Celebrating the ICB’s allied health professionals

Registered profession

I am a senior physiotherapist who has been working within the NHS in various specialities for the past 20 years across the acute, primary and secondary care sectors.

Current role

My most recent clinical role was working as a specialist respiratory physiotherapist within a rehabilitation team for patients with long-term conditions.  I also worked in an NHS Professionals role working within a local hospital trust covering outpatient clinics for patients post COVID who were living with pneumonitis and other complex respiratory conditions.

My current role within Suffolk and North East Essex ICB is working within the primary care training hub as the Additional Role Re-imbursement Scheme (ARRS) Clinical Lead.  I joined the training hub in 2021 as the Physiotherapy Ambassador advocating the physiotherapy role in General Practice.  In July 2023 I moved into the ARRS clinical lead role which advocates for and supports multiple clinical professions out in general practice such as AHPs and nurses.

I support the following in my current role:

• Advocating each clinical ARRS role within general practice.
• Supporting the existing ARRS clinical workforce with any continued professional development requirements and networking support they may need in their role.
• Supporting our GP surgeries with any ARRS-related queries.
• Working closely with NHS England and Health Education England on all topics related to ARRS roles within general practice.
• Assisting with the growth of the ARRS workforce in primary care by directly supporting GP surgeries with the successful recruitment and induction of ARRS clinical staff to their practice.
• Assist with increasing the number of AHP student placements in primary care, further building our future ARRS workforce.

Career pathway

I started my physiotherapy career in 2002 as a Physiotherapy Assistant/Support Worker at Colchester Hospital.  While there, I continued to gain passion for the profession and chose to study BSc Physiotherapy alongside my Physiotherapy Assistant role. I graduated from the University of Essex in 2008 with First Class honours.

Career Highlight

There are simply too many to mention, so this is a hard choice!  But I have to say that a most recent, most unusual highlight, would have to be in my training hub role where I was able to be part of an innovative filming project.  I was given the opportunity to be the physiotherapist depicted in a virtual reality learning module that has recently been created to support medical, AHP and nursing students consolidate learning around chronic pain.  This was an extremely unusual project to be involved in and pushed me out of my comfort zone hugely! But I do feel that it was an amazing opportunity, and I am proud that I have been able to continue my passion and advocacy for the physiotherapy profession in this resource.

Advice for prospective or existing AHPs

Don’t be afraid to take a career ‘leap of faith’ and jump into the unknown a little!  You never know where it may lead you.  Be inquisitive, open-minded and remain passionate for your profession.  My Physiotherapy profession will forever remain my passion and at the heart of my continued work within healthcare. Sometimes it is worth thinking outside the box and at the wider picture within healthcare.

Profession

I am a trained occupational therapist but no longer hold professional registration.

My career journey

I trained as an occupational therapist and worked at both West Suffolk and Ipswich Hospitals gaining varied experience through a Band 5 and Band 6 rotation scheme and moving specialty every six months. It gave me confidence in all areas of clinical services. After five years I moved into a specialist role within a rehab unit and soon gained an interest in service improvement and how we could do things differently. Two years later I became a Head of Service, managing occupational therapists in the community.

As the NHS changed, I moved into an Assistant Director role, overseeing district nurses, outpatients, health centres, home-based therapy provision, and community hospitals; covering nine sites and 300 people in total. This was a large role and whilst rewarding I found I had little time to think ahead or be creative with the ways we were delivering services. I therefore moved into an organisational development role, looking at how the community trust could become an NHS Trust in its own right. I led an extensive programme of service change and the development of a business plan, whilst also delivering the governance process of applying to the Government to become an NHS trust. We were successful in 2010, and the trust remains one of only a few community NHS trusts in the country.

After my children were born, I moved into the clinical commissioning group to look at how we could develop the urgent care system. Using my clinical experience of knowing why people were often admitted to hospital, and my management experience of working in the community, I led the design and establishment of the REACT team, focusing on preventing avoidable hospital admissions. I have worked in maternity and neonatal transformation for the last five years, and whilst this is quite a difference from a typical OT role, it still required the core skills I had gained during my OT careers, such as assessing situations, overcoming challenges by problem solving and empowering others to make the change. That is roughly what an OT does, but in a clinical setting with an individual, rather than organisations! Skills are transferable and can be used in many different ways.

Registered Profession

Diagnostic radiographer 

Current Role

Transformation Lead for NHS Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE) Integrated Care Board working as part of the Ipswich and East Suffolk Health and Wellbeing Alliance.

Included in my portfolio is improving the care for people who are at the end of their lives, supporting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of residents in care homes as well as providing transformation support to three of Ipswich and East Suffolk’s Integrated Neighbourhood Teams.

I work with lots of different organisations to set up and review services, change pathways, identify gaps in services and develop initiatives to fill them whilst working to a budget. My role is to work with providers and clinical leads to help shape local strategy based on the national NHS objectives and then implement these ideas in a way which provides better outcomes for patients for better value.

Alongside this I am lucky enough to still undertake some bank shifts at Ipswich Hospital working as a radiographer running the CT scanners, which gives me the opportunity to stay connected to the patients and maintain my competency to stay HCPC registered.

Career pathway

I started work in Ipswich Hospital as a medical laboratory assistant in 1995 before starting my radiography degree and qualifying in 1999. Since then, I worked as a radiographer in various roles including in Australia before finally specialising in CT scanning and interventional radiography in Ipswich. In 2015, I became the CT Lead in Ipswich and loved the operations side of managing a team and a service. This led me to undertake a level 5 apprenticeship in operations and departmental management which gave me the skills I needed to be successful in becoming the Assistant General Manager and then interim General Manager of Medical Imaging for East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

My time in these roles included the start and early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and was extremely challenging as well as a very fast learning curve. I started to see how all services needed to be integrated to be successful and we all needed each other to serve our population well. This led to me moving into my current role which although not related to radiography anymore, certainly uses the knowledge and experience I have built up both clinically and operationally over the years.

A career highlight

Being shortlisted for an ESNEFT staff award – I didn’t win but it was a great night out!  There was also a nice big poster of me on the walls of Ipswich Hospital for a while! My biggest project as a radiographer was leading the replacement of the old CT scanners with brand new state of the art ones capable of undertaking cardiac imaging and complex stroke and trauma scans.  Every time I image a patient has been a highlight.

Any advice for a prospective or existing AHP who would like to pursue a similar role?

Take the opportunities that come your way, work hard, have professional curiosity and take the time to understand how the whole health and social care system works.  Above all keep the patient at the centre of everything you do.

Profession

Physiotherapy

Current Role

I currently work in the following roles:

• Two days for the ICB as the Associate Professional Director for Urgent, Emergency and Planned Care
• FCP/AP in primary care (NHS) which includes assessment and triage of complex musculoskeletal presentations. I also undertake a monthly musculoskeletal steroid injection clinic within this role
• I also work privately in my own MSK clinic as well as teaching physiotherapy-led Pilates classes

Career pathway

I qualified in 2003 from the University of Hertfordshire and completed my junior rotations at Ipswich Hospital before specialising in MSK. In 2006 I worked for the MOD in Colchester, further progressing my MSK skills before moving back into the NHS to work for the PCT.

My first role in leadership and management was in 2008 when I worked for AHP Suffolk as the Pathway Development Lead. This involved designing and overseeing the implementation of the Suffolk Hip and Knee Pathways. Following on from this, I continued working for AHP Suffolk in service development as well as overseeing the Suffolk-wide First Contact Practitioner service.

I have always worked privately alongside my NHS work which has allowed me to utilise skills in acupuncture, manual therapy and Pilates, which I have been teaching for the last 14 years.  I have completed both my FCP and advanced practice portfolios as well as undertaking several masters modules including Advanced MSK Assessment and Management and MSK Injections. I have now been in my role with the ICB for two months.

A career highlight

I have been very fortunate in my career to work across all sectors including primary and secondary care, community services and now the ICB. I have been lucky enough to be able to network with several providers across our ICS which has helped with my learning and development. By constantly pushing myself outside of my comfort zone I have been able to make numerous achievements including winning the General Practice awards for my work on the hip and knee pathways as well as an award for innovation on my development of the FCP service in Suffolk.

Any advice for a prospective or existing AHP who would like to pursue a similar role?

Go for any opportunities that come your way! I have learnt that there are numerous opportunities if you are wanting to progress. I think it is important that AHPs are represented and have a voice in making innovative changes in the system. Be brave: you can only progress by challenging yourself and doing what sometimes feels uncomfortable. The reward of making a difference to a system (and not just an individual patient) is so worth it.

Registered Profession

Occupational Therapist

Current Role

Transformation Lead (Local Maternity and Neonatal System, SNEE ICB)

In this role I am required to lead a programme of transformation for maternity and neonatal services across the ICS footprint. This role is a secondment for two years. My substantive role is: Transformation Lead- Ageing Well (Ipswich and East Suffolk Alliance team, SNEE ICB).

In both roles I lead and manage several projects simultaneously within my portfolio. I work closely with system partners and organisations in order to manage change with the ultimate aim of improving the healthcare outcomes for our local populations across the live well domains.

Career pathway

After graduating at UEA in 2001, I started my career as a newly qualified Band 5 OT at Ipswich Hospital where I joined a rotation scheme to consolidate my knowledge and skills. After a short career break where I went travelling for 6 months,  I moved on to a senior rotation. I was then successful in gaining a team leader position specialising in short stay care for older people where I set up a short stay older peoples’ ward with other MDT professionals.

This role quickly evolved and I became the Emergency Therapy Team Lead, which is a role I fulfilled for the next 10 years.  I absolutely loved this role which developed my passion for leadership and facilitating change. After maternity leave, I started to look for career progression and at that time options were limited within my current employer. I looked at opportunities on offer within the wider health care arena. A fellow AHP colleague who was already working in the clinical commissioning group in a transformation role enticed me over with a secondment opportunity and as they say the rest is history! I love my transformation role in the ICB and find it so rewarding being able to influence how we provide healthcare for our population.

A career highlight

Completing my Masters degree in Clinical Practice with University of Suffolk in 2010 and publishing my very own journal article that I co-authored with two other therapists presenting a practice analysis of setting up a 7-day therapy service on the Emergency Assessment Unit. We went on to present this work to a national audience at the College of Occupational Therapy conference in Glasgow, which was an incredible experience.

Any advice for a prospective or existing AHP who would like to pursue a similar role?

Go for it! For me it was a leap of faith and took great courage to move from a clinical role that I had been in for 16 years and knew inside out. Of course I doubted myself and often questioned whether I had the knowledge and skills required for this different type of role. For a short time I had an active bank membership with the acute trust and continued to work clinical shifts at weekends to maintain my clinical skills, so this is an option for anyone considering the move from a clinical to non-clinical role.

AHPs possess such a wide variety of skills that are all transferable into healthcare commissioning. Instead of treating individual patients we are in a unique and privileged position where we are contributing to providing and making decisions about healthcare for thousands of people in our local population. I have worked in the NHS for 23 years and love my job as a transformation lead in the ICB.

Profession

Physiotherapist

Current Role

Elective and Urgent Transformation Programme Manager

Career pathway

I qualified from the University of East London. My first role was as a Band 5 rotational physiotherapist at the Royal Free Hospital and then I moved to Basildon Hospital to complete my rotations. After completing a number of rotations, I decided to specialise in MSK physiotherapy where I took a job with AHP Suffolk. During this time, I had the opportunity to develop my skills as a pelvic health physiotherapist, which then became my main role and I progressed to Clinical Lead of Pelvic Health Physiotherapy at AHP Suffolk. Last year I moved to my current role in the ICB.

A career highlight

There is plenty of opportunity for continuous personal development as a physiotherapist. As an NHS physiotherapist you get to enjoy and benefit from being a part of team whilst working as an autonomous practitioner. A highlight for me was having the opportunity to work as a clinical lead. The rewarding experience of working with the team to improve our patients’ journeys led me to apply for my current role in transformation.

Any advice for a prospective or existing AHP who would like to pursue a similar role?

Remain open minded to where your career may take you. Take every opportunity and try not to underestimate the transferable skills you have as an AHP.