Q&A with Sandra Holliday

Sandra Holliday – Business Development/Managing Director

I’ve been a nurse for over 30 years. I didn’t consider working in occupational health earlier in my career, as I didn’t know much about it. I sort of ‘fell’ into working in it but all my past nursing and career experience – for example, roles in both acute and community healthcare, working with governance departments in local health trusts and advising practice nurses and GPs – has provided me with relevant and invaluable skills for my current role.

Working in occupational health is a rewarding challenge, one which brings together my health knowledge with my ability to listen, remain impartial and provide evidence-based recommendations to employers and employees to ensure happy and healthy work environments. I’m motivated most by getting to know and help people: I like to know that I have helped make a difference, and seeing people positively return to work is really rewarding.

The variety of the work is something I particularly enjoy. We have several long-standing clients and regular client clinics so there’s a chance to build good relationships with the staff and managers. I’m always learning something new, too; there’s a real variety to the health issues we see and working out the best advice to provide means that often no two days are the same.

Choose OH is a warm and supportive place to work: it feels like a family, and that’s because of the people who work here. This is helped by the fact we’re a small team, so we can get to know each other really well. There’s a strong sense of team work here too – we work hard to be inclusive and treat everyone as equals, and we recognise the skills each person brings with them and to the service we deliver. Every person in the team is important: we couldn’t provide our service without each other.