Charly Gilchrist is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and a 2025 East of England Global Health Fellow. One of the first Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) to join the programme, she’s working with a CGHP-supported health partnership that’s building skills and capacity of the AHP workforce in India to better support disadvantaged communities. Here she explains the important work of the first few months in developing plans and support for the upcoming projects.
“The RAMA Foundation (RF) is a UK registered charity on a mission to build the capacities and skills of socially and economically unserved communities in India. RF has been working alongside CGHP for several years to support healthcare staff from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) to work with RF’s partner charities in India to improve health outcomes for disadvantaged people. This has included medical electives, online training opportunities and most recently, visits from AHPs including dietitians and physiotherapists who have worked with RF partners to provide advice and training on nutritional support and manual handling techniques.
Fellowship aims
My involvement is the first time an East of England Global Health Fellow has participated in the programme. My aim is to help formalise the partnership between RF, CGHP and the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT) in India and support the development of an increased AHP workforce within HIHT. A key finding from our existing links and previous visits has been the severe lack of AHP services within our Indian partner institutions, and a crucial need was identified in raising awareness of the scope of practice that each AHP profession offers to enable them to work more autonomously. An important part of this is supporting the design and delivery of a multidisciplinary team AHP function that’s adapted appropriately for the Indian Healthcare System. The hope is that this will decrease pressure on the medical and nursing teams while improving clinical outcomes for patients. The partnership will also promote skills sharing through face-to-face and online learning, as well as in-person training on a range of topics.
Planning globally
The first few months of my fellowship have been very busy. I supported the development of a detailed Partnership Plan and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This aims to establish a framework for cooperation between the partners to achieve shared goals and will inform the future direction of the partnership. I have also been devising questionnaires to send to HIHT staff in India to determine current AHP awareness, provision and autonomy, which will guide further plans for learning and sharing experiences. I’ll be able to repeat the questionnaire at the end of my fellowship year to determine any changes in practices.
Working alongside RF Trustee Munish Datta, we’ve been talking to corporate partners about financial assistance and provision of equipment to support visits to our Indian partners.
Working locally
An important part of our fellowships is delivering a local, UK-focused project, which for me is about promoting global health work within AHP and nursing teams. As part of the partnership, a small team of CUH AHP and nursing staff will visit India in the summer to share skills and experiences and co-deliver training. I created the expression of interest posters and application forms, led a webinar about the partnership and the planned visit, and will participate in the interview and selection process. I also attended AHP day to speak about global health and my fellowship, and I plan to attend the AHP forum, International Day of the Nurse and speak at departmental meetings in the coming months.
In November I attended CGHP’s Global Health Conference, making useful connections and gaining advice about global health work. As a result I’ll attend the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Acquired Brain and Spine Injury (ABSI) network meeting this month to further build my contact base.
Charly presenting at the East of England Global Health Fellows learning event (left) and at AHP Day (right).
A learning journey
My fellowship has been an opportunity to research and better understand the benefits of global health work. As detailed in The UK Department of Health ‘Engaging in Global Health’ document, health services can benefit enormously from the knowledge and experiences gained from global health work, for example the understanding of other cultures to improve the patient experience in the UK, and the development of leadership skills. Participating in global health projects can also support staff satisfaction, engagement and motivation, leading to improved well-being and staff retention. Lord Nigel Crisp’s book ‘Turning the World Upside Down Again’ says “real and sustainable progress can be made when we bring together learning and experiences from all parts of the world and all parts of our communities.”
It was useful to complete NHS England’s ‘Toolkit for the Collection of Evidence and Knowledge and Skills Gained Through Participation in an International Health Project’. It’s a framework to record skills and competencies achieved as part of working on an international health project, and to reflect on how these can be applied when returning to work. I will review it at the end of my fellowship year to determine the skills and knowledge acquired.
Looking ahead
The next three months will involve all relevant parties signing the MoU which will enable further discussion about the direction of the partnership. It will also inform the topics for training and development opportunities and will allow initial data collection from the questionnaires to take place. I am also excited to support a visit by staff from our Indian partners to CUH. This will provide an opportunity to shadow and learn from AHP staff in the NHS and see their autonomy in practice. I will also be interviewing and selecting CUH staff to join the visit to India in the summer now that all the applications have been received.”
The 2025 East of England Global Health Fellows with 2024 fellowship alumni and CGHP staff.
Find out more about the India-focused health partnership with the RAMA Foundation. Applications for the 2026 East of England Global Health Fellowship open in the Spring.
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