“Fantastic and enjoyable workshop, emotionally powerful and safe. Very useful in the context of medical humanities. I will take it forward and use it with trainees”
Embracing creativity and working collaboratively I seek to support self-care, wellbeing and compassion within the NHS in a way that includes all healthcare staff and students as well as carers and service users.
As a medical educator and published writer (pen name Eliot North) with experience of undergraduate medical student small group teaching - alongside reflective practice workshop facilitation - I have a unique skill set for incorporating creative and narrative methodologies in medical education, continuing professional development (CPD) and public and patient engagement in healthcare.
With more than 20 years working as an NHS doctor, 15 years as a General Practitioner, 5 years as a GP Tutor and 3 years as Clinical Lead for Quality Improvement & Community Engagement I can offer: clinical leadership; workshop facilitation (focused on reflective practice and practitioner wellbeing); healthcare related strategic planning, quality assurance and clinical audit; communications co-ordination including clinical content creation, editing and oversight; public speaking engagements at conferences and events; Digital First Primary Care (DFPC) project leadership, design and delivery; community and stakeholder engagement; service improvement addressing population based health outcomes and health inequalities; innovative approaches to digital inclusion and transformation; medical education, teaching, training and facilitation using creative methodologies; one to one peer support, clinical supervision, coaching and mentorship.
Djerassi Ranch and Middlebrook Sudios: my home for one month as resident artist of Scientific Delirium Madness 2018
Newcastle University Medical Women's Federation (MWF) 2021, 2022 and 2023
On-line creative workshop design, delivery and facilitation on the themes of 'More Than Medicine' (March 2021); 'Women In Medicine' (April 2022); ‘Medicine, Failure Speak and Negative Bias: Exploring Counter Narratives’ (April 2023)
Cheltenham GP Trainers Meeting: Workshop Design & Facilitation 23rd - 25th Sept 2020
Working with GP organisers to design and facilitate a three day GP Trainers meeting - Covid-19 related switch to on-line delivery - with facilitation of. a creative writing workshop, post-film discussion and notes for a guided nature walk - focused on reflective practice, GP trainer wellbeing, use of creative methodologies with students and GP Registrars and self-care (before, during and after the pandemic.)
Taunton & Somerset and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trusts 2018 - 2019
Reclaiming Reflection: writing workshop design and delivery for a mixed group of health care practitioners as part of CPD and wellbeing for postgraduate education.
Newcastle University School of Medical Education (SME) 2016 - 2018
Creative Methodologies for Clinical Teachers: workshop design and co-facilitation. Development of guided writing framework for reflection on clinical encounters.
GP tutor for Newcastle University Undergraduate MBBS 2012 - 2018
Reflective Practice & Written Reflection: taught component design, delivery and assessment. Patient Centred Medicine (PCM) small group seminar delivery, as well as clinical teaching in Primary Care.
“Education in the truest sense. Space and permission to find one’s own ‘unknown unknowns’ and change as one sees fit”
Primary Care Quality Improvement (QI): Clinical Audit and Governance work, Service Design and Improvement, Project Leadership, Clinical Lead for TyneHealth’s Vaccine Helpline.
Communications Co-ordination and Community Engagement: Social Media strategy, website design and on-line content writer, editor, and internal / external communications manager. Co-lead of North Tyneside Comms Collaboration (cross-sector working group.)
Service Design, Innovation and Collaboration: Partner of Living Well North Tyneside, a cross-sector collaboration (NHS Healthcare and Social Care, Local Authority, Public Health, Voluntary and Community Sectors.) On-line service directory and website launch 2021, patient centred service design (UX research) and development, digital transformation, innovation and inclusion (DFPC), staff wellbeing and training.
Leonardo / The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (ISAST) and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (DRAP) collaborate on the annual Scientific Delirium Madness residency that brings together artists and scientists for a month-long retreat.
Creative Writing Output: ‘Where The Fog Has No Name’ poetry, essays and short stories related to residency. Ongoing collaboration with resident scientists and artists. Essays published on LEONARDO blog.
Public Speaking: poetry reading and presentation focused on public engagement in arts/health discourse: PACE Gallery, Palo Alto July 2018.
Poetry Installations: production of two site specific poetry sculptures, installed on the Djerassi ranch.
A collective of Newcastle University staff, students and affiliated individuals that sought to champion the role of the Arts and Humanities in Medical Education and Healthcare (www.MiLANcollective.uk website now archived as funding ended during the Covid-19 pandemic.)
Film Festivals & associated interdisciplinary panel discussions: three annual week-long film festivals hosted at Newcastle University (2015 - 2017) and four ‘SciScreen’ events organised with Tyneside Cinema involving institutes and schools across Newcastle University, alongside arts and health community partners.
2020 Film Screenings Paused During COVID-19.
MiLAN Book Group: monthly meeting and discussion following the Wellcome Book Prize Longlist: a prize open to new works of fiction or non-fiction with a central theme that engages with some aspect of medicine, health or illness.
Group now on-line (Zoom): run by Mariana Mouzinho for @MiLANCollective
“I love this concept of using the arts to shine a light on clinical care and promoting health and well being – we want more!”
MiLAN Film Festival Poster ‘From Medicine With Love’ 2017
Poem carving ‘Twelve Names For Fog’: Djerassi 2018
BACHELOR OF MEDICINE, BACHELOR OF SURGERY July 2002
BACHELOR OF MEDICAL SCIENCES 2:1 HONS July 2000
POST-GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN MEDICAL EDUCATION Sept 2017
POST-GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN CREATIVE WRITING Sept 2014
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF GENERAL PRACTITIONERS
Salaried GP, OOH GP, GP Locum North East (UK), NHS QI & Communications Manager and Clinical Lead for QI and Community Engagement.
Poetry as a Tool for Reflection Co-authored article with Dr Elizabeth Osmond and Dr Anna Baverstock published in Archives of Disease in Childhood, BMJ 2022
Hippocrates Poetry and Medicine Symposium Reclaiming Reflection: reading poetry aloud & writing for ourselves Abstract and presentation Newcastle, 2019
AMEE (International Association for Medical Education) CONFERENCE Reflective Practice: Evaluation of Creative Writing in Continuing Professional Development & Undergraduate Medical Education. Abstract and Poster Presentation Helsinki, 2017
Teaching Excellence Award Winner (TEA): Outstanding Contribution to Innovation for Milan Collective & Film Festivals Newcastle University NUSU 2017
Series Of Three Essays Published On The BMJ Medical Humanities Blog: Reclaiming Reflection: Creative Writing & The Medical Humanities, 2016
Email: dr.ec.holmes@gmail.com
“Very thoughtful facilitation. Helpful both personally and professionally to pass on to colleagues.”
Workshop Facilitation, Project Scoping and Strategic Planning, Speaking Engagements, Clinical Leadership and Consultancy: Flexible and competitive rates reflective of experience and GP background for full-day, half-day and hourly work encompassing design, preparation & delivery (on-line during COVID-19) CV available on request