I have been an Operating Department Practitioner for over thirty years. The beginning of my career was spent in the British Army, and the last twenty-two years have been spent at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. I was the Lead Operating Department Practitioner for Critical Care. During that time, I was seconded to NHS Elect as Professional Lead for Operating Department Practice in the co-creation of the Allied Health Professions Critical Care Capability Framework. I have also worked with HEE/NHSE as part of the Operating Department Practitioner Expert Group, which was a national forum tasked with solving current workforce challenges for Operating Department Practitioners.
I have had ad-hoc teaching responsibilities at several universities within the region during my career, teaching on Operating Department Practitioner BSc programmes and other modules. I currently teach on the Advanced Life Support Course and the Generic Instructors Course for the Resuscitation Council and the Advanced Life Support Group. I completed an MSc in Health Professions Education at Hull York Medical School to support my teaching activities.
For my MSc dissertation I research whether Operating Department Practitioners had the theoretical and practical skills to function in the post pandemic critical care environment. I have also co-produced a report for HEE/NHSE on the use of Operating Department Practitioners in the Critical Care environment at York Hospital, that can be used as a blueprint for other NHS Trust to use to develop their critical care workforce. My other interests are workforce planning, critical care, simulation in high acuity low occurrence situations and the enhanced/advanced role of the Operating Department Practitioner.
I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the first Operating Department Practitioner to be a member of the Intensive Care Societies Allied Health Professions Professional Advisory Group. I have recently been made a Fellow of the College of Operating Department Practitioners.
