RAUL GARCIA-MEDINA – 2019 Vice President election candidate

2019 BSHAA VICE PRESIDENT ELECTION

PERSONAL STATEMENT

Technology is changing the way healthcare is delivered more rapidly now than ever before. Audiology is gradually embracing this trend and disrupting itself. ‘The way we’ve always done things around here’ is about to change and it is about time too. Healthcare and technology go hand in hand and I trust that we will collaboratively find the formula to change the landscape in our favour. I believe real stakeholders’ integration within our industry is paramount for audiologists to continue to be at the forefront of the sector and our Society has an important role to play in ensuring that we are the key drivers of that movement.

I joined BSHAA Council in 2015, and I am currently the chair of its Professional Standard and Delivery Committees. However, for the past 24 years I have witnessed and participated in our evolution. I have experienced first-hand the burdens of the NHS and its great people, the political landscape of our sector through the HCPTS, BAA and BSHAA; the quest setting up private enterprises puts you through, the dichotomy between the various industry organisations and the challenges our clients face. However, there is one vision and it has to be a unified and louder one. One that combines and encapsulates all knowledge within the audiological wider sector. One that captures the importance of our current and future ramifications into other areas of healthcare, utilising newer technology. One that harnesses data to strategize new and improved services to our clients, one that enables policy makers to acknowledge the role that we play in healthcare and ultimately, one that puts us at the forefront of all decision-making processes concerning audiological care to enable our members to reach that goal. I would like the opportunity to serve as your Vice President to further this mission.

QUALIFYING STATEMENT

Raul Garcia-Medina is currently the founder and Clinical Director of The Audiology Clinic, a private independent clinic established in 2014 and operating in London and Chelmsford in the UK. He has been a BSHAA Council member since 2015 and is the current Chair of the Professional Standards Committee and Chair of the Delivery Committee, a partner and panel member of the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS), an IDA Fellow, and a past Clinical member of the UK Clinical Reference Group for Specialised Ear Surgery.

Raul has been a Consultant Audiologist providing clinical audiological services and ear care, including aural microsuction, for over 23 years. After qualifying in Barcelona in 1996, he came to the UK where he has devoted most of his audiological professional career to the NHS before embarking on an entrepreneurial quest. He has ample experience working in both paediatric and adult audiology departments, and specialising in both diagnostic and rehabilitation services. He has also acted in an Audiology practical tutor and assessor capacity for the University College of London Audiology degree programmes. Raul has been managing audiology departments and teams of audiologists since 2003. He holds a postgraduate diploma in Audiology from the University of Manchester and an MBA from London South Bank University.

In 2014, he became the Audiology Professional Manager for the Royal National Throat Nose & Ear Hospital, part of the UCLH Foundation Trust (NHS). He has also worked in the private sector as a Consultant Audiologist assisting other private practices. He co-founded a private company called Hearology and served in its board as director and Clinical Director between 2016 and 2017.

His main specialties are: Aural care & microsuction performed with high-grade microscopes, auditory rehabilitation, audiological diagnostic investigations, tinnitus and hyperacusis management, auditory processing disorders, bone-anchored hearing aids and middle ear implantable devices, hearing loss prevention through education and counselling, and musicians’ hearing.

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