Career options for clinicians outside the NHS — Dr Sam Thacker

At BiteLabs, we teach healthcare professionals the skills required to build impactful healthtech products. We have been profiling some of the amazing clinicians who already work in the field — enjoy! Having explored Dr. A, Mr. Scott and Ms. Frost’s paths to healthtech previously, this article summarises Dr. Sam Thacker’s journey to and experience in healthtech, as a Clinical Specialist at Nerve Centre EPR. 

Tell us more about your role. 

I am currently a Clinical Product Specialist for an EPR provider. I engage in a broad range of tasks: 

• Writing specifications for new functionality
• Testing and critiquing new developments 
• Working with customers to determine their needs
• Running demonstrations of the product
• Assisting with deployments
• Supporting colleagues with questions regarding clinical practice

In a lot of the above tasks, I tap into my clinical training and expertise. 

How and why did you get into it?

I have long had a particular frustration over: 

1. The poor state of NHS IT: I found it incredible that we were allowed to use systems in 2018 designed in the days of Windows XP given the rapid pace of development in consumer software.
2. The limited ability to effect change in my role as a clinician: working in the IT department at an NHS trust, I had found that there were so many filters between my voice and the supplier’s developers that it was very difficult to get anything meaningfully changed.

Beyond this frustration, my love for clinical work had diminished somewhat, unfortunately. It was hard to look ahead at my career and envisage doing the same thing for another 40 years, especially with the pressures rising and staffing levels falling.

I decided to look for a supplier that matched my ethos — they wanted to make something good, and they cared about helping the health service, not about ticking a box on their contract and running for the hills.

How does your current role compare to your clinical career? (Enjoyment, perks, work life balance etc)

They are completely different: 

1. No weekends or night-shifts, and more flexible working hours: I can much more reliably enjoy time with my family, have a social life, take leave when I want it and so on
2. Difficulty switching off currently: Since most of my job is designing and thinking, it’s hard to switch off sometimes, whereas you can’t exactly keep doing clinical work at home. 

How is it related to medicine/nursing/pharmacy etc — why were you suitable?

Firstly, my experience in the clinical setting feeds into my current role, as my training and experiences have aided me in understanding a good user experience. Secondly, both my roles hinge on the same skills: judgement, risk balancing, communication.

How could someone go about getting into your field?

Before even actively making the effort to seek jobs and opportunities, the first step is to believe that you can get into healthtech if you really want to. Many clinicians I’ve spoken to think they have nothing to offer beyond their clinical skills, and that is simply not the case. I think it is a myth perpetuated by a system that needs clinicians to avoid looking elsewhere so that they don’t realise the grass really is greener. In fact, most health IT companies are very keen for clinicians to join them in a variety of roles, and even when they’re not advertising for something specific, they may well create a position if they see an opportunity for you to add something they don’t have. 

Here are 2 ways you can start looking into making a switch: 

1. Establish meaningful connections in person: Attend trade shows or conferences and speak to people on the stands about what they need
2. Establish meaningful connections online: Pour over the careers sections of websites for big suppliers, which will often yield contact details for key team leaders who may well be up for a conversation

What can I earn?

The salaries will inevitably vary by the size of the company and the exact role, but in general it will be more than £50k, and given that this is the private sector there is always room for negotiation. 

We hope that Dr. Thacker’s advice and journey helps many of you looking to make the switch into healthtech. If you’re a clinician (current or former) doing something interesting outside of a traditional career — please get in touch! We’d love to feature you in our next blog article.

If you’re looking to start your journey in healthtech, visit bitelabs.io to join our next cohort of fellows.