Dr Omon Imohi explains some of the prejudices that she has had to overcome as a black woman GP.

Women GPs at work 

Being a trainee and in the first few years of being a GP, it was difficult, because as a black woman in health, or in GP, what you would see then is sometimes patients misjudge you when they come in and they see you for the first time. Even some staff misjudge you, some of the staff they misjudge you when they see you for the first time. When you finally build the rapport, things are fine, but that initial stage…I’ve had instances where patients will come into the room and look around the room for the real doctor [laughs]. Yeah, initially it used to hurt me but, you know, I learnt how to deal with all that stuff and, you know, it’s one thing I’ve found was even if you are trying sometimes, there’s always still that barrier which is something that we need to start talking about more.