Andrew Simpson, BSc, MSc, MBCS CEng MIPEM

I am a HCPC registered Clinical Scientist in the NHS. Clinical Scientists are highly specialist, adaptive and advanced practitioners who work alongside other clinicians to help aid the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of illness. We often advise other clinicians on the results from physiological tests and are experts on assessing physiological function. My specialist area is clinical physiological measurement which includes critical care & cardiac sciences, respiratory and sleep sciences, intraoperative monitoring, and pre-operative inpatient and outpatient diagnostic testing, including:

  • Spinal cord monitoring – Using specialised equipment, we monitor the signals passing through the spinal cord during surgery. This allows us to detect any issues during surgery so surgeons can take corrective action.
  • Intra-cranial pressure monitoring – Using specialised equipment, we monitor the pressure inside the skull.
  • Sleep diagnostics – Providing overnight sleep diagnostic service to patients at home and in hospital, to help diagnose sleep disordered breathing.
  • Cardiopulmonary exercise testing – Performing cardiopulmonary exercise testing to ascertain fitness for surgery.
  • Scientific safety – Supporting urodynamics testing and phototherapy in providing their services to their patient, by providing scientific safety advice and assurance.

We can be found around the hospital performing advanced diagnostic tests on patients or spending time figuring out how to perform new advance diagnostic tests and techniques for other clinicians in the hospital, to improve patient care. I am also trained in immediate life support (ILS)

Before my career change

I was a Computer Scientist. I still use the skills I acquired of my previous career to help solve complex clinical problems, on top of my day to day clinical workload. I spent several years working in IT, working in a secondary school and then a fire brigade.

Clinical Training

  • UCCE Advanced ECG in Practice
  • ARTP Pulse Oximetry
  • Immediate Life Support

Education

  • CPD Medical Physics
  • MSc (Research) Computer Science
  • BSc (Hons) Computing & Networks
  • and counting!

Interests

  • 3D and XR for Orthopaedics Surgery Planning
  • Medical Technology & Medicine
  • Physiological Function

Activities

  • Chair of Overfields Primary School
  • FedIP Advanced Practitioner
  • Chartered Engineer

By night…

I’m a freelance software and web developer, having worked many years as an IT Infrastructure engineer and studying computer science, before retraining as a clinical scientist. I have several clients who have entrusted me with operating and developing their business facing websites and business IT infrastructure.