Nothing ‘Scilly’ about student Sam’s isles plans

A postgraduate student is putting his learning to good use with plans to provide better health and social care to people in a remote island location.

Sam Huczmann, a paramedic, is currently studying for his Doctor of Professional Practice in Health and Social Care at University of Northampton (UON). He is also an advanced clinical practitioner and is partly based on the Isles of Scilly.

The Isles of Scilly are located 28 miles from the most southwest point of England, in Cornwall, with a population of just over 2,000 people spread over the five main islands.

Given that this can make joined-up health and care a challenge, Sam is tasked with integrating services for this remote community. He sets the scene: “I’m working on a huge integration project, a new service design for the Isles of Scilly. We will integrate all the neighbourhood teams, bringing their services under one roof.

“My job is to upskill them, bringing in digital tech to make things run as efficiently as possible and to make the best use of physical and online spaces. This is what the future should look like, and I am passionate about ensuring that the people here receive the same quality of health and care as those in urban areas.”

To help his mission, Sam wants to learn as much as he can about how other areas best support the health and wellbeing of more isolated people and applied for a prestigious fellowship to support his vision for Scillonians.

The Churchill Fellowship – founded after former British Prime Minister Sir Winston – supports UK citizens to follow their desire for change, through learning from the world and bringing that knowledge back to the country. Applications are competitive – the Fellowship received around 1,200 this year, with awards going to 118 people.

Sam will visit Canada, Australia and New Zealand for an eight-week fact-finding mission and will set off in March next year. A tall order for some, but business as usual for Sam who says: “When I went to the Fellowship for the interview, there were doctors there of consultant grade, so I thought I’ve not got a chance here, but even so I went in and gave my presentation everything I’ve got.

“When I found out I’d been successful, it felt so random that a paramedic from the Midlands had won something like The Churchill Fellowship, but I was still happy and proud.”

Sam credits his ‘Prof Doc’ at the University and the discussions with his academic support team as instrumental in achieving his objectives. He adds: “My goal, after implementing my findings in Scilly, is to create a mechanism so that rural health and care becomes more accessible and more tailored to individual communities’ needs. I want to push this in front of England’s policy leads so they can see the benefits of an efficient and empowering system for both patients and clinicians.

“As my career has progressed, I found there were gaps in my knowledge, such as research methods, and that if I wanted to go further for people in remote communities, I needed more, and that’s what the Doctor of Professional Practice in Health and Social Care is giving me.

“Progressing through the programme has been exciting, hard work, but it is so interesting because of the way the academics present everything. In fact, it was my academic team who suggested the fact-finding trip.

“I can see how, as I fill those knowledge gaps, my plans for this project are starting to knit together. With versatile, digitally connected, integrated health teams and care models, we can create a system that truly leaves no one behind.”

Find out more about the Doctor of Professional Practice in Health and Social Care at University of Northampton.