Naman Julka-Anderson (00:00)
Hello everyone and welcome to Rad Chat, founded by me, Naman Julka- Anderson.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (00:04)
and me, Jo McNamara. So Rad Chat is a forward thinking global knowledge hub where healthcare professionals can advance their expertise in radiotherapy and oncology. Unlike traditional academic resources, we blend real world experience, expert insights, best practice, and of course, most importantly, patient perspectives.

Naman Julka-Anderson (00:23)
We make advanced knowledge engaging and accessible, supporting continuous learning and professional development without compromising patient care or personal time. By providing insights into both technical skills and career development, helping you progress confidently in your field and shape your professional future.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (00:39)
Just to let you know, our episodes may contain sensitive and difficult topics that you may find distressing or triggering.

Sonia (01:07)
I'm good, thank you. Thank you for inviting me. Really pleased to be on the show.

So I'm a physiotherapist first and foremost and I'm the elected member of Dudley so I'm the Member of Parliament newly elected in 2024 last year.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (01:29)
For anyone listening who doesn't know what a physiotherapist is, will you give us a rundown? why did you choose physiotherapy and not therapeutic radiography or occupational therapy or nursing?

Sonia (01:41)
So I wanted to go into some sort of therapy or some sort of public service at really young age. And when I look back, there's always defining moments, you know, where you decide to do something. And mine has to be when I was traveling to India. So when I was about 11, my mum took me to India and I saw the poverty there. And I know it sounds really cliche about why you want to go into something, but it was a really defining moment looking outside on the train.

seeing the shacks that people were living in. And I just knew from that time that I just want to do something to give back. So I didn't really think of any of the route apart from health. When I was looking at A-levels and when looked at going into university, I was really lucky to get a day of shattering of a physiotherapist for a day in a private clinic. And I looked at acupuncture and I thought it was fantastic. Now, just for those people, I am not...

pro acupuncture and I don't think everyone should have acupuncture. There should be a combination of treatments. So, but I was a lot younger then. So obviously I was quite amazed about this type of new therapy, not new, but you know, know, therapy technique I hadn't seen before. And yeah, I just thought it'd be a brilliant career to go into. So the reason why I chose physiotherapy and not occupational therapy or paramedic or radiographer is simply because I felt like

It was something I could see people rehab and get better. So there was a beginning and an end. I really liked the fact that potentially I could change someone's whole entire life. And I don't get it wrong. know, all the AHPs do a brilliant job and I don't want to undermine them in any way or form because, you know, I am very much pro-AHPs as everyone should know this while I've been elected. I've talked about AHPs a number of times and I'm hoping to do an APPG, that's an all party parliamentary group on.

allied health professionals. But I chose physio because I felt like I loved the rehab side of things and getting people better and seeing that journey unfold. And it's an autonomous job. So, you know, I can go into specialising too. My job was being a musculoskeletal physio therapist. So I was able to go from a junior to a senior to a specialist to running my own clinic. And yeah, it was just, it's just been fab really. So

I just felt like it was a really great profession to go into knowing there was progression in there and I also could go and stem into leadership if I wanted to.

Naman Julka-Anderson (04:13)
If there's another AHP profession you could do, what would you do?

Sonia (04:17)
Ooh, that's asking me a big question.

I don't know, I think maybe speech and language therapy because that goes along with that sort of rehab and seeing someone having some neurological condition or suffering like a stroke or something and then seeing that progression, think it gave me a lot of satisfaction. So when I had a patient that had a fracture.

and then she was gonna get married in six months time and she needed to get down the aisle, she wanted to walk down without any aids. Like that is like what gives you the kick in the day and gets you up. So yeah, I think that speech and language might have been another one, but that's a really tough question. Because I can see where occupational therapy would go into that, where I can see people doing like the upper limb rehab. I can see radiographers actually catching serious pathology. That would be really, I think, quite.

something that I would really benefit from seeing and going, great, I found something. So yeah, I think there's too many. There's too many. Don't ask me if I've got questions.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (05:28)
So Sonia, you've obviously dipped your toe into the world of politics. Tell us a little bit about how that came about.

Sonia (05:36)
Do you know what? I got angry and that's the real reason for going into politics. You know, I had managed, you know, teams, I had been a band seven and, you know, I'd done some departmental work and, you know, managed some of the admin team, managed the physio team. as I was progressing up, I just felt like the resources were just getting more more scarce and the luxury, and I'm going to do luxury with a little quotation marks, like the art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, all these

Brilliant therapists and again, that's something I might want to do to shout out to my art therapists because I don't think they get enough recognition those three at all. So yeah, I would say, you know, it was just getting, it's just been shed off, you slowly every year by year. And when I first came into graduate, when I graduated from university, I had two days of on-call training and I'd done no ITU.

like for paediatrics previously, and then I was on call and I just think some of this, I just thought was wrong. You know you always think, I'm young, enthusiastic, and I think, oh, well, if I go up to a band, if I can change things a little bit more. But I got angry that things were the way they were in the NHS, and I know how great it is. And it really is run on goodwill, a lot of it, people coming in early, work during their lunch period, staying later.

And it's not because people simply care, they're doing the job for the right reasons. know, the NHS is just an absolutely beautiful piece of legislation that went through that we've ended up in a place where nobody has to fight over how they're going to get care and how they're going to pay for something because that's not something that exists here. So I'm really proud of the NHS in so many ways, but I was just really angry and I was just angry at politicians and was busy, you know.

Wagging my finger at the television and shouting at how terrible they were. And I thought, well, I could do a better job. So I was crazy enough to decide to join a party. So I'm a Labour MP and I was, I didn't have the sort of pathway that most people do. The Chartered Society of Physios is not affiliated to Labour Union and the Labour Party. And I didn't have a political dynasty, had no family or friends. I didn't study it.

I didn't have any connections, so I just joined in 2019 and yeah, then the general election was called. I thought it was absolutely fantastic opportunity. I loved the canvassing and knocking on doors and speaking to people and yeah, and then I just, it sort of snowballed from there really. I'm the first woman to ever be elected now in Dudley. There's never been a woman in this seat. There's never been an ethnic minority ever been elected in the whole entire Dudley borough as an MP.

So, you know, breaking some glass ceilings in that process.

Naman Julka-Anderson (08:26)
What's your experience been like as a woman of colour going into politics?

Sonia (08:30)
I'm going to answer this question really honestly and not going to do a politician's answer. I have never felt the colour of my skin ever since being apart from being in this job. It really does matter and you know being in NHS generally if you progress through and you get on well and you do your job well you can move up the demands and you know I think there is institutional...

know, challenges in the NHS. think that's proven with research and study. And I don't think I'm saying anything that's controversial here. Having also done my MSc on literally organisational behaviour in the NHS is what I chose. And I chose physiotherapists, perspectives on ethnic minorities versus non-ethnic minorities about progression and, you know, what that matters. And there was a big, big difference between both of those perspectives. So, yes, I, I think I didn't feel it then.

I don't know why, but I just didn't. But being in politics now, I definitely feel the difference of being an ethnic minority woman. And when we're talking about immigration, we're talking about flags, it's a completely different subject for me to talk about because there's already some people had their guard up against me. And I won't forget an incident when I did one of my first surgeries and someone came in to see me.

MPs also do surgeries very similar to what physios and other clinicians do, where people come and speak to you about their sort of challenges and their concerns. And she goes, I didn't expect you to be like this. And the way she said it was this in the colour, she's like, you know, from your background. And I thought, why wouldn't I, like, why wouldn't I care about you? Because I care about my patients. They came in with a blank canvas and I tried my best.

why would you not think I would do the same for you? So it's definitely changing people's perception of what ethnic minorities can do. And one of the things I remembered in the general election, I was asked, do women do this job? And I thought, well, we've really got to start from basics here, don't we? So yeah, it's been challenging, but not a challenge that can't be overcome with, I think, determination and...

being quite tenacious. So any person that's listening to this podcast thinking of going into public service in elected office, whether it's a council or a parliamentary level, I would give it the green light. It's absolutely fabulous. It's job, it's an honourable lifetime. And I'm not saying that because, you know, it's a politician's answer. It genuinely is. I absolutely love this job. So yeah.

Naman Julka-Anderson (11:15)
Can I just ask a quick follow up about that person who said people like you, you know, wouldn't expect you to be in this job. Do you think from kind of your heritage and family background that's the view of women being more of the housewife and not always being out there?

Sonia (11:28)
In my household, was definitely not the case. My mom's a fierce woman and I wouldn't want to mess with her, anyone like her. She's a fierce, dominant woman. And she's sort of brought up two strong women in the house, her two daughters. My sister's an absolute inspiration. My mom is. And from a very young age, if I didn't do something really well or something didn't go well, I was always told I could do it again.

and it was okay, so I ran for the election in Birmingham for a council seat. I didn't win it. And my mum was in at the day of the election, when the results came out, and I knew I'd lost because I'd lost the postal vote. And my mum was like, it's okay, it's okay, you you could still win. said, mum, I'm really not gonna win now. Like the postal votes come out, I've lost. But she just said to me, as I spoke to her in the evening afterwards,

I said to her, go because I think this is going to be a little bit emotional when you hear your daughter losing. I'm just going to need to be here to make sure I shake the person's hand and do all the things I should do as a candidate. And I spoke to her in the evening and she said, don't worry, you can do it again. And you didn't want to do it anyway. You wanted to be an MP, you didn't want to be a councillor. And there's nothing against being a councillor, that's a fantastic job. But I wanted to be an MP, not

a counsellor, that wasn't an original job, but I was told, you know, there's loads of things that come with this job. You know, you're too young, you're not got enough experience at the party, try being a counsellor first. You know, the other thing I got was, which was actually shocking, was maybe you should marry someone that's, you know, not Asian. Like there's so many things that come with this that you hear in the path of getting here. It is quite, it's quite shocking in some aspects.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (13:17)
Shocking and really sad actually that that's the view of people. How do you think being a physiotherapist has set you up in terms of your role as an MP?

Sonia (13:18)
Mm.

I think everything's transparent, but we do surgeries, same thing. You treat patients, you get a subjective history. It's a safe process. You've got to streamline, you've got to prioritise. It depends on how you run your clinic. I still call it a clinic, even though it's the surgeries and people come and see me. I'm like, yeah, my clinic's been in my clinic bullet book. I asked my team members, they're like, what? I'm like, you no, you didn't mean that surgery. You know what I mean? It's the cases are coming through.

Naman Julka-Anderson (13:53)
Is that denial because you're not clinical anymore?

Sonia (13:56)
No, Well, actually, I'm hoping to still practice. So I'm hoping to still keep my foot in that grave and keep my finger on the pulse when it comes to these things. But yeah, was lots of it's transport, the communication, the prioritisation, the time management, stakeholder engagement, holding a budget, leading a team, having vision, ideas. The job that we have as AHPs, not just visit, AHPs in general.

is the skills that we learn, the soft skills are so brilliant that you can transfer them to, you if you want to be in the HCPC, you want to join a charity, join a think tank, you want to go into elected office, these are all skills you can take on. So I'm not depleting the workforce, I hope, today, but I am trying to say that there is lots of roots for you.

Naman Julka-Anderson (14:50)
I'm sure other people have as well, but saw you stand up and talk about incontinence. It's a topic that not many people would feel comfortable just openly maybe hearing on the telly or the radio. Could you tell us a bit more about that as well, please?

Sonia (15:03)
Yeah, well, if you want to break anything in terms of any shame or any worry or any fear of speaking the chamber, just talk about we and who. That was, I think, was the easiest thing to do. So yeah, no, I laugh about this, but it's such an important subject. It affects one in three women, 1.5 children and young people. It's...

you know, one in ten with bowel conditions, it's more common than hay fever. You know, this is such a serious condition, whether it's post prostate cancer, whether it's, you you've given birth or, you know, there's conditions for why you've now led this, you know, there are young people that have had lots of drug misuse that now have got incontinence. So it hits across all generations. It's not just an older person's condition, incontinence for both the bladder and bowel. Now,

We've tried to get rid of this word incontinence because I debated it on incontinence and as I spoke to, you know, one experts and then two, I did sort of round tables with patients. It's more about, more about bladder and bowel health. So I changed my debate to change it all to talk about bladder and bowel health and bowel care and bladder care. So yeah, incontinence was the debate name and that's because when I first tabled it.

You know, I thought it was really a great way to talk about something that's quite, people think of it as a taboo and it's really disgusting in people's because they don't want to talk about it openly. And I did a debate in February this year on a women's incontinence debate and so many people spoke to me about it afterwards and I'm really pleased that I raised it. Then I thought, why haven't we spoken about this? And then I realised there's never been a general debate about incontinence at all.

So I tabled it from there and then it just sort of snowballed. And yeah, I've had loads of physiotherapists that reached out to me from the back of it. was apparently on one of the conferences of pelvic health, which I saw my face on there and I thought, what's going on here? They mentioned me. So yeah, no, definitely thank you to all those that supported that debate. Patients, the experts, the obs and gynae team, the midwives, my own bladder and bowel

care in my constituency in Ross Hall Hospital that also helped with getting patients to give me quotes and tell me how they wanted it to be recognised. So yeah, was a big debate. would try to pull people to talk to in that debate because nobody wanted to because it's just, you know, it is a taboo subject.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (17:34)
Really interesting isn't it because there is a lot that could affect the general population not just in health but in anything but if it's taboo it's not necessarily spoken about until someone takes that leap of faith to think no I'm passionate about this so let's debate it so I think the fact that you did that

really highlights that yes obviously it's great that you've got that pride in let's open this discussion but I also think it highlights doesn't it that there are some things that are just never talked about because they're classed as being taboo.

Sonia (18:11)
But we did that with menopause, we did that with period poverty, and it's just a progression. I've moved the dial forward, and I hope I might go so far with this debate. And I'm trying to continue to push it in terms of getting it into education so that we have bowel and bladder health conversations at a really early age, and we know what health is.

what we do need to, when we need to talk about hydration and there's so much that's around that. But then also talk about sort of in terms of prevention. I'd love to see, you know, more self-referral. It's not a postcode lottery across the country. People do have access and it's self-referral. So you're not having to go via GP or a specialist. You know, you can, there is actually a service. So there's so many places in the country that there's no service or very limited service. So.

You know, in Dudley, we're very lucky that there is a great, fantastic, you know, provision there. And Ola, who is the physiotherapist, I definitely need to say thank you to who she was the one that helped me put this debate forward, who's a physiotherapist in the Ross Hall Hospital. You know, these people are there and talking about public health, but it's not just, you know, incontinence. It's loads of subjects like this where we talk about shadow, you know, banning on

how we talk about health words not being discussed on social media getting banned, or when we're talking about violence against women and girls, we're talking about financial abuse. There are so many things that I could talk about in Parliament. But we are a very limited amount of time, limited debates, but yeah, it's breaking the taboo at every moment. And that's my try for the next term while I'm in.

Naman Julka-Anderson (19:58)
How do you balance your interests? So it's like something like this that you're passionate about compared to you know something that one of your constituency members has raised to you that maybe you're not as passionate about but you know it's an important topic.

Sonia (20:12)
Yeah, no, DESNZ So hopefully none of the DESNZ people are listening to this, which is like the energy department. back GB energy and I think we should be looking at renewables, but it's not my area of one expertise and it's not my area of my biggest area of interest.

But I recognise the cost of living, I recognise the energy prices are high and looking at ways that we should reduce them and there are loads of ways that we're looking at how that is modelled in the community and local authority level. So I guess the way I do it is we can write to ministers, so what MPs can do for those that not sure what members of parliament do, we can write to the ministers so we can ask the expert of that department and they can get an answer.

We can do written questions. So there might be a really quite niche area about that someone wants to ask and they might be an expert on it as a constituent of mine, but I'm not. But they want to answer or they want to get some information. So we can do one. We can speak to the library who've got a lot of experts. It's quite easy looking at like civil servants. Like you can imagine for all the experts for every single department, we can ask the department itself. We can ask a one-to-one with the minister.

and I'm very lucky, Labour government and Labour MP, so it's a little bit easier, I guess, to navigate some of those conversations in the tea room sometimes or in the voting lobbies to have a discussion about some things. So there's lots of ways that I can represent people. As an MP, I think there's sometimes an expectation that we're to know every single area and it's just, we just can't.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (21:48)
Sonia, what's the best bit about your job?

Sonia (21:51)
Oh, there's too many, Jo. There's too many aspects of this job I absolutely love. I think it's, I'm gonna have to name a few, because I'm sorry, I just can't prioritize. I'm not gonna prioritize this one. I think it's the engagement, it's my residents, it's my community. think it has to be, I think I will prioritize that one as well. It's definitely gonna be the one.

When I go out and I speak to people about some brilliant grassroot work that's being done, it is such a privilege. It's such a privilege to see people doing some brilliant work. then my job is marrying people up or getting them in touch with maybe if there's a funding stream that we can get them linked into so that that can grow some of their services or whatever it is they want to try and do. Doing surgeries, so having one-to-ones.

solving people's cases, I guess that comes back to my physio roots of getting people better. And I think it's incredibly lucky and privileged position to be in. And I can't say that enough because if I want to speak to experts, I can call a round table. So with the incontinence debate, I got the OBS and gynae, I've got the midwives, I've got the chart, I've got all the specialist people that really know this area and so that because I'm not a pelvic physiotherapist. I couldn't do that, you know.

I went to do some shadowing when I was a junior physio and the internal examination just made me nearly pass out. So it was never, it's not my expertise, but I knew it's so important. Yeah, so yeah, I think the engagement's great and being able to call upon anybody, you know, in terms of to ask for their advice, to feed in the research, the debates, and also just meeting some really incredible people, you know.

They're veteran people I've seen on TV who are now my colleagues, which still is quite a shock. When I look at it and I look up and I'm walking into work and I see Parliament and Big Ben, it's just, yeah, it's just an honour. really is. So there's lots.

Naman Julka-Anderson (23:53)
Is it?

Definitely lots. I think your passion really comes through as well, which is nice. If someone in the general public doesn't know enough about members of parliaments and kind of what you do, is there any myths or stuff that you'd want to debunk right now?

Sonia (24:05)
myths that I'd like to debunk is Please do not listen to everything you read and the news. there's lots of misinformation, disinformation that's out there. my worry as a member of parliament is community, communities being fractured because there are some individuals out there that are, think, putting out false information and it's creating a lot of negative,

negativity in the community and I think for me it's always get your check backs right. If you're not sure about something, look at proper websites, engage your MP, ask them what is actually happening, ask for a surgery appointment to see them and ask what they do. You can go onto the government website and it says what an MP is. So what my job is, I'm meant to be four days in parliament, Monday to Thursday, unless there is a change in a whip. So I don't know if you know what a whipping system is.

So a whipping system, each party apart from the Greens, not sure why, all parties generally have a whipping system. So it means that MPs get elected to a party, so mine's Labour, and they would get told, okay, to cover government business, their votes are going on, so you need to be in. And that's a three line whip you should be in at present in parliament.

And then there's like what could a one-line whip, which means there might just be general debates that day. So there's no votes at all. And if you have a priority in your constituency, so for instance, I might have like a public meeting in my constituency, that would then be my priority, but it's up to you whether you want to be in parliament or whether you want to go, you could work offsite, but then come back in or something like that. So there's some flexibility. So generally, Monday through Thursday should be in parliament. We do have sitting Fridays.

So the assisted dying bill, because it was a private members bill, it was sat on a Friday. And then normally MPs are meant to be in their constituency on the weekends if they can, which most, know, Saturday, so that means Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you know, coming to events, going to schools, going to businesses, you know, really highlighting the great work that's happening in their constituency and engagement. is there, you know, with a trade deal with India, what come my businesses that are doing exports, how can they benefit from it?

The SME strategy that we've got, so small and medium sized businesses, how does that affect businesses in my patch with late payments? It's looking at all, all the things across the board and integrating it. So myths, I would say, please, anyone listening on the podcast, they're looking at some quite, you know, some, you know, questionable, you know, social media activity, maybe then question it, ask if that's correct.

speak to actually the local authority, an institution that would know to make sure that we just dismiss some of this that isn't true. I know I've had protests in my constituency which has been quite distressing for a lot of families that were in a hotel that people assumed it was an asylum seeker hotel for illegal immigrants. It wasn't. It was for families that were homeless, housed by Birmingham Council.

and people were thinking of protesting there and there are videos in there and it causes so much distress. yeah, think that would be my myth because it's on the top of my head of things that I would be really worried about. yeah, said the door's always welcome. If there's any constituents, any constituents of my listening, doors are always welcome to be open to speak to me about anything.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (27:39)
So Sonia, you said that whilst you were a physiotherapist, there were certain things that however, you know, far up the ladder you went, you weren't able to make those changes. Have you been able to make any changes as an MP that would have directly impacted you as a physiotherapist yet?

Sonia (27:58)
So the neighbourhood hubs, ⁓ the policies come out for neighbourhoods that should be led by GPs. Now, I think it should be led by anybody including AHPs. So I've written to the ⁓ minister, I've spoken to Wes about this, and I've spoken to Stephen Kinnock about it. So sometimes there's some lobbying that can happen behind closed doors that people may not always be aware of. I'm a Labour MP with the Labour government, I'm not going to...

you know, make my, government embarrassed because of a stance. You do a lot of stuff happens behind closed doors where you're lobbying ministers. So, ⁓ you know, I've had lots of conversations. I don't know, ⁓ Jo, if that will be a change in policy, but in terms of lobbying, a lot of that gets done. So lobbying about the inconsensate stuff. being a back bench MP, you, you've got to pick your battles and pick what you want to sort of press on,

because you can't press on anything, you literally don't have the time or the capacity, the time is just, it vanishes in a flick of a switch really in a day. Yeah, so that sort of thing I do lobbying on. I do lobbying on, so I'm the APPG co-chair of osteoporosis. So getting fracture liaison services out across and rolled out to every single,

⁓ constituency and like in hospital in particular. Again, that's something that we were pressing on. So we haven't had like, I can't say there's an actual right wind to this, but a lot of this is, you know, the 10 year plan. What is that going to look at when we're looking at sickness prevention, hospital to community and log to digital? How does that look like? And when we're talking about it on the high street. So I'm lobbying for the empty shop policy that the government's put out to put in healthcare in that. So again, a lot of lobbying.

Naman Julka-Anderson (29:43)
Definitely a lot of lobbying and meeting lots of people. think that talking about what happens behind closed doors is quite important. So I think, as you said, you always expect your MP to be working 24-7, which sounds like you are anyway. But it's good to have that passion of the healthcare side coming in. I think there's a lot of physios that I know that obviously watch that debate about incontinence, as you said, and they found it amazing just to openly talk about it. But it's that kind of how it stems into, as you said, the all parliamentary groups.

Obviously you're part of the osteoporosis one, but you said at the beginning there might be one around AHPs as well, is that right?

Sonia (30:15)
It's true, I've been trying to set this up for a number of months. I can't get a Tory MP or Lord to become a co-chair because it's called all party so it has to be. So if I'm the chair I need to have another officer that's from the opposition benches.

Now there's 121 Tory MPs and some of them may not always take on APPGs because I think, you know, I've got other priorities, some of them are ministers. you know, and Parliament's put a new policy out there and you can be an officer of six APPGs. So it's one of those things. I'm now trying to find a Lord that can do it. So if anybody knows of any Lords listening on this call that are Tories.

Please can you get in contact with me because I'm trying to reach out to many to to actually start the room and as soon as we can then we can start you know Going down maybe inquiries which could be anything in the AHP which is gonna be hard for me to try and Navigate because we're so broad, but I think it's so needed because we carry a third of the NHS Yeah, we don't get discussed enough.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (31:18)
So important just raising the profile.

I think that was one of the amazing things of seeing you in parliament when you just said AHPs and everyone was like, someone knows what an AHP is. And it is, see, you hear people talking about it going, did you see it? And I know like Naman and I work a lot with Radiotherapy UK and anytime that say Tim Farron brings up radiotherapy, everyone's like sharing all these videos amongst our community going, he mentioned therapeutic radiographers. And then obviously the,

people will say, oh yeah, diagnostics. And you're like, no, that's not us. But it is, it's demystifying, isn't it? And helping to raise the profile as much as possible. So it is amazing. And I really hope that a conservative MP out there or Lord actually goes, no, this is really important and we do need to support Sonia in this. What are you doing for AHP's Day? How are you going to celebrate it?

Sonia (32:11)
I haven't got a plan this year. I need to make sure that I'm actually going to mark it. I can't tell you, there are days sometimes just go and you're probably aware what's going on with Gaza at the moment and my focus has been making sure we get a statement out. We've had the attack on the synagogue. So, know, me speaking to the faith leaders. So it's really cross-cutting what I do in terms of whether it's international stuff that's happening, whether it's...

⁓ me going on with talking to people regarding their local issues and then obviously the things that interest me. So I haven't put anything together so I probably should really attend, come down to my hospital but I'm hoping when my job is actually next week is to give all my ID in so I can start to get on the bank again. So that's probably what I'm going to celebrate is me going back on the bank.

Naman Julka-Anderson (32:59)
That's such a contrast to everything you're saying, all this cool stuff, talking about being an MP and now you're trying to fight the NHS system to get back on the bank. It's, yeah, such a contrast.

Sonia (33:09)
Yeah, yeah, I was actually going to say one thing I am looking forward to is if anybody is thinking about, so I'd like to do any therapy or consider doing some work in Ukraine or some virtual work. It'd be just a bit of a call. I know you've got quite a big listener portfolio. So if anybody wants to do collaborate with me, with Ukraine in particular, please drop me an email. Hopefully everyone knows my email. Sonia.kumar.mp @ parliament.uk.

I've spoken to a number of people generally that aren't in my constituency, it's just, if anyone is doing any work, one already doing work in Ukraine, or any virtual stuff, then let me know. And if they want to do any more, then get in touch because I would like to speak to some that have got speech and language, podiatry, orthotics, I say actually, physio, N.O.T.s, to do some rehab.

Naman Julka-Anderson (34:00)
Amazing, yeah, hopefully we can get some people involved. know there's a lot of people, yeah, if you want to look at humanitarian work and things like that.

Sonia (34:08)
That's the side hustle that is, my side hustle that I'm trying to get done. It's some rehab there.

Naman Julka-Anderson (34:20)
We normally like to end with top tips, but I think before we get to top tips, Sonia if we fast forward a year down the line, what should we expect from you from then if we have this conversation again in a year?

Sonia (34:31)
I will probably be focusing a lot on women's health in this year again. It's going to be the continuous thing. I'm the first woman to be elected in this constituency. So it'd be silly not to use my health and the fact that I'm a woman and my expertise in that to drive some of the sort health inequalities and highlight them and also see what I can do to reduce them. Sometimes it's about doing the awareness and that's a big thing in itself. Like I said, it's the biggest thing in politics.

you know, think you can change things really overnight and you really can't. So as I sometimes say, know, you know, within incontinence, I've now turned the dial forward. It might not be me that's going to take that dial again and move it forward again. It might be someone else. It might be another MP or it might be in five years time. Change takes a long time. So yeah, it's lots of talk about women's health. I'm hoping to talk about, I will be doing a debate.

or contributing to a debate regarding financial abuse, so violence against women and girls and looking about domestic violence policy and that should be implemented in all, I think, organisations and it's not. So I'm changing a little bit of parliament. That's been my contribution is I'm hoping that we will change MPs and then introducing a domestic violence policy in their offices. There's 650 MPs.

you can recruit to maybe five-time full-time equivalents. That's a lot of people that you're recruiting all offices are. So that will be my changing the dial of domestic violence and highlighting that. And I don't know, because sometimes things just come really organically. I didn't think I was going to be talking about who and we a year ago. I can assure you that in parliament as I first got elected.

So I think sometimes things just come again. And if anybody has any ideas or something they want to talk to me about, they can always email in. I would say email your MP first. And if you want to talk to me about health, then email me. Because sometimes I'm going to get in flux emails now going, can you do this? And I'm like, oh God, I'm not your MP. And I do want to talk about it, but I've got other things. So yeah, email your MPs definitely. Lobby them. I would say anyone should be lobbying me too as their MP. But if anyone's got something quite niche and they think maybe it hasn't been discussed, then yeah, they can email me.

I'll reread at least if nothing else.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (36:49)
Sonia, before we go into top tips, I want to ask a very specific question about...

graduates at the moment. So there are lots of AHPs about to qualify, know, six or eight months off and already they're realising that actually NHS trusts have put on a job freeze, they're making AHPs redundant from NHS trusts and it can sound quite a scary job market. What advice and support would you give to anyone who potentially starts looking for an NHS job after qualifying or soon to qualify?

as an AHP and thinking gosh what am I gonna do?

Sonia (37:29)
Well, first of all, say it's not like the health department unaware of this. They fully understand. have had this conversation before summer recess about job freezes because I have still friends in the NHS that have graduated or, you know, colleagues that's got a friend who's also graduated said to me, listen, just graduated from university. They're now having to do it. ⁓

know, assistant ⁓ band four job, because they're waiting for a band five, and lots of internal progression happening. And actually people are going up the bands quicker when actually we could be widening that net to larger pools of people with more experience. So there is a safety element to that because if you're pushing people up to band six and band seven really quickly and they just don't have that clinical mileage, that's a worry. So I am aware of this, aware a long, time ago.

This has been raised, whereas his team is aware of this, because he normally does meet sort of the health, those that with health interests and clinicians in particular. So he's aware of what's happening, but obviously there's a lot of rejig with abolishing NHS England, reducing ICBs by 50 % so that we start moving some of this funding, because it's a lot of duplication of care with NHS England. I don't know anybody that said to me, do you know what, it's a bad idea to deal with that. I think the phase, know, phasing it in.

It needs to be implemented. think we need to look at redundancies and how they get paid. So I think there's still a lot of streamlining that needs to be done. But if anyone's worried or they want to be of their concern, I would say, again, speak to your MP because it can't just be some of the clinical MPs that know what's going on on the ground, you know, speaking about this.

I'm sure Wes is not going to appreciate me saying this, but the more people that lobby, the more impact it has. And if you can get your MPs to then go, right, this is seriously a problem. This produces a snowball effect that, we may need to do some more rapidly. Because sometimes, know, Westminster is a very small place and so what is a bubble in some aspects. And you may not always know the full impact of something. Now you were aware of the impact.

because, know, I've said, Wes is aware of this and the team's aware of this. But, you know, it's never going to be a bad thing that people keep highlighting what their challenges are and ways that we could sort of help them. And AHPs are really bad for this. I'm sorry. I'm an AHP, but we don't ever shout about things. We don't go on strike. We don't start, you know, putting up any sort of major resistance to anything. But I think we should do that. I think that's a good thing because our voices should be heard and we should be accounted for. So...

Yeah, make noise was my, that's kind of my advice too, my tip.

Naman Julka-Anderson (40:08)
No, that's fantastic. Maybe we won't take away everyone going on strike but be more vocal. ⁓

Sonia (40:12)
No, no, no, no, no,

no, I'm saying we don't. I'm saying we are generally done. God, no, I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble today.

Naman Julka-Anderson (40:21)
Alright, sounds like you're besties with Wes, so it's all good. We'll send you our request via email. We've all got it now. ⁓

Sonia (40:28)
No, he's

great, he's great. And he listens anyway. He does listen. He's not like his in a way. think some people are saying, these politicians, they're standing up, they have no idea what's going on. I saw on the front line, and I'm like, the best thing about this cohort of people, and this is across the parties, they've all got so many different experiences, different walks of life. There are people like me that have come from front line. They've front line, you know, got mental health, we've got surgeons, we've got, you know,

know, all sorts of people, know, solicitors, we've got people that worked in charities. So because of that abundance of talent in that aspect, it means that everything gets fed through. aren't going, I've never heard of this before. I didn't know there was some freezes. It's not like that. But sometimes, you know, you've got to get the ball rolling and making a bit of noise. And I don't think that's a bad thing. Wes, don't sack me.

Naman Julka-Anderson (41:23)
So Sonia, we do like to always end with top tips. You have given quite a few, but do you have any final thoughts or tips for our listeners?

Sonia (41:31)
Anybody that is thinking about going into a leadership role is think about getting a mentor. can't stress that enough. I had mentors going into this role as being an MP and they helped me through the selection process and opened doors for me.

It's so powerful for them to be guiding you through this. So I would say if anybody wants to do that, find yourself a mentor. It doesn't necessarily need to be in your team. It could be outside of the department. It could be someone in another trust. It could be using the CSP mentoring ship, or I'm sure all the other AHPs have something similar, reaching out to somebody to say, is what I want to do. I don't think anyone should ever stop dreaming, no matter how old you are, where you are in your career.

And, you know, don't put a cap on the ceiling yourself. I think too many people think they can't do something and it could be like, I don't want to apply for a band six, I'm not ready for it. I need a bit longer. Or, you know, I don't want to go for that managerial position. I need to think, you know, maybe I need to do my MSc. Well, actually you do get MSc, you go along. You can, you know, get that training on the job. You know, you've got to go sometimes jump in head first.

and just go for it. So yeah, I would say my tips are get yourself a mentor. Don't stop dreaming and thinking that you can't do it. Cause if I can be, you know, the member of Parliament for Dudley and make it with all the challenges I faced considering I didn't have all those connections and I'm actually loving the job. Anybody can be doing anything. And the last tip I would say is just be kind to yourself. I don't think sometimes as

AHPs, we carry a lot of burden, we take it home. We always think of other people first. that comes back to the point of saying we don't make noise. And I literally mean, literally as well, that you need to be kind to yourself, look after yourself. Your mental health and self care is so paramount to you being able to give back and not have burnout. So yeah, loving the AHPs.

Naman Julka-Anderson (43:39)
Thank you so much for coming on, it's been really insightful and just so much knowledge has come out from you I think for everyone listening, so thank you so much.

Sonia (43:48)
It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me. It's been brilliant.

Naman Julka-Anderson (43:52)
And hopefully when we release, you still have a job, Wes, thanks. Well, thank you everyone for listening to Rad Chat with me, Naman Julka-Anderson and Jo McNamara.

Naman Julka-Anderson (43:53)
So our next guest to feature will be Shreya Patel-Parekh as part of our Leadership Series talking about women's health and the 51 % Podcast. Thanks for listening and take care.

Naman Julka-Anderson (44:07)
You can use this episode as part of our free, continual professional development, accredited content, which offers flexible learning that fits your busy schedule. Just check out the show notes for the reflective questions, links to literature and resources, and a link to complete the form to receive your accredited certificate.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (44:23)
Stay up to date with the latest radiotherapy and oncology advancements by liking and following us on social media channels and hitting subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Naman Julka-Anderson (00:26) (44:33)
Join a supportive community designed by professionals who understand the unique challenges of radiotherapy and oncology. Check out our website www.radchat.co.uk. Together we're actively working to improve our profession and make a lasting positive impact on cancer care.

Jo McNamara Rad Chat Host (00:42) (44:49)
It goes without saying that we can't achieve this alone. It takes all of us working together to create real change. That's why we value every voice and every contribution. We ask that you listen and learn, spread the word, share your story and if you need to, contact us.

Naman Julka-Anderson (45:05)
If you like what we're doing, buy us a coffee, keep us caffeinated, go to our website to find out more. Thank you all for listening and take care.