Following the closure of the Bristol Health Protection Agency Food, Water & Environmental Laboratory in April 2012, I chose to leave my position of Unit Head and begin the process of starting a new microbiology business, with a focus on high quality, knowledgeable testing and consultancy. I believe in providing clients with the best possible service and working with them to achieve their goals. With a wealth of experience gained from leading the Bristol laboratory through major change over 6 years, I have taken those qualities and blended them with an ability to run a high quality microbiology service in the South West. With like-minded, experienced experts in microbiology working alongside me, Index Microbiology has grown from concept, through set up phase, to fully functioning UKAS and DWTS accredited laboratory in a short time period, now providing a number of clients in the South West of England and Wales with a high quality testing and consultancy service. With a background in public health, and an expertise in food, water and environmental microbiology, I understand requirements of various businesses, whether large NHS Trusts or small artisan food producers and thrive on the challenges presented in this ever changing economic environment. I work with a variety of departments and individuals in delivering water safety and provide a personal service to my clients.

Responsible for delivering public health microbiology service to various stakeholders in the south west of England. As Head of Unit for the Food, Water & Environmental Microbiology Service in Bristol, I liaised with Local Authorities, NHS Trusts and other healthcare professionals to deliver public health services. This entailed coordinating microbiology testing services in response to food and water-borne outbreaks of infection as well as ongoing safety monitoring. I advised clients on microbiological issues relating to food and water safety, ranging from small artisan food producers to large water distribution systems in hospitals. These could range from bacterial contamination of distinct pieces of equipment to colonization of water distributions with Pseudomonas or Legionella.During my employment with the HPA I led my team through large-scale reorganization of services, transferring the work from 4 laboratories in the south west to a single site in Bristol.

In this post I worked on developing a novel Salmonella testing kit for detection of the pathogen in food samples. My expertise in ISO testing was used in order to validate the new method and achieve appropriate accreditation for the laboratory.