Brenda and Ian met almost 20 years ago in Canada. Thanks to Facebook they stayed in contact and so we met up with him during our stay in London and got to chat with him about his life and his work with the NHS – the National Health Service of the UK. Since the public health system in the UK is different to the health system in Austria, we got to learn a lot of new things.

Kindness is key

Ian is working for the NHS for nearly 16 years now. He started there at a temporary job, got a contract and is now part of a team of people whose goal it is to reduce HIV infections in London. There are doing a great job, because as Ian told us, their goal to eradicate the transmission of HIV by the year 2030, is highly possible. London would be an example to do so within the European Union. Ian’s work and the story behind it is a “rare good news story”, as he put it.  

“I’m very proud of the concept of the NHS. The operation around it though, is very difficult.”

Like a lot of the stories we get to hear people talk about on the podcast, Ian’s story also starts with a cup of coffee he had with his boss, who is inspiring him to this day. Ian himself wants to inspire his colleagues as well, but with a different approach. He and his team decided that Kindness is a key element for their work environment and started to work flexible hours and days, so everyone can stay with their families as well as working on their common goal.

Sailing on the River Thames

Ian and his wife Diana spent some of their years together on a houseboat on the River Thames. Due to the house pricing on London, it was an affordable alternative to living in a house in the city. Their wish for a house and a dog of their own grew bigger and so they sold their houseboat and moved to Kent, where there are staying now together with their lovely dog – who is also making a quick appearance in the podcast.

Living on a houseboat is only one of the things, that Ian experienced in his life. He also visited 40 countries before he turned 40. If he still can name all of them? Well, for that answer you will have to listen to Ian’s podcast episode. We also talked about why Ian is mostly influenced by strong, intelligent, independent women, how Brexit will affect the NHS and if he imagined his life being like this, 20 years ago.

Podcasts recommended by Ian
The Bugle
Adam Buxton
Richard Herring

Projects Ian is working with