Growing up, Dr Darren Ranasinghe’s spell working in a music store and playing guitar had him daydreaming of rock stardom. But a career as a consultant paediatrician turned out to be a lot more rewarding – and fun.
This interview is part of a series, going behind the scenes to get to know the people who keep NHS services working all year round.
Meet Darren
Tell us about your role
I work as a consultant in paediatric emergency medicine at Epsom and St Helier Hospital. I specialise in treating children in the emergency department, where I see children of all ages with illness and trauma, those with physical and mental health conditions, and those who are critically unwell. I also manage general paediatric conditions within both inpatients and outpatients.
I’m also the clinical lead for South West London Healthier Together. The Healthier Together programme aims to improve health outcomes for children and reduce health inequalities. We do this primarily through a website that offers families specific information to manage common childhood conditions at home and support them to navigate their way through what can often be a very confusing NHS. We also support frontline healthcare professionals caring for children in all settings with tailored clinical guidelines.
What’s your career history?
I grew up in south London and studied at St George’s medical school before completing my paediatric training in London, with further specialist training in Wessex on the south coast. I’ve been lucky to work in all the hospitals within south west London, which has helped enormously in building closer working relationships between our health systems.
What made you decide to work in the NHS?
My parents both worked in the NHS – the pharmacy departments of St Helier Hospital and the Royal Marsden Hospital – so that probably gave me a sense of belonging in the NHS as a child and a passion to help others.
Tell us about a typical day?
I love my job. Every day is different and I have a great mix of clinical work, research, teaching and health promotion, which keeps me busy. There’s a lot of joy and reward in being able to treat a child with an injury or illness and often being able to turn them around in the same day, so they leave with a smile and a high-five. There are some days when, unfortunately, children come in critically unwell, but there’s satisfaction in being part of a great team that’s able to care for them and their families when they need it most.
Tell us a story that highlights how your job helps people?
In 2013 I volunteered with Doctors Without Borders (or MSF) in a remote part of Ethiopia, working alongside a team of Ethiopian staff and one other international doctor. We were the only doctors there. Between us we covered two health centres, which were at least a day apart in travel and served an area almost the size of south west London. We cared for children in tents who, in the UK, would have been in a high dependency unit.
Through managing the service, I learned the importance of supporting the health system as a whole with partners, and empowering communities to lead on specific initiatives as a means to deliver change that would outlive my presence there. The same approach is important for the NHS and the pandemic has caused a number of pressures for families in our region, affecting a range of social issues that worsen health inequalities.
What is the biggest challenge at the moment?
We have high numbers of children coming in with respiratory illnesses and other infectious diseases including measles. We have limited resources and it’s all about using them wisely. We’re trying to give staff more skills so they can manage those conditions even better and extend their reach into the community, using different parts of our urgent and emergency care system such as pharmacies, 111 and GPs.
Why is your role so important to managing pressure on services?
The Healthier Together programme involves more than 100 paediatricians, GPs, health visitors, community pharmacists and mental health specialists. They’ve given so much of their time to support families to access the care needed for their children and through pregnancy. That might be care delivered at home or care they can access in different parts of our health system including A&E. The programme’s success is entirely down to the support of colleagues who are passionate about serving their community. We hope for a trickle effect with more professionals and patients signposting the website to others in need, which will ultimately lead to better outcomes for our children.
What do you get up to when you’re not at work?
I’m usually busy with my wife and young children, and we’re often outdoors exploring – running around playgrounds or forests. I enjoy building things for them, so they’ve got a range of makeshift playhouses and dens to keep them occupied.
Tell us something people might not know about you?
As a teenager, I thought if I wasn’t going be a doctor, I might be a failed rock star. So, I did half my work experience in a GP surgery and half in a music store. After that, I was in a band at uni. We played some gigs but you won’t find us online anywhere. Thankfully it was pre-YouTube.