Equity in primary health care: the legacy of Julian Tudor Hart and a personal journey he inspired.

Dr Julian Tudor Hart inspired me when I worked as a locum general practitioner in the neighbouring village to Glyncorrwg, southern Wales, in 1979. Our conversations helped shape my subsequent career. But it was only years later I learned that Julian was an icon of general practice and author of the famous 'inverse care law'. Julian was both a truly compassionate dedicated general practitioner in Glyncorrwg, an impoverished Welsh working-class coal-mining village, and an epidemiologist, conducting robust research in partnership with his patients. Patients were co-producers of the research designed to improve their health outcomes. Julian led the way in advocating that first-contact, continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated care for everyone was necessary to achieve equitable health outcomes. He conducted research neither for its own sake nor for his academic advancement. His aim was always to help improve people's lives. He identified that good medical care was least likely to be available for populations most in need. More than that, he demonstrated throughout his exemplary career how it was possible to work with a socioeconomically disadvantaged community to both discover their health needs and also provide equitable personalised health care to all. His legacy lives on. Meeting Dr Julian Tudor Hart, when I worked as a locum general practitioner in Blaengwynfi, the village neighbouring Glyncorrwg, southern Wales in 1979, helped shape my subsequent career. I later learned that Julian was an icon of general practice, author of the 'inverse care law', who conducted epidemiological research in partnership with his patients to improve their health outcomes. He worked with his socioeconomically disadvantaged community to discover their health needs and provide equitable personalised care to all. His legacy lives on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]