Welcome to the Newsome Health Menopause podcast. I'm Dr Louise Newsome, a GP and menopause specialist,

and I run the Newsome Health Menopause and Wellbeing Centre here in Stratford-upon-Avon.

So today I thought I'd do something slightly different.

Rather than speaking to healthcare professionals, which I've spoken to before, I've dragged in my

practice manager, Sarah Baker, to talk to her about, a bit about her past, where she's worked before and how she feels about

working here in my Menopause Centre. So hi Sarah. Hello. So just tell us a bit about what

you were doing before you came here. So before I started to hear, Newson Health, I worked in a private hospital for the Spire

group and I ran sort of the educational strand for the consultants and the GPs.

So very interesting and it was certainly very interesting to be part of the private sector.

Yes. So there's a couple of things really that I wanted to tease out.

Firstly about private medicine because certainly I've worked in the NHS for a long period of time.

I qualified in 1994 and I always thought I would continue working in the NHS because it's so

important to me that everyone should be able to access the same care. It's not about

how big your wallet is, it's about what your health is and how to improve it. So I dip my toe in

the water starting in my clinic, as you know, a couple of years ago in the hospital where you

used to work. But it's not all bad, is it private? Just explain what you know your thoughts about it.

Well, so the private sector certainly has changed enormously in the years and you're right.

You know, a decade ago it was very much for the elite, those that had the income to pay for

private medical insurance. And the private hospitals focus solely on those that had private medical insurance.

But people just don't have that many of these days.

And unfortunately, the NHS is changing.

Exactly.

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