Podcast #3: The challenge of ‘bespoke’ and the freedom of broader working

Press play to hear the 3rd episode in our short series of podcasts about the Higher Specialist Scientific Training (HSST programme). 

In this episode I chat with James Willis (Cardiology) from Royal United Hospitals in Bath and Alison Hadfield (Haematology) who is based in Newcastle. James and Alison can be found on Twitter using @jwillis82 and @AlisonHadfield3.

Listeners who are tuning in to all podcasts might see some common themes emerging from the interviews to date but there are also new insights in each episode. For example, Alison and James joined the programme fairly recently and share how the interview process and the presentation within that has changed. In addition, you will hear about how Covid-19 has impacted on their experience. Find out which element of the HSST programme is described as ‘enlightening’ and the challenges associated with the word ‘bespoke’.

Biomedical Scientists might be particularly interested in this episode as Alison is a Biomedical Scientist who became a Clinical Scientist through the equivalence route before starting HSST. 

Scientists and physiologists in cardiology will be interested to hear how James is using ward rounds and exposure to broader clinical environments to identify ways of innovating and improving the service. It’s great to hear that others are now approaching him for an opinion on how new ideas can be driven forward. 

Thanks to Alison and James for giving up their time to chat with me, and to @timhusselbury94 for editing the podcast.

Happy listening!

Emma Rees