surgery & Emotion project at the University of Roehampton, exploring the history of homeless surgical patients in post-war London.
Webinar details:
The webinar will last for approximately 90 minutes, including 60 minutes of presentations and 30 minutes for an audience Q&A.
Questions can be submitted via the webinar’s chat function during the event or pre-submitted beforehand via email at snhwebinar21@gmail.com.
The webinar will be view-only and will not require attendees to connect their video and audio.
Registration is free, but places are limited. Please follow this link to our Eventbrite page to place your order.
Contact details:
For any questions about this event, please contact snhwebinar21@gmail.com.
Image: Operation to Remove a Tumour, 1817 (Wellcome)
