60 seconds with Rob Selley, Strategy Delivery Director, Whipps Cross Redevelopment
After graduating in Nursing in 2000, Rob worked at various London hospitals before joining Royal London Hospital in 2008. Since then Rob has held various clinical and management roles across Barts Health, completing an MSc in Strategy and Leadership whilst working as the Associate and Deputy Director of Operations at Whipps Cross and Newham Hospitals. Rob joined the redevelopment team in 2021.
What exciting projects are you currently working on within the redevelopment?
There are actually a few. We are supporting the hospital on key transformation programmes such as outpatients, end of life care and Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and we hope these will improve patient care and streamline a patient’s journey through the hospital. We’re also still working on elements of the Outline Business Case for the new hospital that were incomplete due to the programme being paused - this includes the design of key departments and floors. I would say our most exciting project is our recent successful bid to Barts Charity for a new academic centre for healthy ageing (ACHA), which is a joint venture between Queen Mary University and Barts Health.
How has your clinical background helped you in your current role?
Having been a nurse for many years working at Whipps in both clinical and operational roles has helped me to understand how hospitals work and the difficulties faced on a day to day basis. I’ve also previously worked at the Royal London and at St Bartholomew’s on projects to move clinical departments and worked with the Director of Estates on the fire safety works programme at Whipps Cross.
What are you most excited for in the new hospital?
We are really keen to build the right hospital for staff and patients. That means making sure that we are seeking out their views at every stage of the programme. We always want to hear from members of staff, patients and members of the public. Their views and ideas about the hospital are always interesting and sometimes consider things we may not have thought of.
How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
I love living in London and having multicultural London life on my doorstep. My favourite thing to do is taking long walks. I also enjoy going to art galleries and watching live music. During Covid I feel like I walked the length and breadth of the city and still love to go on long walks stopping for a coffee or lunch somewhere.
What behaviour or personality trait do you most attribute your success to, and why?
It would have to be my bubbly and positive attitude. I always try to bring an element of fun into the work place.