Simon Talbot
Managing Director, P3 Medical
Q: What does your role at P3 involve?
A: My role is principally to set the overall strategy for the business and then to manage and organise the people and other resources required to keep us moving toward our strategic objectives. P3 employs 80 people in two locations and inevitably there are a great deal of day-to-day operational issues which need guidance and take up a proportion of my time. I also like to keep as close as possible to the medical device market both in the UK and overseas.
Q: What is your professional background?
A: I qualified as an accountant with CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) which is the professional body and qualification for accountants in business, rather than the high-street accountants most people associate with the profession. I worked in a number of sectors and in 1992 found my way into the medical sector. In the mid nineties I moved out of a purely financial role into general management and have been managing medical device companies ever since.
Q: What do you think your experience can do to advance the interests of P3?
A: My financial and commercial background gives me a good foundation and I’d like to think that this, together with my specific experience in the medical device sector, makes me well equipped to contribute to P3’s development. I consider myself quite well-rounded as a manager and I try to bring this approach to P3. I started Promedica, one of the constituent parts of P3, pretty much from scratch in 2001 and this provided a steep learning curve and a body of experience which I now think is of benefit to P3.
Q: Do you have any new (anaesthesia related) ideas on the drawing board?
A: Our main project at present is the Papworth Bivent Tube, used for lung isolation in cardiothoracic procedures, which we have developed in conjunction with NHS Innovations East and Papworth Hospital, who, I would like to add, have been inspirational to work with. Phoenix Medical, which is now part of P3, worked with Dr Frank Robertshaw back in the 1950s to develop the original Double Lumen Endobronchial Tube and we believe the new Bivent device will have a similar and hugely beneficial impact on this type of procedures. We are also working on some unique and innovative developments to our Laryngeal Mask and Endotracheal product ranges.
Q: What changes do you see occurring in the anaesthetics and healthcare industry over the next few years?
A: The general themes are becoming quite familiar with downward cost pressure a constant issue. Health economics suggest no let-up in this area and particularly so in the UK where the sustainability of our model of healthcare delivery via the NHS will be continually open to question. We do not expect any early resolution to the lack of clarity and continued uncertainty in the structure of UK hospital procurement. Both industry and clinicians will have to adapt quickly to this ever-changing landscape. Materials and manufacturing technologies continue to develop quickly and offer scope for innovative techniques and devices which industry will be seeking to exploit for the benefit of clinicians and patients.
Q: Do you have a history of working closely with anaesthetists or with other medical device companies?
A: I am relatively new to anaesthesia having only become involved in the last few years. Both our business and some of my close colleagues have been working with anaesthetists for many years and have co-operated on the development of many successful devices. In previous roles I and other members of the P3 team have worked with surgeons and nurses to develop new devices which help their daily work in patient care. Taking ideas from clinicians of any discipline and turning them into marketable products is one of the more enjoyable and rewarding aspects of our work and we are always on the look-out for interesting ideas for products which fall within our product area.
Q: What is your focus and what do you offer the anaesthetics industry? …And finally, what does the future hold for P3?
A: P3 is focused on medical devices and anaesthesia is one of a small number of areas we identify where we believe we can play a role in bringing effective devices to market. Though P3 as an organisation is relatively new we have deliberately selected a team with a great deal of experience in this sector. We have a mission to develop P3 into major participant in our chosen field and, whilst these are very early days in the context of the development of a business, we are quietly confident that we are progressing toward our goals. Look out for some innovative developments from P3 over the next few years.
