Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

• Supported several projects in the Being Paid Fairly programme, which has improved how we use Epic to record, code and get paid for clinical activity - producing £10 million of additional recurrent income in 23/24 alone.

• Managing the digital transformation of language interpretation and translation services - will result in better quality care, reduced health inequalities, and a £100,000 annual saving.

• Helped launch imaging services for self-funding patients - generating income to support organisational financial recovery without affecting NHS waiting times or care.

• Nominated for an Extraordinary People Award in the 'Extraordinary Endeavour - Non-Clinical' category.

Project Support Officer (Transformation)

Sneak-A-Peek Ultrasound LLP

• Built an EPR - including appointment scheduling, referrals/orders, visit documentation, follow-up and performance reporting - significantly reducing admin time.

• Built a fully-automated appointment reminder workflow that limited DNAs to just one in four years (0.07% DNA rate).

• Recruited, trained, and line-managed a team of five employees.

• Configured workflows for patients to request, arrange, and manage appointments online.

• Developed a dashboard and reports to monitor key performance indicators (and used data to trigger improvement projects).

Founding Partner

callumbirch.com

• Wrote a 'technology pack' to clearly explain the benefits a complex artificial intelligence product to thousands of internal stakeholders at Shell.

• Crafted marketing materials - including articles, reports, brochures, and more - to explain complex ideas clearly and to a wide variety of people.

• Managed multi-disciplinary marketing teams to deliver complex digital projects on time and within scope.

• Consulted with companies to diagnose marketing challenges, identify opportunities, prepare a project plan, and deliver the project.

Marketing Consultant

• Identified an opportunity to improve patient flow in the emergency department, secured the support of another NHS Trust, involved my colleagues, completed a local pilot study, and presented a report to management.

• Worked in a team of radiographers, students, administrative staff, and other healthcare professionals to deliver quality diagnostic services in life-and-death scenarios.

• Maintained clear communication with clinicians and operational managers to prioritise imaging provision for the entire Trust when demand exceeded supply.

• Clinical tutor for four radiography students (including ad hoc support, group training sessions, and weekly individual training and mentorship).

• Guest lecturer for radiography at the University of Exeter — which involved teaching, coaching, and facilitating a group of 50+ radiography students.

• Radiology Audit Lead – managed a portfolio of audit projects, organised annual audit review, helped colleagues deliver their audits, and presented findings at a national conference.

• Introduced a new imaging technique which minimised pain for patients with acute shoulder injuries (and thus increased imaging quality and improved outcomes).

• Performed DXA scans to diagnose osteoporosis and empower patients to improve their bone health without pharmaceuticals.

• Published a journal article about using SpineAnalyzer software to detect incidental osteoporotic vertebral fractures on CT scans (initiating fracture prevention treatment to reduce mortalities and costs).

Diagnostic Radiographer

I believe that great digital healthcare systems empower staff to focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional patient care.

The quotes below are drawn from written feedback that colleagues shared with me:

"You are thoughtful, considered, with a real desire to understand the underlying drivers of an issue rather than accepting the face value. You care about people and want to address human factors for change. I really appreciate your skills with the written word as well as your analytical abilities." - NHS Transformation Director.

"You are approachable, kind, and a very lovely human." NHS Director of Nursing.

"You have been brilliant at meeting the challenges of a number of areas of work that surround the Being Paid Fairly project - in keeping us organised, being sensitive to time pressures and trying to find ways to work with colleagues to get the answers and outcomes that were needed." Epic EPR Configuration Manager.

'I think your work is excellent. You get on with things, do what you say you are going to do and you are self-effacing and humble.' - NHS Transformation Director.

'When we were exploring a project for osteoporosis, you listened to me in detail to gain my understanding. You went with that and always managed to keep me updated with your progress in an effective way. When we met a brick wall and this had to go on hold, you explained this well.' - DXA Service Lead.

"You helped me create a process flow to ensure everyone understood the process and correct steps to evaluate an income idea. You asked lots of questions to ensure completeness and had a good understanding of the process.  The task was completed efficiently and the process flow easy to understand. Thanks for your help with this." Project Accountant.

It was so much worse than expected.

I left Frank in the anaesthetic room at 11:30 this morning for his second gastroscopy. About half an hour later, my phone rang.

“Hi, is this Callum, Frank’s father?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Dr Dharam Basude. We met briefly this morning before Frank’s procedure. We’d like to talk to you about what we’ve found and what to do next. We’re on the ward. Are you far away?”

“No. We’re in the hospital Costa. We’ll be with you very soon.”

5 minutes later, we were sat in Frank’s bay with Dr Basude and two paediatric upper GI surgeons.

I can’t recall the full conversation, but in effect, they said:

“We’ve found an ulcer in Frank’s duodenum. There’s a lot of nasty tissue around it - and a blood vessel. We don’t know which vessel it is and we don’t know what we’ll find if we operate. Because of where it is, there’s a lot of risk. We might cause a major bleed. We could damage the liver, pancreas, or bile duct. If you ask me if he’s likely to die, my answer is no. But if you ask me whether it’s possible, I have to say yes. It’s very high risk, but if we don’t operate now, the ulcer could cause a catastrophic bleed at any moment.”

For the next 6 hours, my mind flicked between images of Frank’s beautiful face, how floppy he was when I left him under anaesthetic, and how painful life would be without him. 

Then at 19:30 this evening, my phone rang. A Bristol number. It was one of the surgeons.

“The ulcer was on his duodenal artery. The worst possible place. Which is why it took so long. I nipped the common bile duct so he lost some blood. But I think I’ve removed all of the ulcer without any major bleeds.“

There’s still a big risk that he’ll bleed, especially over the next few days, but he’s in great hands on HDU.

So I go to bed tonight with a whirlwind of emotions. 

I’m terrified of my phone ringing. 

But I’m also grateful to the surgeons that saved Frank’s life. 

Above all, I’m relieved that he survived the operation. 

And that I got to see him, kiss him, and tell him how much I love him.

Callum Birch

NHS analyst | Telling the story of my son’s life-threatening illness as it unfolds

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It was a worrying night for Frank. 

After months of intense abdominal pain and vomiting – and after dozens of tests and hospital admissions without a diagnosis – it all came to a climax a few days ago.

On Friday, I shared the moment we were told that Frank had a perforated ulcer on his duodenal artery. If they operated, there was a chance he’d die, or that he’d suffer serious complications. But if they didn’t operate immediately, it was only a matter of time before he suffered a catastrophic bleed.

Thankfully, Frank survived the operation, and for the last few days, there haven’t been any signs of bleeding. His liver enzymes were high on the first day, but they’ve since stabilised, which suggests it was just the effect of “moving his liver out of the way during the operation” rather than damage from leaking bile. 

He also started talking more yesterday, and at one point told me that I should chop all of my hair off “like Voldemort.”

We went to sleep feeling assured, but then, in the middle of the night, Frank’s heart rate plummeted when the HDU nurse flushed his central line.

Maria was woken up by a slightly panicked voice, “mum, please don’t worry, but we’re going to do a chest X-ray to see if Frank’s central line is still in the right place.”

The line was still well positioned, but an ECG revealed an unusual heart pattern.  

He was referred to cardiology, who suggested removing his wound infusion and other pain relief – in case his heart is reacting badly to it – and they’ll review him later today.

It’s obviously a worrying development, and I’m terrified every time he sleeps and his heart rate drops, but he’s also really bright when he’s awake.

When we were feeling more positive yesterday, I decided that I want to write a memoir of Frank’s journey, which I will do regardless of what happens in the coming days and weeks. 

My main motivation for documenting his story is to process what’s happened over the last 6 months and share it with Frank when he’s older.

But I also think it’s a story that needs to be heard more widely, because if we hadn’t pushed so hard for further investigation – mainly in the early stages of his illness – there’s a very good chance he’d have died.

So here’s the deal:

To raise awareness of Frank’s story, if this post gets 1000 reactions, I will shave my head like Voldemort  💇‍♂️💈.

(Although, to be honest, I may do this anyway, just to make Frank smile 😊)

Bad news and good news…


Bad news first:

• It looks like Frank will need surgery

• He may need to have it in Birmingham

• He’s still suffering with intense intermittent pain despite being on tramadol

• He’s still anaemic

• The pain and anaemia mean that he’s feeling horrendous and hardly talking


Now the good news:

It looks like we’re finally close to a diagnosis.

Frank had an outpatient ultrasound appointment in Bristol on Tuesday. 

He’d been vomiting and convulsing in pain for 24 hours beforehand, but we got him there, by hook or by crook.

The same excellent Radiologist we saw a few weeks ago found that Frank’s gall bladder had improved, but his common bile duct was still very dilated, and his duodenum still inflamed.

There was also something in the bile duct, near the pancreas, that they decided was either a stone or gas.

Given that Frank was getting no better clinically, they decided to admit him and do a CT scan the next day (today).

Turns out, there’s not a stone… 

… but there was an “intriguing” pouch somewhere in the biliary tree. 

The working diagnosis is that Frank has either got a choledochal cyst or a diverticulum that got infected.

Both could explain his symptoms. Both would require an operation. Both are so rare that he may need to be transferred to Birmingham for specialist surgery.

There’s still an outside chance that it’s not either of these, but the team seem confident that it is, and Frank will have a barium meal tomorrow to (hopefully) make a formal diagnosis and kickstart surgical planning.

Other good news is that he no longer needs to be on a dairy-free diet, so even though it hurts to eat, he found a way to enjoy his first Twister in several weeks 😊.

I started contemplating this about a month ago after Frank’s first ultrasound scan at Bristol Children’s Hospital. After months of illness and no prog

Open article: Frank might die by Callum Birch • 6 min read

I simply have to get this off my chest. Frank's illness began about 6 months ago. Every now and again, he'd complain that his tummy hurt. We went to t

Open article: In defence of truth and reason in healthcare by Callum Birch • 5 min read

In defence of truth and reason in healthcare

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