Over the last six months or so there has been an outpouring of love for the NHS and the staff who provide care and support to us. We've all be out there clapping and putting up rainbows in a sign of support and solidarity. But not everyone who is treated in the NHS or works in it has such a positive experience. The colour of your skin can determine how you get treated, both as a patient and as a member of staff. Many students and junior staff report experiences of bullying and harassment, often as a routine experience, especially if they come from an ethnic minority background. At CMF we hear stories from many of our members echoing this. So, is the NHS an institutionally racist organisation? How should we respond as Christians? In this edition, I am talking to Jonathan Makanjuola about the often hidden problem of racism, bullying and harassment within the national health service.

Jonathan will be leading a seminar on racism, bullying and harassment in NHS and how as Christians we can make a stand for change at our Junior Doctors' Conference in October - see www.cmf.org.uk/jdc2020 

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Over 4,000 people in the UK are in need of a kidney transplant. The kidney is one of the few organs that can be transplanted relatively safely from a live donor. But for the majority of those on the waiting list for a new kidney, the wait will depend on someone with healthy kidneys dying, and that wait can last years.

Joseph Walsh has a story to tell about his own involvement with kidney transplantation, and we talk to him about why he thinks that Christians literally have something life-changing to give.

You can find more about Joseph's website and links to related resources at www.faithinoperation.co.uk and https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/living-donation/

You can read more about CMF's coverage of a wide range of issues related to organ donation on our blog at https://cmf.li/31vUewY

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The outbreak of COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the healthcare systems of virtually every country on earth, and the UK has been no exception. A massive mobilisation and reorganisation of the British National Health Service (NHS) to address the challenges we were facing from this new and still poorly understood disease happened in weeks. And in the midst of this mass reorganisation, a lot of thinking had to go into how best to allocate limited resources as we faced a potential overload on the NHS.

Two of our members, Dr Melody Redman and Dr James Haslam, put together a paper looking at these questions and applying biblical principles to the question of resource allocation. It sounds dry, but it is a matter that could quite literally mean life or death. In this special, extra edition of 1st incision, Steve Fouch has a wide-ranging discussion with James and Melody about how we decide who gets what treatment, how COVID-19 has changed the way we think about how we allocate limited resources, and how the public's thinking has changed as a result of the pandemic. We also look at what challenges the future holds.

You can read Melody and James' paper, COVID-19: When demand outstrips supply and other resources on COVID-19 on the CMF Website.

The Christian Journal of Global Health special edition on addressing COVID-19 globally is also available online.

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In the last episode of season three of 1st incision, we look back at some of the ways Christian Medical Fellowship has been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and at some of the resources and support for health professionals that is still available. We're taking a break for the summer, but we'll be back in the autumn with a fresh series of interviews and discussions at the interface of faith, medicine, nursing and midwifery that affect our Christian lives in today's world.

Past episodes of 1st incision are available from our BuzzSprout page, including all 41 episodes of voices from the frontline

You can find out more about our Pastoral Care Programme at https://cmf.li/PCWP

While COVID1900Prayer has now finished, you can join us every Friday at 5pm for our new video series on Facebook and YouTube - Pause+Pray

And we'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions for the podcast - just email Steve Fouch on [email protected]  

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The Christian faith stands or falls on the miracle of Jesus' resurrection. But how do we stand in relation to miracles today, especially as health professionals? Do miraculous healings still happen, can we command them, and how we handle situations where our patients claim to have been healed?

David Randall talks with Steve Fouch about how we can engage with the miraculous as Christians and health professionals.

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Anne Biro, the Vice-President of Nurses Christian Fellowship International (NCFI) talks with Steve Fouch about how Christian nurses in the UK and in many other nations are connecting together to encourage, teach and train each other during 2020, the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife (you can read more about this at https://cmf.li/36c3WUy and about the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale at https://cmf.li/3bo1NaM).  

To find out more about CMF’s work with nurses and midwives go to www.cmf.org.uk/nurses 

Please note that this podcast was recorded in late January 2020, before COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing restrictions in the UK and other parts of the world. The NCFI World Congress mentioned in this podcast has since been postponed to 2021. You can read more about the work of NCFI and its rescheduled World Congress, go to www.ncif.org 
To learn more about the NCFI Next Generation network, see https://ncfi.org/about-ncfi/next-generation/

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In our fortieth and final voices from the frontline, we talk to Audrey, an intensivist at a Glasgow intensive care unit.

At the sharp end of dealing with COVID-19, she and her team have been working longer hours, with trainees and non-specialists taking on new roles caring for those most seriously affected by the disease. How have she and her team handled the remarkable circumstances in which they have found themselves in the last three months? How has she found Jesus amid this crisis?

This is the last of our special series of voices from the frontline podcasts, but the first incision series continues, with a new episode going live next Friday, 29 May.

For more information about CMF and our work and ministry, uniting and equipping Christian health professionals to live and speak for Jesus Christ, visit cmf.org.uk 

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Esther is a community-based pharmacist, working closely with general practices. With social distancing and shielding, normal dispensing of medicines has changed considerably. What are the challenges, changes and stresses that pharmacy staff facing during lockdown. How is she finding spiritual support, and how can we pray for Esther and other pharmacists and frontline workers at this time.

Esther is an active member of Christians in Pharmacy - a national network for Christians working in and studying all aspects of pharmacy - check out their Facebook Page and their website for more details and to get in touch

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Rachael works in NHS prison general practice and is medical director of Integritas Healthcare, a Christian faith-inspired NGO working with detainees in the UK and overseas, particularly in the Philippines. 

How has COVID-19 affected detainees and prisons in the UK? How is it affecting the delivery of medical care in prisons in the Philippines? And how is she able to bring spiritual support and wholistic care to prisoners?

You can find out more about the work of Integritas at https://integritas-healthcare.squarespace.com

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Dr Janan works as a surgeon in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. His work involves regularly providing surgical care in refugee camps. Northern Iraq has been in lockdown since the first cases of COVID-19 appeared in March, and it seems that the epidemic is under control there. But there is still a real concern that the coronavirus could still break out in the refugee camps, where hand washing and social distancing is not practical. With economic pressures, insecurities and concerns about infection spread, how can we support and pray for Janan and his teams working with refugees in the region?

You can find out more about Dr Janan's organisation, HOME at https://www.homeforhim.org/

Remember to join us every day at 7 pm (BST/UTC+1) for #COVID1900Prayer, a chance to pray for health workers, our nation and the world as we respond to COVID-19

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