Abstract
Andrew Vallance-Owen qualified at the Birmingham University Medical School, later undertaking surgical training in Newcastle upon Tyne and Melbourne, Australia. His career within the British Medical Association (BMA) started as Provincial Medical Secretary for the north of England followed by promotion to the posts of BMA Scottish Secretary and Head of Policy Development. He became Medical Director of BUPA Hospitals in 1994 and, in 1995, became BUPA's Group Medical Director where he has furthered his interests in the quality of healthcare, clinical audit and outcomes. Andrew is 60 years old and married with three children. He is very involved in secondary education (a governor of three schools) and loves jazz.
Andrew Vallance-Owen
I have to travel quite a bit but, when I am working in BUPA's head office in Holborn, I arrive most mornings at around 08:15, often having been out for a run at home around 06:00. I try to start off by catching up on the mails, particularly those that have come in overnight from our businesses overseas, but also catching up with members of the team before we all disperse for the day. I manage the BUPA group's medical team but also work closely with the medical directors in each of our businesses who send in a clinical governance/quality improvement report every quarter; together we have responsibility for the safety and quality of care of BUPA's 11 million customers around the world, although final accountability rests with business managing directors and, ultimately, the chief executive.
As a result we have a lot of internal meetings just to deal with clinical governance and to ensure the audit loops are closed. Most days I will also contribute to policy discussions, for instance on health and safety across the Group, or our sustainability agenda, or just on projects which we are driving or collaborating on to ensure that we are innovative (the medical team have an important role in horizon scanning) and maintain our differentiation as a healthcare company around the world.
I often have a conference to speak at or a presentation to make during the day; at the time of writing I have just returned from Birmingham where I was presenting to a delegation from Guangzhou in China where BUPA is about to start accrediting hospitals to form a network for its new insurance product. I also do a lot of networking so I will often have a coffee or lunch with a contact outside the company, perhaps from the NHS, Department of Health or a company interested in collaborating with BUPA on some aspect of our work. I visit the Department quite regularly as I chair their Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) Stakeholder Group and sit on committees such as the Quality Information Committee where I represent the independent sector. I also chair the cross-sector Cosmetic Surgery Steering Group which is run by the Independent Healthcare Advisory Service (IHAS).
My wife generously allows me to ‘eat for BUPA’ up to three nights a week and I often use these nights up with more networking, receptions and dinners but, if I am at home for the evening, I try to get back soon after 18:00 for some family time before reverting to my laptop around 22:00 for some uninterrupted time to catch up on paperwork, speech preparation and slide presentations. I generally retire for the night around 00:30.
BUPA is an international company with significant businesses in many parts of the world, e.g. Australia, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Latin America and the United States. So, as medical director of the BUPA Group I travel overseas perhaps every couple of months but sometimes more frequently. It is a great privilege to be asked to visit our businesses around the world, but always quite hard work with very full days and frequent evening events with everyone at home still expecting you to keep up with your mails and deadlines through our modern electronic communications. That said, these visits do enable valuable thinking time and I often return with new ideas and contacts to keep up with… the latter not always welcomed by my long-suffering PA who already has to manage an impossible diary!
One aspect of work you most look forward to each day
I have a great group of colleagues in the group medical team, I always enjoy being with them and, despite many pressures, we have a lot of fun together.
One aspect of work you least look forward to each day
I suppose the aspect of work I least look forward to is the inevitable bureaucracy and process in which one has to be engaged in a large commercial company.
A person who has inspired you most at work (past or present)
I have had various bosses over the years who have inspired me in different ways but when I was working at the BMA (1983–1994) I was inspired by my colleague Dr John Dawson who was Head of the BMA's Professional, Scientific and International Affairs Division. John was a tireless and effective campaigner on public health issues, never afraid to be controversial, but always a man of great integrity. Sadly he died of prostate cancer, aged 44, in December 1990.
Outside work I would have to cite my father, Professor John Vallance-Owen. He was Professor of Medicine at Queen's University, Belfast before moving to be the Foundation Professor of Medicine in the New Chinese University, Hong Kong. He died recently, aged 90, but had an international reputation for his research in his heyday; what inspired me, though, was his ability to communicate with anybody at their level and his professionalism and clinical skills, always but always putting the patient first.
The most significant achievement of your career
Persuading BUPA Hospitals and BUPA's UK insurance business to support a pilot measuring patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) routinely in our hospitals. The pilot was successful and PROMs were implemented across all our hospitals, eventually with response rates of around 80%. We learnt a lot about the clinical outcomes of our customers, from their perspective. Routine use of PROMs has since been taken up by the NHS.
List your reasons for choosing this career
I trained as a surgeon but, after being President of the Guild of Students (Union) at Birmingham I became interested in politics and was an active representative of junior doctors through the BMA during my training. I returned from a wonderful surgical exchange year in Australia in 1981 to the good old NHS and when a management job came up at the BMA I thought I would apply. I really took to the role and started climbing the career ladder there. Eventually, just as I had reached a career plateau, I was approached and asked to apply for the post of medical director to BUPA Hospitals… the rest is history.
Alternative career (in another lifetime)
I think I would read history at University and perhaps pursue a career in politics and policymaking.
Non-medical book(s) you are currently reading
I don't get much time to read, except on planes, but I am currently working through Andrew Marr's A History of Modern Britain.
Song(s)/piece(s) of music you are currently listening to
I am quite varied in my taste of music. I love the romantic music of Rachmaninoff; the up-beat music of Sinatra through to Bublé; and I will always listen to jazz.
How do you wind down at the end of the working day?
If I get home and my wife – who is a midwife – has had a good day, I relax with the family or, if the stress levels are high, I will play a few tunes, not very well, on the piano which usually has a good settling effect.
This is a series on the working lives of medical professionals. Please email any suggestions or comments to