PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Michael EB FitzPatrick
AU  - Charles Badu-Boateng
AU  - Christopher Huntley
AU  - Caitlin Morgan
TI  - ‘Attorneys of the poor’: Training physicians to tackle health inequalities
AID  - 10.7861/fhj.2020-0242
DP  - 2021 Mar 01
TA  - Future Healthcare Journal
PG  - 12--18
VI  - 8
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/8/1/12.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/8/1/12.full
SO  - Future Healthc J2021 Mar 01; 8
AB  - The stellar gains in life expectancy and health over the past century have been accompanied by an increase in societal and health inequalities. This health gap between the most and least fortunate in our society is widening, driven by complex social determinants of health, as well as healthcare systems themselves. Physicians are not just well-qualified and well-placed to act as advocates for change, but have a moral duty to do so: to stand by silently is to be complicit.Following a workshop on health inequalities and medical training at the Royal College of Physicians Trainees Committee, we sought to examine how health inequalities could be addressed through changes to the medical education system. We discuss the arguments for reform in recruitment to medicine, and changes to undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education in order to equip the profession to deliver meaningful improvements in health inequalities. We propose a population health credential as a mechanism by which specialists can gain additional skills to take on leadership roles addressing health inequalities, allowing them to support colleagues in public health and bring in specialty-specific knowledge and experience.