Generation Medics' News

We’re changing the world!

No seriously we are changing the world to make it a better place.

We’re challenging perceptions of who belongs in healthcare and STEM.
We’re empowering women, BAME communities and the under-represented.
We’re challenging perceptions of what a business and a charity should look like.
We’re led by our beneficiaries.
We’re influencing policy, training and recruitment practices to make lasting change that matters.

Along the way we’ve made it into the news, you can find some of our achievements below

Use the buttons below to navigate through our achievements on this page:

Improving Social Mobility

Partnerships to Support the Digitally Excluded

At Generation Medics we’re keen to tackle digital exclusion as we see the effects of it on peoples lives everyday.

That’s why we have local partners like SECH and local FE colleges who provide digital skills training that we can signpost our beneficiaries to.

Alongside this, we’re delighted to announce that we have secured a partnership which means we’ll be able to ‘gift’ tech that has been donated for reuse to beneficiaries who need it!

Devices will be allocated to us on a first-come-first-served basis from our social enterprise partner and will transform the way that people can access services they need to move closer to the labour market, which will improve their health and help them to fulfil their potential.

New Programme for Adults in Southend

We secured funding from the UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund to launch, alongside our partners, an exciting programme for adult learners in Southend. Participants can access our Virtual Healthcare Academy and Immersive Work Experience Programme to learn more about what a career in healthcare could look like for them.

Celebrating Diversity

Supporting and Inspiring the Next Generation of BAME Talent

Our founder, Dr Hinnah was invited as a Keynote Speaker by ICL’s equality advisory group to Imperial College London’s inaugural ‘BAME Early Careers Conference in STEMM and Business’. Her talk was very well received, she shared her career journey, insights and experiences as a young British Asian Female Leader and gave advice to the audience of young professionals and students.

The event featured speakers from across the STEMM and business sectors recognising the achievements of scientists and professionals from different backgrounds within these evolving sectors. “This was an invaluable opportunity to champion diversity and inspire the next generation of graduates and professionals.” Dr H Rafique, Founder of Generation Medics.

Inspiring BAME Innovators

Delighted to announce that Dr Hinnah Rafique was named #25 in TechRound’s Top 50 BAME Entrepreneurs 2020! Supporting BAME communities has never been more important and this award has helped recognise the vast achievements of BAME entrepreneurs across the system. At Generation Medics we aim to support, highlight and empower aspiring and current BAME healthcare workers. Because BAME voices are often not as represented as they should be, we’re also working on creating long lasting change by championing the voice of underrepresented groups at national and local meetings and policy discussions.

Celebrating Women in Tech

Generation Medics was invited to BBC Click’s special Women In Tech event that aired on BBC News and BBC World Service to hear from tech giants: Nicola Mendelsohn CBE, VP for EMEA for Facebook, Serene Ow, Head of Data Science at Grab and Erica Baker, Director of Engineering Github.

As a female-led social enterprise working in STEM and using the latest tech, we love celebrating and learning from other women in tech talk about their challenges whilst pioneering in a male-dominated field so we can grow to achieve amazing things as a social enterprise, supporting other women along the way!

Awards for Our Strong Female Leaders

This year we won not one, but TWO awards for our team. Dr Rafique, the founder of Generation Medics has been listed in the female leaders list two years in a row. In 2019, Sarah our COO has also won an award for her strength in business development and championing social impact.

Combating Health Inequality

Influencing Policy

We’ve been invited to speak to the APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) for Health and Social care about learning lessons from COVID-19. We are able to share our expertise as a social enterprise with MPs from all sides, who want us to show them how we have supported the delivery of health and social care. What an exciting way to showcase our achievements and share areas for future development!

The King’s Fund Spotlights Generation Medics at Health Inequalities Conference

As part of The King’s Fund’s Anchor Institutions Conference, our projects to tackle health inequalities and promote sustainability were featured alongside our partners from Mid and South Essex Hospitals and Essex County Council.

We’ve been working in Essex to connect Essex Anchor institutions with their local community, promoting social mobility, reducing health inequalities and creating a pipeline of talent for the local NHS. We were delighted that our pioneering work has been recognised and showcased to inspire other regions!

Pioneering Social Enterprise

Shortlisted for the Oscars of Healthcare!

We’ve been shortlisted for Workforce and Wellbeing Initiative of the Year at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2022. This award recognises our contribution to improving patient outcomes and staff wellbeing through our visionary Staff Volunteer and Outreach programme as Mid and South Essex Hospitals.

Our programmes work towards building a sustainable health and care workforce by promoting staff retention and building a future pipeline of local talent to become the next generation of healthcare professionals.

National Social Enterprise Spotlight

Generation Medics were invited to speak at Social Enterprise UK’s Futures Summit. Alongside Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Kate Bull (Royal British Legion Industries), Kate Evans (Graduate Planet CIC) and Cemal Ezal (Change Please CIC).

We discussed building a future for Social Enterprises in a world of greater work insecurity, low pay and automation. It was a brilliant opportunity to share everything we’ve achieved in 2020 and look towards the future.

SheEO Semifinalist

We’ve been announced as a Semifinalist for SheEO’s 2020 Venture. We’re excited for the journey ahead alongside some awesome initiatives working on the World’s To-Do List together, meeting new challenges and promoting our efforts to widen access in medicine and healthcare.

Pioneering Innovation in the NHS

We are proud to be part of the NHS’ clinical entrepreneur programme. They are helping us to expand our business and scale up. Not only this, we were the first female-led organisation and the first ever social enterprise to be supported by this programme, paving the way for female leadership!

Celebrating Social Enterprises

Dr Rafique was invited to speak at the Social Enterprise Futures Summit 2020 to celebrate what the sector has achieved in the last year to keep going, keep open, and mitigate the worst impacts of Covid on people and society.

Keynote speakers also included former PM Gordon Brown, Steve Murrells, CEO of Co-op Group and Dr Myrian Sidibe, creator of ‘Global Handwashing Day’.

“Social enterprise is even more important now, as we prepare to confront momentous challenges ahead” – Gordon Brown

Dr Rafique Appointed as the First Clinical Lead for NHS England’s Clinical Entrepreneur Programme

We’re delighted to announce that Dr Hinnah Rafique, founder and director of Generation Medics, has been appointed as the first Clinical Lead for NHS England’s Clinical Entrepreneur Programme.

Her role will see her support NHS clinicians from across the UK to scale and grow their Intrapreneurial and Social enterprise projects that are providing innovative medical solutions. Dr Hinnah is bringing her expertise as a clinician and social entrepreneur to the table to improve healthcare delivery, impacting on patient-care for millions of people.

Recognised as Global Changemakers

Skoll is an organisation which works on creating solutions to global issues by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs who help solve the world’s most pressing problems. As you can imagine, we were ecstatic to be recognised and supported by Skoll for our efforts in addressing social mobility and widening access to healthcare careers.

Valuable contributions during the first lockdown and beyond!

We are delighted to have been recognised on the Social Enterprise Futures Roll of Honour List 2020!

Our team has been recognised on the Social Enterprise Futures Roll of Honour List! We were nominated for Generation Medic’s efforts to benefit young people, communities in need and wider society during a very challenging time for the third sector. Over 400 nominations were received and we are delighted to have made the cut alongside other remarkable social entrepreneurs who are thriving during unprecedented times.

Generation Medics Wins Big at Oxfordshire Business Awards

We were delighted to be named the ‘Most Socially Minded Business’ at Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) Business Success Awards.

Top UK Social Enterprise

We have been listed for the second year in a row in the list of top UK social enterprises.

Supporting People into Employment

Hosting Internships for Another Cohort of Young People

This winter, we have again opened our doors and hosted young people and adults from all over the world. They have been helping us develop as an organisation and we’ve helped to enrich their professional development whilst helping them to reflect on their own skills and confidence in the workplace.

Supporting social housing tenants into sustainable employment

Social housing can give people the security they need to create a foundation for success, helping them overcome barriers and in turn secure employment. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been working with local councils and housing associations to equip residents with employability skills and knowledge of how to access and succeed in a career in healthcare.

1 in 2 Aspiring Doctors Supported through Clearing in 2021 Secured University Places

Results day is never easy, especially throughout the past 18 months of the pandemic that led to U-turns, online learning and teacher predicted grades.

Despite this tumultuous period of time, we supported 1 in 2 of our students into medical school through UCAS Clearing this year.

We shared our expertise, contacts and experience of navigating and preparing for UCAS Clearing with our students, coaching them through the process.

We are delighted that 50% now have places on their dream courses at UK universities. For those who didn’t secure a place through Clearing, they now have a realistic action plan for their future and how to get to their dream career.

Immersive NHS Work Experience Opportunities Launched!

We know that securing work experience isn’t easy (even before Covid!) That’s why we’ve spent over 8 years campaigning to make placements fairer. As part of that work, we have been working for over 7 years on a virtual work experience platform and now it’s ready! We’re delighted to launch our immersive programme that is the first to be officially partnered with the NHS!

It’s designed to bring the hospital to your screens. Students enrolled onto the programme will gain a realistic understanding of how hospitals function; different departments, professions and the realities of working in the NHS. Students and professionals who have helped build and test the programme have said that in some ways it’s much better than in-person work experience.

You are able to go to places you might not have been able to get access to during your in-person work experience placement, you’re taken through a programme developed by educational professionals who understand how to increase learning, engagement and reflection. You can also hear from and connect with professionals when they’re not just rushing around and without feeling like you’re in the way!

Providing Recruitment Solutions

Hospital Trust launches major new initiative to help improve local career opportunities

Generation Medics have anchored in Essex! We’re working with local partners including the NHS Trust that covers Mid and South Essex Hospitals. They are one of the largest employers in the region, with 15k+ members of staff. We’re supporting local people to explore, strive and succeed in careers in health, care and life-sciences.

We have a number of programmes that we’re delivering to support the next generation of Essex healthcare professionals, including our groundbreaking Virtual Healthcare Academy, Structured NHS Virtual Work Experience, Mentoring and a whole lot more!

NHS People Plan 2020

We were invited to contribute to the NHS People plan 2020, as experts in creating widening access opportunities and supporting the NHS to recruit diverse people into all roles.

The NHS People Plan is set to renew commitments to diversity in the NHS workforce to improve the experience of working within the NHS and delivering healthcare.

Recruiting for NHS Nightingale Hospitals

The COVID-19 pandemic put the NHS under unprecedented pressure. We were ready to help when the NHS asked us to use our expertise, connections and ability to create fast-paced solutions to support recruitment efforts for the NHS Nightingale Hospitals. These critical care temporary hospitals created extra capacity for the NHS. Our recruitment campaign involved recruiting existing and returning NHS staff.

Providing Solutions to the Youth Unemployment Crisis

During the pandemic, our expertise was also used to draw up initiatives with the government to reduce youth unemployment. One such initiative was the kickstart placement scheme, which encourages employers to offer work placements to disadvantaged young people. This aims to provide young people with more opportunities in a variety of industries.

From the GMX Blog

How to Prepare for University

Dr Rafique shared her tips for Freshers with The Guardian. Her tips are based on her vast experience lecturing and supporting students at UK universities including the University of Oxford.

Farewell 2020

2020 has been a year like no other in living memory. As we are about to embark on a new year it seems a poignant time to reflect on a challenging year that took everyone by surprise.