My Ambition is to

from Ambition Issue 52 (May/June 2022)

by NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Jim Fitzpatrick

Chloe Duffy, Senior Clinic Manager, Randox

After my A Levels all I wanted to do was go into full-time employment and start a trade. Unsure of the industry I wanted to work in I realised quickly that I loved customer relations and working with people. Seeking a challenge and wanting to progress with my career, I started looking at companies in Northern Ireland that aligned with my professional ambitions.

I was already familiar with the success of Randox and its ethos of improving healthcare and accurate diagnosis worldwide, but it wasn’t until something quite tragic happened that I became extremely interested in preventative healthcare. At just 50 years old, both my parents passed away due to cancer and as a family we realised that with earlier detection they could have extended their lives. From this experience, I made a promise to both my parents that I would actively look after my health.

I started my first role in 2018 as a personal coordinator and began to develop my knowledge about the different health programmes that were offered in clinic. I could never have imagined how much my role would change, especially over the course of the last two years. In 2020, recognising the threat from COVID-19, Randox was at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic, testing at volume to support the people of the UK & Ireland. As a company, the sheer scale at which the business adapted to manage the effects of the pandemic was incredible. I feel proud to have assisted with the UK National Testing programme within our Antrim laboratory and to be front of house in our clinics supporting customers as international travel resumed.

This became a pivoting time in my career and as Randox Health grew to become one of the biggest divisions in the Randox portfolio I was promoted to senior clinic manager. It’s a cliché but I love what I do and feel unbelievably lucky to be able to work with such a diverse team of co-ordinators, scientists, medical doctors, and all the people that make up the Randox family.

As we look towards a post-COVID future, it’s incredibly exciting to be part of this management team as we have opened new health clinics within London, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. We started 2021 with four Randox health clinics but have dived into 2022 with the goal of opening 25 new clinics.

We’ve also started to see a dramatic change in people’s behaviours towards looking after their health with the focus shifting towards taking more proactive, preventative measures which is exactly what we provide at Randox Health. The question is no longer “What do I do when I get sick?” but rather “How can I prevent illness and stay healthy?”. Listening to our customers is key and is part of the reason we have developed new health programmes like our recent launch of genetic tests. Because knowing your risk not only allows you to make educated decisions on your health and future but also that of your loved ones, as the results correlate with your close family members and protect the new generation.

My ambition is to continue to progress in my career, listen to my staff and fulfil the promise to my parents by promoting the message of preventative healthcare on a much larger scale, so that everyone can manage their health for their own future. From a Randox Health point of view, the key thing for me is to harness what we have learnt over the past couple of years and enter this new era of truly preventative healthcare – improving patient outcomes and reducing the burden on our vital clinical services.

Building for Growth

With an expanded team, new services and a renewed focus on member engagement, NI Chamber CEO Ann McGregor, Head of Communications & Engagement Chris Morrow and newly appointed Head of Public Affairs Stuart Anderson, tell Ambition how NI Chamber’s fresh new approach is all about delivery, agility and impact.

The NI Chamber Executive Team, photo by Khara Pringle

Welcoming the developments, Ann McGregor begins, “As a membership organisation, our credentials are well established. We have been helping businesses across Northern Ireland to grow for almost 240 years and in that time, our methodology has pivoted many times. As our members find their niche in the post-pandemic world, we’ve responded by taking a similar look at how we best support their growth aspirations.”

Central to that is making sure that the organisation has the best and most appropriate blend of services, delivered by a team of experts based right here in Northern Ireland. The establishment of a new Public Affairs department headed up by Stuart Anderson is the latest service to be provided. A qualified lawyer in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Stuart worked in leading commercial law firms in Belfast and Dublin for over ten years. Now an experienced expert in business policy and public affairs, he is also the current convenor of the Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group, a collaboration of business organisations and trade bodies dedicated to addressing the challenges and finding opportunities in the postBrexit settlement for Northern Ireland. His recent appointment to NI Chamber’s Senior Management Team complements the work already delivered by the Communications & Policy team and will enable many more members across all sectors to benefit from its lobbying work. Stuart will lead direct interactions with politicians, helping to shape the legislative agenda and supporting elected representatives to create the right conditions for business and economic growth. In doing so, Stuart will work directly with members in all sectors, identifying their challenges and bringing forward their ideas as part of a very collaborative approach between industry and policy makers. Stuart commented, “Advocacy has always been an important part of NI Chamber’s offering and with the political and economic climate as challenging as it currently is, demand has increased rapidly. In this role, I will help make sure our members’ voices are heard and acted upon every day. “Since I joined the team in April, we have already hosted some really good engagement with officials and politicians in Northern Ireland, Westminster and further afield. If we are to transition from uncertainty to opportunity in the trading environment, business engagement with government is going to be absolutely vital. So, for us, facilitating that is extremely important.” At the same time, the Senior Management Team is putting together the organisation’s new three-year strategy. Due to be launched in the summer, it will have customer engagement at its core. As head of Communications & Engagement, Chris Morrow, alongside the 23-strong Executive Team, will place a renewed focus on delivering the most relevant, impactful range of services possible, ensuring that every single member has the opportunity to engage with the organisation often. To facilitate this, NI Chamber has just launched a new website which will make it easy for members to register for events and training, upload news and events and access a suite of research and exclusively tailored resources.

Speaking about the project, Chris said: “This is part of a significant investment in digital communications, which has followed an extensive period of research and development to make sure we’re developing the best digital services which precisely meet our members’ needs and expectations. We now have the tools and processes in place to take a much more data driven approach to service delivery, which will help us to continuously improve the member experience.

“Our recent investment in digital will make access to our services easy and improve our online offering, providing members with new and better ways to share their news and updates, learn about upcoming events and relevant training and develop themselves and their teams through access to a host of useful resources, like our podcast and videos. Our recent brand refresh has coincided with all of this, deliberately timed to reflect our modern approach and agile delivery.” Ann concluded: “NI Chamber is powered by and for members – so everything we do is in their interest. Right now, we are entering an exciting phase of our history and this new chapter is all about ensuring we are doing everything possible to serve our members well and deliver the vibrant, prosperous Northern Ireland that is so central to our vision.”

Ann McGregor, Stuart Anderson and Chris Morrow.

“Advocacy has always been an important part of NI Chamber’s offering and with the political and economic climate as challenging as it currently is, demand has increased rapidly.”