Only Human After All

Emma Crookes is the Respiratory and Sleep Physiological Science Service Manager at Sherwood Forest Hospitals. In this episode, she opens the door on healthcare science, one of the NHS's least understood professions. Emma explains how her team diagnoses and treats sleep apnoea, a condition affecting around 5% of the population that often goes unnoticed until a partner points out the snoring and breathlessness in the night. She talks through lung function tests, the psychology of getting nervous patients to blow into intimidating machines, and the 8,000 patients on CPAP treatment across the trust. She reflects on a career that started in equine sports science, a chance conversation with her auntie about a job advert, and twenty years building a service that sits under the healthcare science umbrella that most people have never heard of. Along the way she shares why she still does a little jig when she sees healthcare science listed as a career option for schoolchildren and why getting people moving despite breathlessness matters as much as any medication. A conversation about diagnosis, motivation and a profession working quietly behind the scenes to keep patients breathing easier.

Cherry Lee has a shaved head, tattoos and piercings. She drives a lorry. She's the lead singer of an 80s/90s rock band called Thick Skinned. And she's one of the most thoughtful, strategic leaders you'll ever meet. Deputy General Manager for Surgery. Former jockey, former rugby player, former nurse, former ODP, former Surgical Care Practitioner. Someone who's learned that assumptions are usually wrong. Her journey includes a cardiac arrest at 19 that ended her sport career. Her parents consented to amputation. Surgeons in Scarborough saved her leg. A consultant told her: "Your sport career is over. But you've still got a life. So think about what you want to do." So she became a patient. Then institutionalized to hospital life. Then a nurse who saw ODPs doing the exciting bits in resus and thought "that's for me." Then operations. Then leadership. Six careers. Never settling for the status quo. Never letting anyone else define who she should be. Her advice to her younger self? "All the mistakes I've made have made me who I am. Just do what you want to in the moment and it'll take you where it needs to go." Don't judge the book by its cover. You'll miss the whole story.

Claire Etches has spent 20 years caring for sick children on Ward 25. Two years ago she did something pretty unusual – she started teaching medical students. Not nursing students. Medical students. In this conversation, Claire talks about what it's like being the first nurse in her role at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, demystifying paediatrics for terrified students who've never held a baby, and why sometimes the best teacher for a junior doctor is the nurse who's been doing it for two decades. She also discusses imposter syndrome, the power of someone believing in you and why her signature lemon drizzle might need to compete in a medical education bake-off. This is a story about breaking down artificial barriers, multi-professional learning done right, and what happens when someone taps you on the shoulder and says "you'd be brilliant at this"

Respiratory physician and Associate Medical Director Dr Zahid Noor joins us to share a 35-year story of courage, grit and service — from arriving in the UK from Pakistan in 1989 to mentoring hundreds of internationally educated doctors at Sherwood Forest Hospitals. He recalls the early hurdles of PLAB, culture shock and living on £5 a week for food, right down to the “burnt chickpeas and baked beans” phone-home moment. With warmth and humility, Zahid explains why “thank you, please and sorry” are the three most useful words for new colleagues, and how conduct and culture matter as much as clinical skill. He demystifies medical appraisal — a developmental conversation, not performance management — and how five-yearly revalidation reassures the public that doctors stay current and safe. We also touch on a sensitive shift over time: from education-driven migration to more economic drivers, and why a balanced, humane approach helps patients, staff and the wider NHS. Through it all, Zahid’s message is simple: work hard, support one another, and help people belong.

Brent Gillicker is a registered Operating Department Practitioner who once served as a Royal Navy submariner. He talks about bringing submarine-honed resourcefulness into theatres, expanding the ODP role as a surgical first assistant, and why details like a neat suture line matter to patients. Brent shares a simple idea that speeds change — his “iterative meeting” — and a leader-leader mindset inspired by Turn the Ship Around. We also explore the Armed Forces support network at Sherwood, mental health first aid, and the power of tenacity and apprenticeships to open NHS careers.

Jodie Ward never planned to become a nurse. She joined the hospital as a hostess, delivering meals to patients — until one day, she overheard a nurse calming a distressed family and thought, “I want to do that.” In this heartwarming episode, Jodie takes us on her extraordinary journey from dinner trolley to children’s ward rising through the ranks as a single parent, becoming one of our first paediatric nursing associates and finally qualifying as a registered children’s nurse. She talks with humour and honesty about bringing joy into dark situations, why she decorates the ward with eight Christmas trees, the power of play, glitter, and sick bowls worn as hats and the people who believed in her when she almost gave up. It’s a story of compassion, creativity, and courage — and proof that sometimes, the best nurses are the ones who never saw it coming.

In this inspiring episode, we meet Nicki Williams, a passionate and compassionate arrhythmia nurse specialist who opens up about her journey through cardiology, patient advocacy and life as a mum navigating serious health challenges at home. From supporting patients with complex heart rhythms and life-limiting conditions to her powerful volunteer work with POTS UK including a recent visit to Parliament, Nicki shares how listening, educating and empowering are at the heart of everything she does. We explore how she turned early career rejection into a thriving vocation, why she’s aiming for a PhD and how her experiences as a parent of a child with life-threatening allergies have deepened her commitment to patient-centred care. It’s a conversation full of warmth, wisdom and a few chickens—don’t miss it.

This week on Only Human After All, we meet Tom Palmer—an NHS financial controller with a surprising story. Tom shares how a love of maths and a leap into a finance apprenticeship led him into a decade-long NHS career. Along the way, he’s learned that good financial leadership isn’t about saying no—it’s about working alongside clinical teams to enable better care. He opens up about being an introvert in a collaborative world, overcoming a childhood stammer, and finding pride in helping turn spreadsheets into scanners and ideas into impact. This is a warm, honest conversation about values, self-belief, and the quiet power of doing your job with integrity