Blogs

Dr Tamsin Oswald, our consultant microbiologist and director of infection prevention and control, on how she developed a love for bugs

My Dad spent his life travelling the world with his job working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, meaning that we moved every three years. As a result of this constant requirement to move countries, I was sent to boarding school, ensuring I had a fantastic education which I took full advantage of. It also meant I was privileged to experience life in many corners of our amazing planet. I was born in Japan, lived in Botswana, and visited Saudi Arabia, China, Bangladesh and India in the holidays.

I moved to the North East in 2000, meeting my husband on my fourth day up here and so have never left. In fact this is the longest period of time I have ever stayed in one place! My husband also works in the Northumbria Healthcare family as a surgeon. We live with our 12-year-old son in the deepest, darkest, most beautiful Northumberland countryside. We have no family living close by and no extra help as such, so we are kept very busy, juggling school runs, after school clubs and work.

Growing up, I experienced healthcare in many different countries. When I was in primary school in Botswana, I actually wanted to be a nurse. And while in Bangladesh, I got to visit a leprosy hospital which piqued my interest in infectious disease and microbiology. The only university that would have me for medical training was Bristol, so that is where I went. I trained in the South West for five years and did my junior house officer jobs there (as they were called in the old days, now known as Foundation Year 1 doctors).

I got restless feet though, and decided I needed a change so I applied for jobs in all different parts of the country to experience something different and ended up doing an A&E Senior House Officer job (now known as Foundation Doctor Year 2) in Durham. I then did my medical rotation there, working on all the different medical wards and passing my postgraduate medical exams. During that time I discovered I had a true love of bugs. I then did my specialist training in medical microbiology and virology in the North East and was appointed as a microbiology consultant by Northumbria Healthcare in 2008.

I have always found bugs fascinating, in fact I had a microscope when I was a child and spent many hours investigating the contents of pond water or the fleas from my cat!

I love my job because it is so diverse, no day is ever the same. Examples of this diversity includes visiting theatres to see what the problem is with the ventilation, managing a campylobacter outbreak in the community caused by consumption of raw milk straight from a dairy, doing the ITU ward round, giving advice on flooding in the ward toilets, teaching GPs, training undergraduates, speaking at conferences or advising local, regional and national networks on antibiotic stewardship or prosthetic joint infection. It is truly very rewarding.

The last two to three years have been very challenging, but during lockdown, I embraced some new passions – making sure I spent as much time as I could/was allowed, outside, mainly running (injuries/illness/weather permitting!) and when I couldn’t run, I foraged and learned to make my own wild garlic pesto, gooseberry crumble, sloe gin, and anything with blackberries. I also baked – further indulging my passion for bugs, by learning how to make sourdough, using my own starter (it’s all bugs again!) – which has been successfully kept alive since the first lockdown, so I am very proud of that. The only problem being that it is now my husband’s favourite bread, but unfortunately it take two days to make from start to finish. I also tried my hand at gardening, but alas my fingers are not very green.

My role is endlessly fascinating as the bugs constantly change and evolve to try to evade our attempts to control them. They are so clever and keep us constantly on our toes. My role requires me to work with pretty much every team in the trust, which I absolutely love. Essentially, I am super nosy and this job allows me to scratch that itch! I also feel like I am working in a big family and that we are all trying to do our best for our staff and patients.

However, there is still so much we can do to prevent infections. Just simple things such as washing hands, wearing masks appropriately, keeping our environment clean, making sure vaccinations are up to date and using antibiotics appropriately will all still make the difference to protect us, our patients and our families and friends. And so I am passionate about getting these simple messages across to everyone as infection prevention and control is everyone’s responsibility.