SONJA: CLINICAL LEAD
“There’s a great sense of freedom here and lots to do. We can walk two minutes and be on the beach, having a run on Sunday morning or after work. There are beautiful parks and a five-minute drive takes you to the countryside so we can walk our three dogs.
“And there are great schools, our kids have been to Holy Trinity, St George’s and Chatham House. Our youngest was at Margate Royal School for Deaf Children and it was devastating when that closed but now she is at Foreland school and they have been just brilliant.”
Battling City traffic is something else Sonia has left behind. She said: “I used a push bike in London, it was the only way you could guarantee picking the kids up from school on time. My husband had his own business in Shoreditch and still goes to London for meetings but it’s only one hour and 10 minutes by train, not much different to the time it took to get there from Greenwich.”
Sonia’s role as clinical development lead for community cardiac rehab at Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT) has also proved rewarding.
“There’s a great team of highly skilled clinicians here who are passionate about their jobs”
Working across Kent but based at the gloriously historic St Augustine’s in Westgate Sonia specialises in pulmonary, orthopaedic, cardiac and chronic pain rehab.
She said: “There’s a great team of highly skilled clinicians here who are passionate about their jobs. It’s a great, family friendly Trust to work for and there is lots of flexibility and variety. No two days are ever the same.
“It’s very easy to get swept up with the ego-centric idea of London’s clinical fantasticness but you realise that actually it is just as clinically excellent outside of London.”