I have over 20 years’ experience in manual handling and have worked across many areas of Kent. I have worked in Three acute trusts in the last 20 years in my current role I assist the Trust on how to implement the Moving and Handling Policy and advises on strategies to meet specific Trust and departmental needs.

Born in a town call Herne Bay in Kent.

When I was growing up I would constantly hear my mum tell me to stand up straight and watch my posture. She always said “a good posture is a sign of a confident person. How ironic is that! In later life I end up teaching all about the importance of a good posture and manual handling.

I started work as an HCA in 1997 and went on to qualify as a mammography practitioner in breast screening in 2004.

The importance of manual handling 

Contributing factors for not using equipment increased the risk of pressure ulcers. We are constantly told by Manual Handling Operations regulation 1992 (as amended) the importance of good posture and the need to use equipment when lifting whether it’s a patient or an object etc. The main reason for incorrect use of equipment is that staff are unfamiliar or have not been trained/lack confidence in its use. Some techniques can be quite difficult to carry out if staff are on their own, so they would often use unsafe techniques because that’s all they no.  I wanted to know more so I went on to   further my education in manual handling and went to Loughborough University, where I completed a 2 year post graduate course in Manual Handing and Healthcare Management.  One of the modules covered litigation and the importance of robust risk assessments. A risk assessment is not only an important step in ensuring a safe and healthy work environment, it is a legal requirement. A good Risk Assessment will help to prevent accidents and ill health. An inappropriate risk assessment has the potential to ruin lives, but they could also increase costs to businesses through lost output, compensation claims and higher insurance premiums. This information blew me away and I wanted to go on and learn more.  I wanted to understand, with all this litigation, why people make mistakes and take short cuts, why people didn’t take moving and handling seriously? Moving and handling training for the Trusts was just a tick box exercise, as long as everyone has done their training it doesn’t matter how they go about it, which didn’t make sense to me, as staff were still injuring themselves and the Trust was still just paying out in claims. I began to make changes to training records and risk assessments paperwork to make it more efficient.

In 2016 I was promoted by EKHUFT to a band 8a Moving and Handling Senior Coordinator and now sit at board level.  I am in my final year of my MSc at Derby University in Ergonomics and Human Factors looking at  organisational behaviours.  

Achievements 

I was 9 years old when I started doing Karate. I achieved my 3rd Dan black belt when I was in my twenties, and then went on to represent England in the National Championships. I was England champion 3 years on the trot. Karate is all about movement, balance, and controls. The same principles as Moving and Handling.  

Qualifications:

Cert Ed, ROSPA BTEC Level 4, Dip Mam, PGCE Loughborough University Manual Handling Management, IOSH Health and Safety. 3rd year MSc Ergonomics.

Member of National Back Exchange

Chair of the Kent group