Speakers
Karen Stalbow
Politics and Pathology
After qualifying from the University of Wales College of Medicine, Rhydian spent five years working as a clinician in hospitals in Cardiff, Carmarthen, Bath and Bristol, gaining experience in a wide range of specialties including general and acute medicine.
He joined the diplomatic service via the Civil Service fast stream in 2000 and served for eleven years in a variety of postings. Then he spent six years as a senior civil servant, firstly at the Department of Energy & Climate Change and then at the Department for Transport delivering several significant national transformation programmes.
Rhydian returned to the NHS in 2017 to join NHS Improvement as the Director of Policy & Implementation and Deputy SRO for Getting It Right First Time, helping to build that programme into a highly impactful clinical improvement offer for the NHS.
In 2019 he became the NHS England and Improvement Director of Diagnostics & System Improvement, heading a group delivering several Long-Term Plan commitment transformation programmes that play a leading role in supporting elective recovery including in outpatients transformation, diagnostics transformation, pathway improvement, workforce optimisation, ambulance productivity and net zero travel and transport.
The national diagnostics recovery and transformation programme is delivering a significant capital transformation programme linked to the Prof. Sir Mike Richards 2020 review of diagnostic services, It is delivering, among other things, digitally enabled pathology and imaging networks and over 170 Community Diagnostic Centres, as well as supporting ICBs and trusts to reduce diagnostic waiting lists.