Thomas Roberts

A dedicated and compassionate leader, with over 10 years’ experience within the National Health Service (NHS), Thomas is proud to have started his career as an operating theatre orderly, prior to undertaking his Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) training at Birmingham City University. A second-generation ODP, Thomas was inspired to follow in the footsteps of his late father, who proudly worked in theatres for over 30 years.

Currently a Trauma and Elective Orthopaedic Theatre Team Leader, Thomas brings to the board clinical, operational, strategic and leadership experience, which is further underpinned by recent Chartered Management Institute (CMI) accreditation and academia in the form of a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Health and Social Care Management.

Thomas works across multiple specialities in the roles of anaesthetics, scrub and recovery forming both emergency and elective patient care pathways. His interests include the use of digital technologies in healthcare, robotic assisted surgery and the role of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and big data in patient care.

Thomas is a passionate advocate for perioperative civility, compassionate leadership and emotionally intelligent practice. Thomas prioritises an emphasis on continual professional development and workforce coaching and development to create positive and supportive workplaces and cultures. This approach promotes improved team dynamics, staff cohesion and multidisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration, where kindness, dignity, respect and professionalism are prerequisites to holistic, high-quality and equitable patient care.

Thomas enjoys research into the areas of human factors and patient safety shaping safer, well informed and higher functioning perioperative teams, exploring further how teams communicate and care for one another and the direct influence this holds upon the quality of patient care, outcomes and wider workforce engagement, wellbeing and satisfaction.

Committed to transformational leadership, workplace recognition and ongoing innovation, Thomas has managed award-winning quality improvement projects in areas such as patient safety, human factors and operational efficiency. Drawing upon research, systems thinking and an evidence-based approach, he enjoys appraising perioperative nuance to identify improvement opportunity and implement practical and innovative solutions.

As a Board Trustee for the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP), Thomas is committed to supporting the perioperative community through strong governance, strategic insight and both operational and clinical understanding. He is eager to contribute to the AfPP’s mission of promoting excellence in perioperative practice, supporting the profession’s advancement and strengthening the collective voice of practitioners both nationally and internationally.