Kamini Gadhok

Last updated
Kamini Gadhok

MRCSLT MBE
BornMarch 1961
Occupation
  • Chief Executive
Academic work
Institutions

Kamini GadhokMRCSLT MBE (b. 1961) is a British speech and language therapist. From 2000 to 2023, Gadhok served as the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. [1]

Contents

Early life

Gadhok was born in India, the youngest of three sisters, but spent the early part of her childhood in Nairobi, Kenya. Her family emigrated to Nottingham, England in 1966. An academically gifted teenager, Gadhok came across the speech and language therapy profession through a leaflet, and felt a desire to 'give back, help others, particularly vulnerable children who did not have a voice'. [2]

Speech and Language Therapist

Gadhok studied Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Manchester and graduated in 1983. [3] She worked as a speech and language therapist for Nottingham Community Health NHS Trust and was later promoted to locality manager and coordinator for the service's speech and language therapy department. She specialised in bilingualism and led the development of services for people for whom English was an additional language. She established the Asian bilingual co-worker service, the first of its kind in the country. In 1997, Kamini became ethnic health projects coordinator for the NHS and was seconded to the Department of Health to set up the Race Equality Unit, where she was section head until 2000.

Chief Executive

In 2000, Gadhok began working for the RCSLT as the organisation's Professional Director, later becoming their Chief Executive. One of Gadhok's early challenges in this role was leading the speech and language therapy profession through the implementation of Agenda for Change, the NHS grading and pay system, in 2004. [4] [5]

As CEO of RCSLT, Gadhok oversaw the tenures of 12 Chairs of College, including: Flis Parsons, Caroline Sykes, Sue Roulstone, Rosalind Gray Rogers, Mary Turnbull, Maria Luscombe, Hazel Roddam, Bryony Simpson, Morag Dorward, Della Money, Mary Heritage, and Sean Pert. [6] [7]

In 2018, Gadhok advocated for the prioritisation of children's language services by the UK government as a result of the findings of a 10-year impact assessment of the Bercow Report. [8]

In April 2022 Gadhok announced that she would retire from her role as CEO of the RCSLT in March 2023. [3] In October 2022, the RCSLT announced the appointment of Steve Jamieson as Gadhok's successor, taking up the post in March 2023. [9]

From 2007 to 2012 Gadhok served as a director of the National Literacy Trust. [10]

Awards

Gadhok was awarded an Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to the allied health professions. [11]

In November 2019, alongside RCSLT President Nick Hewer, Gadhok was awarded an honorary degree by Plymouth Marjon University to mark the 25th anniversary of the speech and language therapy degree programme at the university. [12]

In July 2023, Gadhok was made an honorary Doctor of Civil Law by Newcastle University, in recognition of her contribution to the national and international development of speech and language therapy and her efforts to increase equality and diversity within the speech and language therapy profession. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speech–language pathology</span> Disability therapy profession

Speech-language pathology is a healthcare field of expertise practiced globally. Speech-language pathology (SLP) specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders, cognitive-communication disorders, voice disorders, and swallowing disorder across the lifespan. It is an independent profession that is sometimes considered a "related health profession" or allied health profession by professional bodies like the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and Speech Pathology Australia. Allied health professions include audiology, optometry, occupational therapy, rehabilitation psychology, physical therapy and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Hewer</span> English television presenter and former public relations consultant

Nicholas Radbourn Hewer is a retired English television presenter, company director (2010) and former public relations consultant. From 2005 to 2014, he appeared as Alan Sugar's adviser in the British television series The Apprentice. From 2012 to 2021, he presented the Channel 4 programme Countdown with Rachel Riley and Susie Dent.

Debbie Sell, OBE, FRCSLT is a leading British speech and language therapist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists</span>

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists is the professional body for speech and language therapists in the UK and a registered charity. It was established on 6 January 1945 to promote the study of speech therapy in the UK, to seek improvement and maintain a high standard of knowledge and to unite all members of the profession. The RCSLT’s current patron is the Duchess of Edinburgh. The RCSLT has offices in Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff and London.

Muriel Elizabeth Morley (1899–1993) was an English speech and language therapist who specialised in the management of cleft palate. She was the president of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Elizabeth Catherine Usher AO (1911–1996) was a speech disorders therapist and academic. She was the first person from Queensland to study speech therapy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne McAllister (speech therapist)</span> (1892–1983), Scottish speech therapist and teacher

Anne Hutchison McAllister was a leading Scottish speech therapist and teacher.

Pamela Mary Enderby, FRCSLT is a British Speech Therapist and Professor of Community Rehabilitation at the University of Sheffield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Bowen</span>

Caroline Bowen is a speech pathologist who was born in New Zealand, and who has lived and worked in Australia most of her life. She specialises in children's speech sound disorders. Her clinical career as a speech-language pathologist spanned 42 years from 1970 to 2011.

Catherine Easton Renfrew,, was a British speech therapist.

Margaret Cicely Langton Greene was a British speech and language therapist.

Gillian Dorothy Kennedy is a Consultant speech and language therapist specialising in neonates and paediatrics at University College Hospital.

Edna Butfield was a British speech and language therapist and the Principal of West End Hospital Speech Therapy Training School, London (latterly part of University College London. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in 1950 and awarded the annual Honours of the RCSLT in 1982. In 1969 she was made a MBE in the 1969 New Year Honours list.

Catherine Hollingworth,, was a Scottish speech therapist and a pioneer of Child drama.

Anna Danielle van der Gaag is a speech and language therapist and academic. She is visiting professor in ethics and regulation at the University of Surrey and former chair of the Health and Care Professions Council.

Della Money is a speech and language therapist and Chairperson of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. Money is currently a consultant speech and language therapist with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Bryony Simpson is a British speech and language therapist.

Annalu Waller is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Dundee and leads the Augmentative and Alternate Communication (AAC) Research Group at the university.

Roganie Govender is a British-South African speech and language therapist. She is a consultant clinical academic speech and language therapist at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Evelyn Mary Macdonald was a British occupational therapist who helped establish occupational therapy in the United Kingdom, Argentina and Greece. She founded the Association of Occupational Therapists. Miss Macdonald was Principal of Dorset House, the oldest and largest School in Great Britain for 33 years. She was an appointed member of the Cope Committee which led to the statutory regulation of the Professions Supplementary to Medicine in 1960. Macdonald was the first Chair of the Occupational Therapists Board. She was an author, an early advocate of cooperation between the allied health professions and a historian of the Association.

References

  1. ↑ "RCSLT: Biographies". Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  2. ↑ "Interview with 'SLTs of Colour'" . Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  3. 1 2 Kamini Gadhok (April 2022). "A New Chapter". Bulletin of the RCSLT (830): 16.
  4. ↑ "RCSLT Bulletin July 2004" (PDF). Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  5. ↑ Akwagyiram, A. "Speech therapists fear NHS reform". BBC News. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  6. ↑ Kamini Gadhok (January 2023). "Moving forward". RCSLT Bulletin Winter 2023 (833): 17.
  7. ↑ "RCSLT Bulletin Spring 2023" (PDF). Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  8. ↑ Packham, A. (20 March 2018). "Children With Speech And Language Needs Not Getting Right Help, Report Warns". Huff Post. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  9. ↑ "Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists welcomes new Chief Executive". RCSLT. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  10. ↑ "Kamini GADHOK". Companies House. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  11. ↑ "Birthday Honours 2009". UK Government Cabinet Office. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  12. ↑ "Plymouth Marjon University award Nick Hewer and Kamini Gadhok MBE honorary degrees" . Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  13. ↑ "Leading figures recognised with honorary degrees" . Retrieved 3 August 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.