Tom West – Regional Clinical Lead Physiologist (East)
After Graduating in 2001 with a BSc Sport Science I spent a year
in the fitness industry before completing my MSc Exercise and
Health. Having completed my MSc I was sidetracked by a sales role
in a completely different industry which I enjoyed but always left
me feeling that I was neglecting my true passion.
In 2006 with the formation of the Nuffield Health physiologist
team I seized the opportunity to make the most of my years of study
and joined what I genuinely believed to be a progressive and
forward thinking company.
My original role as Senior Physiologist gave me clinical
responsibility for one other physiologist. After 6 months I moved
to a Lead Physiologist role with a team of 4 physiologists working
across several hospital sites. Over the years as the physiologist
team has swelled, my team has grown and I now have clinical
responsibility for 10 physiologists. Within my role I carefully
balance my time between performing assessments and meeting
regularly with my team. This gives me the best of both worlds as I
enjoy both aspects of the job immensely.
Throughout my 4 years with Nuffield Health I have been given the
opportunity to develop my Clinical and Professional skills. Each
physiologist has an individual CPD (continuing professional
development) programme which, through a variety of learning
modalities, allows us as team to keep our knowledge fresh. Through
the Leadership programme I have also been given the opportunity to
attend several courses to enhance my management skills allowing me
to help my team maximise their potential. Thanks to my new skills I
was given the opportunity to interview for the position as Support
to the Physiologist Governance Manager (PGM) and was successful. As
part of this support role I work closely with the PGM to ensure
that our team closely adheres to the standards of practice
required. This involves auditing both the performance of each
physiologist and auditing Health Assessment sites to ensure all
Clinical and Operational processes are correctly in place.
Nuffield Health has proved itself to be the forward thinking
employer I originally hoped it would be and I am excited about part
the Physiology team will play in the next 5-10 years changing the
landscape of Health & Wellbeing in the UK.