Deep End Wales

The Deep End project started over a decade ago in Scotland, when it brought together front-line general practitioners working in the 100 most deprived communities. They decided not to produce a report on health inequalities nor to provide general practitioners with a toolkit but rather to listen to what general practitioners serving the most deprived general practices had to say. It captured their experiences, views, and ambitions through a series of round table discussions.

The term "Deep End" came from a cartoon representing a swimming pool analogy, with patients at the Deep End drowning called General Practitioners at the Deep End: The experience and views of general practitioners working in the most severely deprived areas of Scotland.

Who's who

• Chair: Dr Neil James
• Deputy Chair: Mrs Joanna Watts-Jane
• Clinical advisor: Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair, RCGP GP, Mountain Ash
• Clinical advisor: Dr Rowena Christmas, Chair, RCGP Wales GP, Trellech
• Clinical lead: Dr Mair Hopkin Associate, Dean, HEIW Retired GP
• Clinical lead: Professor Peter Saul Glyndwr, University GP North East Wales
• Project lead: Nicola Edmunds, Head of RCGP Wales and ROI
• Public health lead: Dr Kathrin Thomas, Retired GP
• Academic lead: Dr Haroon Ahmed Senior, Clinical Lecturer, Cardiff University
• Qualitative research lead: Professor Fiona Woods, Medical Sociologist, Cardiff University

Progress

Deep End is a movement, and not a structure or organisation. It can align with current place-based approaches to add additional value.

Deep End Cymru invites participation from 100 practices which have the highest proportion of patients living in the most deprived areas. We are a network for mutual support and invest time and energy to identify the common challenges and find the best solutions. The first phase has engaged positively with Deep End eligible practices could reach 382,450 people living in the most deprived 20%, which is almost 60% of the Welsh population living in these Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs).   

In November 2022, the project was launched at a face-to-face meeting in Gwent. 25 practices were represented. A series of key priorities came out of this event, which have been systematically explored in more detail at the subsequent round table events. Three successful round table events were held in March 2023 in Cardiff, Swansea in July 2023 and Cardiff in September 2023. A fourth event is planned for February 8, 2024, in Cardiff.

We have a steering group which consists of GPs and practice managers from over 20 Deep End practices, with the core team above. They meet monthly. 

Deep End has an academic home with Cardiff University Division of Population Medicine, through Dr Haroon Ahmed. We are conducting a research study to better understand the perspective of health professionals working in Deep End practices.

In the first year of Deep End Wales, 85% of eligible practices responded positively. Of these, 31% attended at least one of the four events, some sending more than one member of staff.

• Deep End Cymru Report First Phase July 2024 (PDF file, 2.4 MB)
• Stakeholders’ views on Deep End Wales June 2024 (PDF file, 733 KB)

Lunch and learn

Understanding your population

• Lunch and Learn understanding your population slides (PDF file, 3 MB)
• Deep End Greater Manchester lunch and learn with Dr Laura Nielson

Contact us

Please contact DeepEndWales@rcgp.org.uk for further information.