Clinical Influencer
Dr Paul Underwood, General Physician, Hywel Dda University Health Board
Paul is passionate about everything that constitutes positive change. He works across Hywel Dda UHB as a General Physician in Acute, GIM, Diabetes and Endocrinology and as a Clinician Leader at the Joint Commissioning Committee (JCC). He has held many formal and informal leadership roles over the last 20 years both local to Hywel Dda and nationally at the National Collaborative Commissioning Unit (NCCU; now merged into JCC) where he was Associate Clinical Director of the National Programme Unscheduled Care (NPUC; the forerunner the current National 6 Goals Programme). He also currently represents colleagues on both the BMA Welsh Consultants and Hywel Dda Local Negotiating Committees. His longstanding interests in self and organisational development (OD), complex social change, critical systems thinking, complexity theory, adult learning and adult development theory have carried Paul for many years now on a scholarly meta-exploration of what exactly is transformational change and how can this be best achieved within our Health and Social Care systems in Wales. Alongside his Bevan Clinical Influencers Network work, he is deeply invested in, and co-leads several transformation projects in his local Health Board area. Also networked nationally and with active workstreams across the Advanced Value Based Healthcare and Bevan Exemplar programmes, he is a strong advocate for Human Learning Systems and Asset Based Community Development and promotes everything through dialogic OD processes, Theory U, relationship building and whole systems collaboration. He has links internationally that relate to his developing interests in Critical Realism, Dialectical Thinking and Constructivist Adult Development Theories.