Dr Kallur Suresh Consultant Psychiatrist and Deputy Medical Director

About me

Kallur is a GenerationQ Fellow and Consultant Psychiatrist and Deputy Medical Director at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.

He is also an honorary senior lecturer at the Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London.

After qualifying as a doctor in India in 1993, Kallur trained as a psychiatrist in India and the UK. He obtained membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1999 and went on to specialise in adult and old age psychiatry.

Kallur has been a consultant at North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust since 2003 and was appointed West Area Medical Director in 2007. He is passionate about improving the quality of mental health services for patients and he completed the NHS East of England Aspiring Directors Development Programme in 2010.

GenerationQ has given Kallur the opportunity to explore a topic he’s long been interested in – how clinicians can support mental health service users to manage their own health and wellbeing. 'Self- management is an established concept for some long-term medical conditions such as diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and I believe it could be an effective approach for people who have mental illnesses too.

'Making patients equal partners in managing their illness, with support from their clinician, fosters a greater sense of autonomy, achievement and self-esteem. My aim is to empower mental health service users to take control of managing their symptoms, treatment, monitoring and risk factors wherever feasible.'

Kallur says that the leadership forums have been a particular highlight of his fellowship. 'Each forum brings together an incredible group of people. Everything is set up to challenge us to think differently and there’s a great sense of support between the fellows.'

On a personal level, Kallur says that GenerationQ has given him valuable insights into his style of leadership. 'I’m much more aware of the approach I take to leading people through change, as well as how I handle difficult situations and uncertainty. And I know that if one approach doesn’t work, I have other options I can try – I know my preferred way of working but can flex my leadership style to suit the situation. I also feel that I’ve developed more resilience, which I feel is essential when you’re navigating the challenge of improving quality while budgets are tightening.'