00:00:00 My name's Paul Holliday and I'm the professional head of audiology. My work as an audiologist is to basically assess and also rehabilitate patients with hearing loss. We're testing patients to identify the degree and type of hearing loss that a patient has and from that perhaps rehabilitate them perhaps using hearing aids or such other devices.
00:00:30 I think my school life was relatively happy, great gang of guys, lasses and also as well some of the teachers were real characters. At that particular point I was thinking of becoming an industrial chemist. Even though I'd actually failed my A Levels I did in fact obtain a placement at a college in north Wales to undertake a HMD in chemistry.
00:01:02 However, I decided not to actually take that opportunity. There was a lot of mechanisation going on, I just thought to myself, "Hang on a minute, am I doing the right thing?" I just decided, "No, that was not for me," because obviously I could be out of a job within a very short space of time. I then started to look at, look around at various things and one of them was in fact audiology.
00:01:26 My Nan had got severe to profound hearing loss and obviously communication with her was very, very limited indeed. It was really hard work. And I think that knowing my Nan for quite a number of years it actually gave me an awful lot of patience and also a lot of the attributes that were required to actually speak with people who were actually hearing impaired. I thought, "Well, yeah, that could actually be for me. That really could be for me."
00:02:01 The position came around with regard to a student audiology post in Birmingham, I applied for it, I actually obtained the post. Having trained for two years an opportunity arose where instead of being in a service department it was within the School of Audiology at Birmingham. It was teaching students at all levels from health care assistant to specialist registrar in, so that's what I did. I went for it and obtained it. aspect of audiology and obviously I thought, "Well, let's go for it."
00:02:36 The strategic health authority were looking towards pulling the funding on the School of Audiology and as a consequence I then had to make a real big decision to think, "Well, am I going to stay here or am I going to look for other work?" I enjoyed the teaching, I think it was really, really satisfying, however, obviously with this turning point it was a case of saying, "Right, well, I think I need to now get back into clinical duties." I applied for the post here in Wolverhampton as the professional head of audiology.
00:03:15 The person that's really inspired me has been an education audiologist from Birmingham. The charisma that the person actually portrays but also as well, not only that, is the knowledge that he actually had as well and I think to actually aspire to that kind of guy would be really, really beneficial.
00:03:41 I think the biggest buzz, the biggest pat on the back that anyone can give you is that if a patient has got a hearing loss they come into the clinic and as a consequence if we fit them up with a hearing aid or we do something for them which will actually improve their hearing. The smile goes from ear to ear and I think that is the biggest buzz that anyone can actually give you.
00:04:08 ENDS
Paul Holliday
Paul Holliday - Wolverhampton PCT
My name's Paul Holliday and I'm the professional head of audiology. My work as an audiologist is to basically assess and also rehabilitate patients with hearing loss. We're testing patients to identify the degree and type of hearing loss that a patient has and from that perhaps rehabilitate them perhaps using hearing aids or such other devices.
I think my school life was relatively happy, great gang of guys, lasses and also as well some of the teachers were real characters. At that particular point I was thinking of becoming an industrial chemist. Even though I'd actually failed my A Levels I did in fact obtain a placement at a college in north Wales to undertake a HMD in chemistry.
However, I decided not to actually take that opportunity. There was a lot of mechanisation going on, I just thought to myself, "Hang on a minute, am I doing the right thing?" I just decided, "No, that was not for me," because obviously I could be out of a job within a very short space of time. I then started to look at, look around at various things and one of them was in fact audiology.
My Nan had got severe to profound hearing loss and obviously communication with her was very, very limited indeed. It was really hard work. And I think that knowing my Nan for quite a number of years it actually gave me an awful lot of patience and also a lot of the attributes that were required to actually speak with people who were actually hearing impaired. I thought, "Well, yeah, that could actually be for me. That really could be for me."
The position came around with regard to a student audiology post in Birmingham, I applied for it, I actually obtained the post. Having trained for two years an opportunity arose where instead of being in a service department it was within the School of Audiology at Birmingham. It was teaching students at all levels from health care assistant to specialist registrar in, so that's what I did. I went for it and obtained it. aspect of audiology and obviously I thought, "Well, let's go for it."
The strategic health authority were looking towards pulling the funding on the School of Audiology and as a consequence I then had to make a real big decision to think, "Well, am I going to stay here or am I going to look for other work?" I enjoyed the teaching, I think it was really, really satisfying, however, obviously with this turning point it was a case of saying, "Right, well, I think I need to now get back into clinical duties." I applied for the post here in Wolverhampton as the professional head of audiology.
The person that's really inspired me has been an education audiologist from Birmingham. The charisma that the person actually portrays but also as well, not only that, is the knowledge that he actually had as well and I think to actually aspire to that kind of guy would be really, really beneficial.
I think the biggest buzz, the biggest pat on the back that anyone can give you is that if a patient has got a hearing loss they come into the clinic and as a consequence if we fit them up with a hearing aid or we do something for them which will actually improve their hearing. The smile goes from ear to ear and I think that is the biggest buzz that anyone can actually give you.
ENDS
Paul Holliday is Professional Head of Audiology at Wolverhampton Primary Care Trust. He was inspired to enter audiology by his Nan's hearning loss and an understanding that he had the skills to deal positively with the hearing impaired. His biggest buzz is seeing people smile when you tell them you can improve their hearing.
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