Miss Rifat Arshad
Rifat has gained a wealth of clinical experience working in diverse settings (Acute, ENT, Community, Rehabilitation and the Private Sector), and with a variety of aetiologies, subsequently specialising in neurological rehabilitation. Rifat has significant experience in working with patients with Prolonged Disorders Of Consciousness (PDOC) and their families, and is Sensory Modality Assessment and Rehabilitation Technique (SMART) trained. She currently works as Clinical lead Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) in an Inpatient Neurological Rehabilitation Unit (INRU), a regional level 1 Neurological Rehabilitation Unit and manages SLTs on inpatient stroke rehabilitation and older adult wards based at Moseley Hall and West Heath Hospitals in Birmingham. Rifat was also involved in setting up the local Long Covid Clinic and is the link clinician in that service.
Rifat is a strong advocate of the interdisciplinary, holistic approach to patient care. She has a special interest in complex dysphagia rehabilitation and tracheostomy and is an advocate for improving therapeutic input for patients at all stages of the neurological rehabilitation and tracheostomy pathways. Rifat is passionate about implementing change at both local and national level to improve health care policy, and the delivery of patient care. As part of her role, Rifat has proactively led on several national initiatives. Each initiative she has been involved in has been used to support investment to further develop rehabilitation services, a key commitment threaded through her career.
As an energetic, tenacious, reliable and dynamic individual, Rifat is able to motivate others as a good team-builder and a visionary. She continues to develop her skills and takes a leading role in helping to develop and implement new clinical services based on local need.
Reason for applying for the scheme
Rifat applied for the clinical fellow scheme because it offered an unparalleled opportunity to gain a broader understanding of the system, whilst contributing to and influencing patient care through working on projects that contribute to regional and national priorities. She feels privileged to be in a position to have ring-fenced time for strategic thinking, and combining learning from senior leaders through project-based work, with time to step back and gain theoretical perspective. She hopes to combine this learning with her clinical and managerial experience to date, ensuring she is adequately and proactively equipped as a leader to optimise future patient care in the NHS.
Rifat’s experience as a clinician has given her first-hand experience of the overwhelming importance of strong clinical leadership in providing the best possible healthcare, and hopes this fellowship helps foster those key skills in order to create change that benefits the health sector and potentially help unlock new skills and competences by guiding professional development in leadership and healthcare policy development.
