Rama Foundation

Dr Taranjit Singh, Consultant Palliative Care Physician & Chief Medical Officer, Ganga Prem Hospice, shares his thoughts ahead of hosting an amazing team of Rama Foundation volunteers going to India in August 2025.

I’m Dan, a nurse at Cambridge University Hospitals, and I’m incredibly excited to be preparing for an upcoming trip to India with the RAMA Foundation and Cambridgeshire Global Health Partnerships. This is a unique opportunity to work alongside healthcare professionals in a completely different setting, and I feel immensely grateful to be part of it.

I work as a therapy radiographer at Cambridge University Hospitals, specialising in the planning and delivery of radiotherapy for people undergoing cancer treatment. It’s a role that combines precision, science, and empathy, and it is one that has shown me how deeply important access to quality care is during some of the most vulnerable moments in a person’s life.

I am the Lead Enteral Nutrition Nurse for the Adult Service and have been working in the Clinical Nutrition Department at Addenbrookes Hospital for the past seven (7) years. My Clinical experience and knowledge are underpinned by my work within Acute medicine, Gastroenterology (surgery), Intestinal Failure (now Intestinal Rehabilitation), Emergency medicine, Acute Stroke and Education (Practice Development Nurse).

I’m currently working as a band 5 dietitian at Addenbrooke’s where my role is split between acute stroke and rehabilitation wards and a wide range of band 5 wards (medicine for the elderly, infectious diseases, vascular). I have worked at CUH for a year - my first job as a dietitian after completing my master’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics last March. I have lived in many different places over the last few years including Glasgow, Liverpool, Chester and a year in Brisbane, Australia.

I am currently employed at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Addenbrookes, as the Lead Nurse for the Acute Healthcare Strategy. This role is relatively new for me and involves challenging existing healthcare practices and developing strategies to inform the future of healthcare in our region. My career at CUH commenced in 2002, and since then I have gained experience in orthopaedics, acute medicine, and predominantly urgent and emergency care services. I am deeply passionate about enhancing patient care.

I am a Dietitian working at Addenbrookes Hospital working as a Specialist Hepatology and Liver Transplant Dietitian. I have previously worked as a Gastroenterology, Stroke and general medical/surgical dietitian in Essex which has provided me with lots of skills and knowledge. I am keen to share my knowledge and experience in Nutrition and Dietetics and I hope that it will be helpful to the people and groups we meet on this trip. I am also very excited to experience India, a completely new and different country, I am sure I will make memories I will cherish for a lifetime!

I am a Speech and Language Therapist working at Addenbrooke’s Hospital; currently covering the inpatient adult acute wards and running the outpatient neuro-oncology service. Having previously worked at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds, St Thomas’ Hospital in London and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore I have been lucky to work across multiple areas of specialty including neurology, respiratory, spinal injuries, stroke, critical care, geriatric medicine and community.

We are very excited to introduce Charly Gilchrist, volunteering for Rama Foundation in 2024 - 25.

Charly is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with over nine years of experience working in the NHS. She has worked in a range of areas including major trauma, acute stroke, community teams and the general acute wards. Currently working in Critical Care at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Charly specialises in the management of complex communication and swallowing impairments and tracheostomy weaning.

A week’s visit to the beautiful Rishikesh in North eastern India at the foothills of the Himalayas was so much more of an enlightening experience than I expected. What in incredible week, I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the area and experience the culture. So many of the people in this region have so little yet are still smiling and grateful.