What Does Lady Victoria Starmer Do?

[woofgang]

Keir Starmer says that his wife works in the NHS and is a key worker but never says what role she has in the NHS....it has been said that she is an Occupational Therapist which she is not, then that she works in Occupational Health (???) by qualification she is a solicitor but does anybody know what her actual NHS job is?

[woofgang]

yes absolutely it is but it isn't Occupational Therapy and I doubt its Occupational Health. I am interested to know what that "key worker" role is.

[chelle7272]

//Chelle none of those are jobs that suggest a solicitor could/should do them//

She isn't a solicitor any more though....

[bednobs]

also, you don't have to be "front line" to be a keyworker

[bednobs]

sorry, but I fail to understand why you care woofgang. Perhaps she does the filing for OH, or sits on reception, or types the clinic letters. Why does it matter?

[chelle7272]

She is key worker because she works for NHS OH, who are pretty busy right now! Why does her precise job description matter?

[Barsel]

woof, would working for Occupational Health mean her job would be to look after key workers health?

[woofgang]

no she isn't.. but neither is she a nurse or a Clinical Health and Safety Practitioner. In the NHS, these are usually (?always) qualified clinicians with additional certification. I wouldn't even have noticed if it wasn't for the Occupational Therapist thing, I just wonder what is the basis for her keyworker status. All NHS staff are not keyworkers.

[bednobs]

Health and social care
This includes, but is not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

There you go.

[woofgang]

It matters (to me at least) because there has been obfuscation. I have got a relative who works in admin in the NHS and she is not a keyworker. She volunteered to go and do patient contact work at which point she would have been a keyworker but there were reasons why this was not appropriate for her so she stayed in her job. barsel, the only not qualified staff who work in Occupational Health are admin staff and not many of them. If she is working as admin, why not just say so?

[Mamyalynne]

It all depends which list of key workers you read really.

//The list includes:

Health and social care
All NHS staff, including administrative and cleaning workers. Frontline health and social care staff such as doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, plus support and specialist staff in the health and social care sector.

In addition it includes those working in supply chains including producers and distributors of medicines and personal protective equipment.//

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/key-workers-essential-list-who-uk-new-lockdown-2021/

[woofgang]

bedknobs I know that and I repeat, all nhs staff are not keyworkers.

[Mamyalynne]

I don't know why the secrecy or should I say lack of transparency is there, all it does is increase speculation.

[bednobs]

yes, but YOU are not the arbiter of who can be called a critical worker or not. I think it's up to the organisation who they class as critical workers. The organisation that I am in for example, has keyworkers: you have to explain how the organisation would be impacted if you were not there, then it went to some board to decide who would be or not

[chelle7272]

If your friend does not have key worker status that will be a decision made due risk assessing her role at her place of work.
The surgery on our premises has frontline admin / reception as key workers, but back office staff are not, as their workspace is separated from clinical space.

[bednobs]

but why SHOULD her information be available to everyone? Mine isn't and I would not be happy if it was. Just because she's married to a political party leader, does not mean everyone has to know everything she does!

[Hopkirk]

Does Sir Keir count as a key worker? Perhaps he could have looked after the kids.

[bednobs]

also, no obfuscation - just normal human privacy?

[Mozz71]

I've had a scoot about online, and all I can find is, as you said in the OP, "occupational health". Could be anything I guess. Are they under any obligation to disclose her exact role? It seems like you've taken a specific interest in digging into it.

[woofgang]

no absolutely but as mamya says "I don't know why the secrecy or should I say lack of transparency is there, all it does is increase speculation."

If no mention had been made of her doing a job she couldn't have been doing in the first place, I wouldn't have given it a second thought....if her status as a keyworker hadn't been mentioned without saying even broadly what her job is, then again no second thought, but either keep completely quiet about it or be open......and bedknobs I have made no judgement at all about whether or not she should have keyworker status.....how can I when its not clear what her job is?

[Mozz71]

Sorry, didn't see bednobs' post. I've basically repeated it.