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Caroline Southgate, chartered phsyiotherapist

I qualified as a chartered physiotherapist from University of East London in 1997, receiving Student of the Year award. My four children were at this staged aged from 13 to 3 years and life was especially hectic! I then worked as a staff grade physio in the NHS working my way to Clinical Specialist by 2001. My area of specialism became hand injury and I remain very involved in research and clinical work in this area. I have had published various articles in the British Journal of Hand Surgery, and have presented and taught a national course for the British Association of Hand Therapists.

In 2003 I set up my own private physiotherapy practice in Leigh on Sea and began another sharp learning curve to understand business management issues. This is now thriving and I am in the process of setting up a second branch in Suffolk.

My work with injured patients has been endlessly rewarding; I find people’s ability to cope with pain and injury inspiring and helping them to regain function and get back to work/sport or just normal daily life is still a great thing to do for a living! I have been very interested in the problems people face when they are going through the process of a medico-legal claim – be that for personal injury through accident or negligence etc – and have recently trained in mediation. I feel that as an accredited mediator I will be able to take forward a process of conflict resolution which will assist recovery and speed up the legal process to allow the patient (claimant) to get on with their life. I have begun the process of investigating the possibility of pursuing a PhD in this area.

The grant from the Foundation was no small part in my success, not just because of the financial strain which we were under at that time, but also because of the feeling of support and encouragement which the award generated. I am very grateful for this help and wish the Foundation all the very best for the next 50 years.

Last Updated Thu, 6 July 2006