Notwithstanding being in the midst of a global pandemic, Steve Ford says it was a ‘tough call to make’ to leave Parkinson’s UK - the charity he has so successfully steered though a period of real transformation over the last 15 years - and move to pastures new.
Having begun his career as a new graduate on a fast-track management scheme in the NHS, he worked in general, mental health and acute hospitals, before moving into commissioning, setting up a primary care group and taking that to be a primary care trust.
Then, after almost 22 years in the NHS, he transitioned to the charity sector, where one of his first tasks was to ‘drive culture change’ within the Parkinson’s Disease Society, which saw it rebranded as Parkinson’s UK in 2010.
‘That was really about creating a movement for people affected by Parkinson’s,’ he says. ‘It was about creating a community of people living with Parkinson’s who could effect change for themselves. It was really powerful, and I learned a lot. It wasn’t just a change of name and logo, it was all about our values, our language, our strategy.’
What happened next was a series of ‘really innovative developments’ that gave people affected by Parkinson’s a powerful voice to express their views about the kind of services and treatments that they wanted to see.
From setting up the UK Parkinson’s Excellence Network and funding research differently, through working with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to drive forward change, Steve is proud of everything the charity achieved to make people with Parkinson’s feel more empowered.
Now looking forward to a new challenge as RCOT’s chief executive, does he think the fact he is not from an occupational therapy background will give him a different perspective on the role?
‘I’m not an occupational therapist and I don’t pretend to be an occupational therapist,’ he says.’ But I think the really important bit here is that I will be surrounded by hundreds of fantastic occupational therapists who have got great vision for the future and are really being innovative.’
He adds: ‘What I hope to be able to bring is strategic leadership to support the occupational therapy community.’
With a strong track record of transforming organisations, both strategically and culturally, Steve is already tentatively thinking about some future aspirations for both the professional body and the profession, but his first pledge is ‘to hear and to listen and to understand’.
‘I’ve got a plan to do a whole range of things when I start, that I’m really looking forward to,’ he enthuses. ‘But I think it’s clear to me that, one, health and social care services are under pressure and changing, and need to change, and two, that there are some fantastic services and skills that occupational therapists possess that are going to be increasingly in demand. And so how do we maximise the potential of that?’
One ongoing challenge for the profession Steve already recognises in terms of policy is ‘putting value on some of the interventions that occupational therapists are able to provide’.
He says: ‘How can we be more confident in arguing to the policy makers, or hospital managers, about the contribution that people are making? I think that there are real challenges there.’
The health and social care landscape of the last 12 months has undoubtedly been unique, and when it comes to helping RCOT and its members meet any challenges and opportunities they might face in the coming months and years head on, he says: ‘I’m really looking forward to hearing what occupational therapists themselves think… It has been interesting hasn’t it just to see some of the changes (and the pace of change) that have come about over the last 12 months?
‘The NHS has had to react very quickly and differently, and whether that’s through technology and setting up services, or just responding to the crisis on the wards and people working in new ways and in new roles, makes it feel like there is a kind of momentum here.’
He concludes: ‘My first priority must be to really understand the profession and just to get a rich understanding of what’s going on.’
He is clearly looking forward to this challenge. ‘I want to meet as many people of different levels, from a wide range of roles, subjects and areas as I can,’ he explains. ‘And I just think, what a privilege I have, to be in this role and being able to hear from so many people.’
* This is an abridged version of a longer interview with OTnews, to be published on 15 April