Published Monday 1 July 2024
Endoscopy Professional Manager at Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), Dr Phedra Dodds, has been highly commended by the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) and recognised within the finalists for the Dame Parveen Kumar Award for Education and Training.
The award was hotly contested, and recognises the often unsung work of excellent trainers in developing the future of gastroenterology and hepatology specialties in healthcare to ensure high quality and safe patient care.
The accolade was recognised during the BSG conference and at the BSG’s President’s Dinner in Birmingham.
Phedra worked as an endoscopist for over twenty years before joining HEIW to lead the Endoscopy Academy of Wales in January 2024 and is employed by the Royal College of Physicians to lead the education and training for the endoscopy workforce across the UK and Ireland.
Working in partnership with health boards across Wales, the academy is responsible for the provision of training for the whole endoscopy workforce in NHS Wales. This includes nurses and support staff as well as endoscopists.
Last year (2023), the Academy supported just over 100 individuals across NHS Wales with endoscopy training opportunities – a figure that has already been exceeded this year.
Phedra was nominated for the award by the Clinical Lead for the Endoscopy Academy of Wales, Dr Neil Hawkes, the Training Lead for the Royal College of Physicians, Dr Paul Dunckley, Chair of the Joint Advisory Group for GI Endoscopy, Professor Matt Rutter and many of her endoscopy students.
The extract below is taken from her nomination from one of her past students:
“Phedra’s support and encouragement has been invaluable to me over the last few years. She is very highly thought of by the Clinical Endoscopist community, both in Wales and beyond. She is a formidable teacher who has taught me not just how to scope, but how to develop my resilience and to keep striving for excellence. She continually promotes excellence and has lived experience of almost every situation her trainees will encounter. Her sensible advice, her advocation of our role and her desire to strengthen the Clinical Endoscopist workforce in Wales make her highly deserving of an award such as this.”