Meet the doctor who helped me break a Covid-19 patient out of hospital

He's a visionary with a clear view on our broken healthcare system and what to do about it.

Even before Covid-19, the UK’s National Health Service was already struggling. Today, it’s in its death throes. The emphasis on developing and delivering Covid-19 vaccines has taken its toll and people simply cannot access the services they need. Waiting lists stretch into many years for some procedures and many people cannot even get a face-to-face appointment with their primary care doctor. In the meantime, adverse reactions from the experimental vaccines are putting more pressure on healthcare services than ever before.

I am writing about the UK, but this applies to many countries around the world. I receive many comments from readers and others, understandably concerned about their options. When the system is so broken – and when trust in medical professionals is so compromised, what does one do when in need of medical care?

This is a question many of us health professionals are endeavouring to answer. Dr Peter Chan is one such person and I was delighted to have him join me for my next Tess Talks conversation, airing here this Sunday.

Peter is a GP (primary care physician), a Functional Medicine Practitioner, and a formal GP trainer. We’ve never actually met in person, but we did join forces a few months ago to help spring a Covid-19 hospital patient being held against their will. This particular patient was being strongly (very strongly) encouraged to take a treatment he didn’t want to take because he’d heard it was dangerous. Peter traveled miles to the hospital and got the patient out.

This is just like Peter: he cares deeply and goes the extra mile to help people. He’s also a visionary, bringing a better way for healthcare into the here and now. He already has a plan for developing a holistic health service and his work is informing local community healthcare hubs – something I’m particularly interested in.

I’m also looking forward to hearing Peter share more about his vision at the Better Way Conference this May (tickets available here). He will be one of many visionaries joining together to discuss solutions, and I’m so looking forward to coming out of the conference with concrete plans on the way forward.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll join us this Sunday for this next Tess Talks. Speaking with Peter, it was wonderful to feel the human connection and I hope that in watching the video, you’ll feel that connection too. We need these points of contact: they remind us that we are all working together for humanity’s best outcome. As the current system fails, it’s important to keep our focus on creating a better alternative: our shared vision for healthcare could be, should be, and will be a beautiful one.