Michael Kingsley
GP Salaried; GP with special interest in Physical Health of People with a Learning Disability
I always knew I wanted to be a GP before medical school. I enjoy looking at the whole picture and not just one aspect of a person. I value my relationships with my patients and find medicine so much more rewarding when you have got to know the person you’re working with.
I did medical school in Southampton, but I’m originally from Dublin, so after finishing I thought I’d come to Northern Ireland for my F1/F2 years to stay in the NHS but also be close to home.
I started GP training in Northern Ireland where I almost completed the first year before I flew off to Philadelphia in the USA to start training in a Residency in Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Pennsylvania. I loved my time training and working in America, and I learned a great deal while I was there. While there I also completed a certificate programme in healthcare leadership and quality improvement, which has given me a passion for improving the systems we provide care through.
Despite the great experiences there, after 3 years of training and 2 years of working I moved back to NI with my young family, not quite knowing what work would look like when we got here.
Back in NI and initially without work I stumbled into a completely new role; working with adults with a learning disability by helping to support and promote their physical health. I immediately fell in love with this work. I learned a significant amount from my colleagues in the MDT who had years of experience. I found that our healthcare system had somehow neglected to put any focus on the significant physical health needs of adults with LD and that there remained huge disparities in both healthcare access and outcomes for people with a learning disability compared to the general population.
I was lucky to quickly find an RCGP network of likeminded individuals across the UK who were already looking at improving our ability to do this work and I utilized every training opportunity it afforded to me. This role can have its challenges but the rewards in terms of helping to decrease healthcare disparities for our individual patients are huge.
During this time I also participated in the absolutely excellent Returners scheme and eventually became a part-time salaried GP at the practice where I had completed my placement as part of the scheme. I love the variety of these two roles and my work in traditional general practice informs my work with adults with a learning disability and vice versa.
The field of Learning Disability medicine is just in its infancy in the UK and so it’s an incredibly exciting time to be involved with an ongoing explosion of new findings and information to help inform the care of this interesting group of people. My role will likely shift in the coming year along with my trust’s Learning disability Service to be more community based rather than inpatient based and this will bring with it some further opportunities and I’m sure it’s fair share of challenges as well. I’m really looking forward to what these next few years will bring and the ongoing challenge of how we can continue to improve the care we provide our patients.
I currently work as a salaried GP 3 sessions a week and a GP with a Special Interest in the Physical Health of People with a Learning Disability for 5 sessions a week.
The field of Learning Disability medicine is just in its infancy in the UK and so it’s an incredibly exciting time to be involved with an ongoing explosion of new findings and information to help inform the care of this interesting group of people.
Michael