The volunteer-run health centre which has 'saved the NHS £6m'

A "labour of love" is how volunteers say it feels to run a health centre set up to address inequalities in one of the most deprived parts of Birmingham.

Nishkam Healthcare Trust (NHT), on Soho Road in Handsworth, has treated tens of thousands of hard-to-reach patients since it was set up in 2012 and those behind it said it had saved the NHS about £6m.

Funded through a combination of grants and donations, the 104 volunteers were recognised last year with a King's Award for Voluntary Service.

"People who would not normally access the NHS will walk in this door," said operations lead Dr Daya Singh Chandan, who is also a GP.

People living in Handsworth have some of the worst cardiovascular outcomes in the country, added trust chair Dr Manvir Kaur Kalirai.

There are also widespread mental health issues and high levels of infant and maternal mortality.

"We've got our own family members who had cardiovascular disease at younger ages… often their first heart attack was in their 40s… in professional life you realise this shouldn't be happening," Dr Chandan said.

With 170 languages spoken in the area, cultural diversity is at the heart of the centre's mission.

"The aim was to do something to help everyone," Dr Kalirai said. "There was a lack of cultural sensitivity and a lack of awareness for many people."

Part of the wider international Sikh organisation Guru Nanak Niskham Sewak Jatha (GNNSJ), which has been operating in Handsworth for a decade, the health centre aims to provide a one-stop service.

It operates two pharmacies, a dental service, mental and emotional wellbeing project, start-of-life initiative and diagnostic centre.

With volunteers close to the ground, they say they can pick up patients who often fall through the cracks, and see 40,000 people a year.

"There's a high proportion of refugees and often they don't have NHS numbers or aren't sure how to navigate the system," explained Dr Chandan.

Nearly three-quarters of volunteers are Sikh but there is a multi-faith mix of helpers, with 20 doctors and consultants and more than 25 pharmacists.

"It's a labour of love... it's something that you do because you care and you want to make that difference," added Dr Kalirai.

The dental practice runs 700 consultations a year, with patients encouraged to pay what they can, while the pharmacies deal with 185,000 prescriptions each year.

Patients like Rajinder Singh Bhogal, 65, who has ulcerative colitis, describe the passion and support of the centre's volunteers.

A doctor spent about 45 minutes with him when he suffered a prolonged bout of severe stomach pain.

"The advice and the help that I got was really, really supportive and pointed me in the right direction," he said.

It took about eight weeks for the NHS to discover the discomfort was being caused by ulcers, and he said if he had not visited NHT, "it would have been a lot longer".

Rebecca Rathore, 34, regularly uses the pharmacy and also visited medics for a scan on her neck.

"People who come to work, they get paid to do a job, but these people do it out of love because they want to help their community," she said.

Up to 80% of the centre's funding comes from the GNNSJ community.

"It's making a very big difference," Dr Kalarai said. "The services we deliver have largely cost the NHS very little or they've cost the NHS nothing."

The renal consultant points to the distance to the local Midland Metropolitan Hospital, about a 30-40 minute bus ride away in Smethwick.

"If we didn't do these prevention initiatives, primary care would be even more swamped."

The NHS 10 year plan aims to move care out of hospitals and in to the community, with 43 areas chosen to pilot neighbourhood health services, but West Birmingham, where Handsworth is located, is not yet on the list.

The hope is NHT will one day become a pilot site, and even gain an NHS GP contract.

"It would be dream come true to have a GP surgery over here," Dr Kalirai said.

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