Fellowships

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Our fellowship programme supports retention and workforce sustainability in general practice by enabling motivated professionals to lead and deliver innovative Quality Improvement Projects (QIPs). Fellows work in addition to their existing clinical or professional roles to develop projects that improve patient care, enhance staff experience, address local and national priorities, and reduce health inequalities.

Working collaboratively with practices, PCNs and The Hub Plus team, fellows also share learning through education and training, ensuring successful outcomes can be scaled across the wider primary care system. 

New Opportunities 

New opportunities to apply to undertake a fellowship will be advertised here. Sign up to The Hub Plus newsletter to ensure you receive alerts.  

Quality Improvement

If you're thinking about starting your own Quality Improvement (QI) project, our Quality Improvement webpage is your one-stop resource for everything you need to succeed. From practical tools and templates to expert guidance and inspiring case studies.   

Fellowship Alumni network 

The Fellowship Alumni Network aims to bring together past and current fellows to enable networking, learning, and celebration through face to face events and vibrant online channels. Our hope is that everyone who joins the Fellowship Alumni Network gains inspiration, connections, and insight from their involvement as well as opportunities to showcase their own outputs to drive positive change in primary care and encourage new cohorts of Fellows. Follow us on LinkedIn 

Fellowship Spotlight 

Each month, we spotlight a recently completed Fellowship project, showcasing the valuable insights, innovations and outcomes delivered by our Fellows. Explore the findings from their work and discover how their projects have contributed to the development of General Practice, improved patient care, and informed new ways of working. Alongside each project, Fellows share their personal and professional reflections, highlighting the skills, experience and lasting impact gained through their Fellowship journey. This is an opportunity to celebrate achievement, share learning, and demonstrate the meaningful difference Fellowships are making across primary care.

Dr Sheila Owusu – Supporting and Retaining International Medical Graduates in Derbyshire

Sheila’s Workforce Retention Fellowship focused on strengthening support for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) working in Derbyshire General Practice. Recognising that IMGs make up a significant proportion of the UK's medical workforce, Sheila sought to better understand the challenges they face and identify practical ways to improve retention, job satisfaction and ultimately patient care.

Project Aims

The fellowship aimed to:

  • Identify the support needs and challenges experienced by IMGs in Derbyshire.
  • Explore issues relating to work visas and sponsorship.
  • Develop initiatives to support IMG wellbeing, career development and retention.
  • Update and relaunch the GP Pause initiative to support GPs returning to work following extended leave.

To achieve this, Sheila conducted surveys with IMG GPs, established a growing network of Derbyshire IMGs, and organised two educational webinars focusing on:

  • Contracts, flexibility and fairness.
  • Leadership, teaching, training and research opportunities.

Key Outcomes

The fellowship delivered several important outcomes:

  • Relaunch of the GP Pause initiative on The Hub website, providing updated support and information for GPs returning to work.
  • Creation of a Derbyshire IMG GP network and database to support ongoing engagement and future initiatives.
  • Delivery of two webinars that addressed some of the most commonly identified support needs among IMG GPs.
  • Development of stronger links with national IMG support organisations, including the RCGP, creating opportunities for future collaboration.

Personal and professional impact

The fellowship enabled Sheila to develop new skills and confidence as a leader, communicator and project lead.

Click here to read about the GP Pause Programme.

We also have two recent webinars - GP contracts, fairness and flexibility and Leadership, Teaching and Research available to watch on The Hub Plus Learning Management System. 

Reflecting on her learning, Sheila said:

“My key learning from this fellowship is to take opportunities as they present and that there is never a good or ideal time to take advantage of an opportunity. I have learnt that you do not need to have all the skills to do a particular undertaking; taking the opportunity to do it builds skills and confidence.”

She also reported feeling "a lot more skilled" in leadership, research, presenting ideas and working across organisational boundaries, and said the fellowship has made her "much more likely" to seek system-level leadership roles and pursue a portfolio career.

Speaking about the support she received, Sheila commented:

“Support from Jenny was great. She linked me to a lot of key persons who supported my webinar.”

Impact on Colleagues and Patients

The project's greatest impact has been in supporting and empowering IMG colleagues. Feedback from webinar participants highlighted the value of hearing inspirational stories, learning about leadership opportunities and connecting with peers facing similar challenges.

Sheila believes the long-term impact will be seen through a more confident, supported and fulfilled workforce:

“I have been able to show the IMG GPs that others who have gone ahead of them have achieved a lot despite the challenges and succeeded. I hope these outcomes will build confident GPs who are aware there is support and mentorship available and therefore make them more fulfilled in their careers and in effect positively impact patient care.”

Through her fellowship, Sheila has created a strong foundation for ongoing IMG support in Derbyshire, helping colleagues feel more connected, informed and inspired while contributing to a more sustainable general practice workforce for the future.

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Current fellows and their projects 

Find out about the work our current fellows are carrying out. 

Neighbourhood Development Fellowships

Reducing Alcohol-Related Harm in Amber Valley 

Lucy Bradley 

This project aims to understand why Amber Valley has very high rates of alcohol-related hospital admissions, particularly among women aged 40-64, and develop a joined-up approach across services to reduce alcohol-related harm and hospital admissions. 

Improving Access to Urgent Care in South Derbyshire 

Charlie Hayes 

This project aims to improve access to healthcare outside GP surgeries by increasing use of Pharmacy First services. The long-term goal is to support the development of a local urgent care centre for South Derbyshire residents.

Improving Hospital Discharge Communication in the Derbyshire Dales 

Victoria Hetherington 

This project focuses on improving communication between hospitals and community services in the Derbyshire Dales. It aims to ensure high-risk patients receive the right support after discharge through better coordination between healthcare, social care and community teams. 

Increasing Cancer Screening Uptake in Greater Derby 

Nadiya Mushtaq 

This project aims to improve cancer screening uptake among people who face language or communication barriers. It will use data to identify inequalities and develop targeted approaches that make screening information and services easier to access. 

Community-Led Lifestyle Medicine Programme in Chesterfield 

Jenny Sockett 

This project will develop a community-led health and wellbeing programme in Barrow Hill, Chesterfield. By training local champions and providing accessible health education, it aims to help residents adopt healthier lifestyles and reduce health inequalities. 

Connecting People to Non-Medical Support in Erewash 

Weronika Tobiasiewicz 

This project aims to improve access to non-medical support by bringing together health, social care and community organisations. Through longer patient conversations and better partnership working, it will provide more coordinated, person-centred care. 

Wound Care Pathway Redesign Fellowship 

Helena Deakin 

This project will provide primary care nursing leadership within the redesign of community wound care pathways. Supporting neighbourhood care transformation, it will help develop consistent, integrated services across Primary Care Network footprints, improving patient experience, service coordination and access to high-quality wound care. 

Community Transformation Fellowships 

Supporting Community Clinicians to Reduce Hospital Admissions 

Gabby Martin 

This project explores what support community clinicians need to manage complex and urgent patients more effectively. It also looks at how secondary care can help through improved step-up and step-down pathways, reducing avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions. 

Improving Virtual Ward and Community Services Integration 

Kate Roberts-Lewis 

This project aims to strengthen collaboration between Virtual Wards and Local Navigation Hubs. It will identify opportunities for service improvements, develop clinician guidance, and help ensure patients are referred to the most appropriate community support services. 

Developing a Falls Prevention Pathway 

Emma Roope 

This project will design a joined-up falls prevention pathway for Derby and Derbyshire. It aims to improve identification, assessment and support for people at risk of falls, while helping healthcare teams better understand and access available services. 

Patient Facing Communications Fellowships 

Raising awareness of the link between Type 2 Diabetes and Cancer Risk 

Helen Hulme  

This project will co-create an evidence-based, accessible communications toolkit to raise awareness of the link between Type 2 diabetes and cancer risk.  

Raising awareness of Ovarian Cancer 

Sally Jones 

This project will co-create an evidence-based, accessible communications toolkit to raise awareness of ovarian cancer. 

Raising awareness of adolescent health through engagement and co-design  

Helen Ross 

This project will engage students in local schools in focus groups to identify priorities affecting adolescent health, including mental health, physical wellbeing and sleep. Insights gathered will inform the co-creation of accessible health resources designed by young people in formats that best meet their needs. 

Innovation and Improvement Fellowships

Digital Transformation 

Jack Baskerville 

This project will provide clinical input into the design, implementation and evaluation of digital pathways across Derbyshire General Practice. Working in collaboration with the GPPB Digital Lead, it will support service improvement, enhance patient experience and contribute to the development of the Clinical Systems Optimisation (CSO) role. 

Research 

Carmen Villegas 

This project will lead and strengthen research activity across Derbyshire General Practice, working closely with GPPB research leads and research-active practices. It aims to increase research engagement, support evidence-based innovation and build research capacity to improve patient care. 

Population Health and Neighbourhoods 

Saritha Somarajan 

This Fellowship will build population health knowledge and capability across general practice, focusing on data literacy, prevention, equity, and upstream action. It will develop resources, support community-focused improvement projects, share learning and evaluation outcomes, and strengthen collaboration between population health and quality improvement initiatives. 

Peer Ambassador and QI Lead 

Eilise Brogan 

This fellowship aims to strengthen quality improvement capability across Derbyshire General Practice by providing coaching, leadership development and practice support. It will lead improvement initiatives, support MGIP implementation, promote best-practice sharing, and foster collaboration across practices. 

Creative Health

Tara George 

This fellowship project will support GP practices and neighbourhood teams to embed creative health approaches into care delivery. Working with the Creative Health and Wellbeing Alliance, it will develop local case studies and evidence to inform future commissioning, improve wellbeing outcomes and address community health needs.

Trailblazer Fellowships 

The Trailblazer scheme supports motivated, qualified clinicians to work in socio-economically deprived areas, helping them develop the skills and resilience needed to thrive in challenging environments while supporting under-resourced practices to recruit and retain staff. 

Chronic Pain Cafés 

Jane Packer

This project aims to deliver group consultations and peer-support “pain cafés” to help people better manage chronic pain, improve wellbeing, build self-management skills and reduce health inequalities. 

Obesity Management for People with Learning Disabilities 

Ben Tyler 

This project is focused on reducing obesity among people with learning disabilities in deprived communities through accessible physical activity programmes, including resistance training, to improve health and wellbeing. 

Chronic Pain Management in Areas of Deprivation 

Reema Akhter 

This fellowship project aims to improve chronic pain management in deprived communities through targeted support, self-management approaches and community-based interventions that address local health inequalities and patient needs. 

Past Fellowships 

Explore the outcomes and achievements of previous fellowship projects that have improved patient care, enhanced staff experience, supported local and national priorities, and helped address health inequalities across general practice.