Spotlight on Sian Stanley

Tell us about yourself

• Clinical Director, Stort Valley and Villages PCN
• East of England Clinical Director Representative, NHS Confederation
• GP Partner at Church Street Medical Centre, Bishops Stortford

I have been a GP since 2005 after a stint as a surgical trainee.  I have been working in Bishops Stortford as a GP since 2013 and a clinical director since the inception of PCNs in 2019. 

When did you join NHS Confederation and why?

I joined the NHS Confederation in March 2020.  The reason for joining was by accident: Ruth Rankine approached me as the clinical director to see if I would be interested but it transpires, she thought she was recruiting someone different – “A happy little accident” as Bob Ross would say! 

What excites you the most about the direction of the NHS Confederation, and how will you contribute towards it?

The inclusion of primary care in the Confederation is a recent addition. Primary care must be at the table with every other element of the system to make improvements, to improve quality and continuity of care. I am excited we are filling a space which is currently not occupied by anyone else, we are not political we are just thought leaders who are trying to give balanced and informed information to NHS England and to the wider political classes. The aim is to inform them/help them understand about primary care and primary care at scale and how that can potentially protect the future of primary care.

What does it mean to you to be a member of the Primary Care Network Advisory Group?

I am excited to be a member of the Primary Care Network Advisory Group as it enables me to make a difference to the future of primary care. I can actively participate in promoting the voices of primary care and represent them to a larger audience. I am also very happy to disseminate the learnings that we at SV&V PCN have learnt to date and enable other groups to grow from those learnings.

I enjoy meeting people from different areas both in primary care and from around the country.  These are professional diverse people who bring different perspectives of primary care networks, working at scale etc. Whilst we may differ in opinions its worth listening to and reflecting on those views.

What is something members of the network, staff and even other Advisory Board members might be surprised to know about you?

Something you may be surprised to know about myself is that I love the opera and can sing soprano.  When I turned 30 years of age, I went for singing lessons, initially to learn how to sing jazz. I did not have the right range for kazz, but I had the range for opera singing.  It transpires I have a massive range, all the way up to top C. I adore listening to opera, I can’t read music, so I am not a member of a choir.