Five Minutes With… A Community Paediatrician
In this edition of Five Minutes With, we sat down with Dr Usha Roy, Community Paediatrician located in the north of Birmingham to tell us what community care looks like for her patients.
Usha and her team provide assessments, diagnosis, management and where indicated, treatment to children and young people across Birmingham where there are concerns regarding a child’s development. The team support patients with developmental delays, neurological disabilities, physical disabilities and genetic conditions.
Our Community Paediatric team also take part in neurodevelopmental assessments for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
This interview coincides with Neurodiversity Celebration Week, where we are all encouraged to celebrate neurodiversity, as well as challenge stereotypes people might have about it, making this edition one you don’t want to miss!
Hi Usha, please could you tell us about your role at Team BCHC?
I am a Community Paediatrician, which is a children’s doctor that works within the community as opposed to working in a hospital. I spent the first 15 years of my career as an Acute Paediatrician working in a hospital setting, but I decided to switch to community care 20 years ago and I have never looked back.
The Community Paediatric team see children who have long term health conditions such as developmental delay, cerebral palsy and genetic conditions like Down’s syndrome. We also see children who have neurodevelopmental conditions like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
We work closely with a range of different services and professionals including ADHD nurse specialists, GPs, schools, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dietitians and others, to gain a greater understanding of our patient’s needs.
The ages of our patients range from newborn to 16 years old, the age range for neurodevelopmental assessments are however different. There are around 30 Community Paediatricians across five areas in Birmingham, and I am located in the north, currently based at the James Preston Health Centre. On average, I see approximately 30 patients a week.
Why did you choose to work in Community Paediatrics?
I’ve always wanted to work with children, even before I became a doctor. I have never ever regretted my career choice. Working in paediatrics has its challenges, but it is so rewarding.
What really drew me to working in the community was caring for children and young people in the long term rather than solely in a hospital setting where they come and they go. It’s nice to see your patients quite literally grow up before your eyes and hear them begin to talk in a very mature way about their hopes and aspirations by the time they leave our service.
It’s also always nice to know that an early input can make a huge difference to the trajectory of someone’s life. I once had a young patient with ADHD tell me they had dreams and aspirations of joining the army, but they were having a few challenges that stopped that from becoming a reality. Over the years, and with the right intervention from the team, the patient successfully joined and is doing very well.
This week (17-23rd March) is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, why are events like this so important?
Neurodiversity is by no means a ‘new thing’, but more and more people are becoming aware of what neurodiversity is and how it affects people differently. In the past, some neurodiverse children may have been falsely labelled as ‘naughty children’, whereas today, society is slowly understanding that that simply isn’t true. It’s important to raise awareness of neurodiverse conditions to help support others and reduce unhelpful stigmas and misconceptions.
Tell us something that people might not know about you
I am under five feet tall, but I did play basketball at high school… I know those two things don’t quite match up do they? [Usha chuckles] I had to leave very quickly.
Describe yourself in a few words
Good listener, generally energetic and enthusiastic.
Please note, you cannot self-refer to our Community Paediatric team. All referrals to this service are done via professionals such as GP, or via schools