Cascade Summer/Autumn 2012 - Plymouth Hospitals

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The big interview... with Steve Slater
Steve Slater is a Medical Photographer and Ophthalmic
Photographer at the Royal Eye Infirmary. Cascade
caught up with him recently to find out more...
What is your role at the Royal Eye Infirmary?
I produce images of eyes, scanning and photographing
people’s eyes front and back, outside, inside, all ways
round really. It’s quite a methodical job because it’s
such a difficult part of the body to capture, and it’s about
trying to get the best out of people, or at least knowing
when to draw the line, when you’ve done the best you
can. And how long have you worked here? 16 years.
Have you always been a medical and ophthalmic
photographer?
Previously I was just medical with a little bit of
ophthalmics, when I joined the Trust I concentrated
solely on ophthalmics.
And are you a photographer in your spare time?
No! I used to be, about 25 years ago, but not now. I did
a little bit after college but after spending a few years
doing photography all day you don’t really want to go
home and carry on doing the same.
What’s the best thing about your job? It’s meeting
the people, a lot of them are elderly and have really
lived. They have a lot to say and a lot of experience to
impart. I only get to talk to them for a few minutes at a
time but I do see some patients quite regularly so I do
get to know them. That’s a really nice part of the job, to
get to know them, get to know their lives and their
experiences.
And what do you like least about your job? The
bureaucracy, trying to achieve things can sometimes be
like wading through treacle.
There used to be a very small room I worked in, which
being the REI is not unusual, but because of the way it
was configured, the patient chair and the operator’s
chair were sometimes the same thing. So for one
instrument it would be the patient chair for the next
instrument it would be the operator’s chair. One day I
sat down in the operator’s chair (that had previously that
day been the patient chair) and suddenly realised that I
felt really wet… the elderly patient before had had an
incontinence problem. I had to go home and have a
shower!
Also I’ve been sprayed on more than one occasion by
the dye we use for retinal angiography. If the syringe
isn’t in the cannula properly it lifts. If it lifts, the dye goes
everywhere. It’s a bright fluorescent colour and it sprays
the entire room which then takes an hour to clear up!
I’ve been sprayed seven or eight times, three times by
the same person but I try not to take it personally.
What do you think of the current facilities at the Eye
Infirmary? They do the job but not very well.
Are you looking forward to the move up to the
Derriford site? I’m looking forward to the new
environment, but obviously it’s a longer journey to get
there every day. I haven’t had a chance to go up to the
new facilities yet,
there’s a trip planned
but I’m quite busy so
won’t be able to go.
The move up to
Derriford, what do
you think the biggest
benefit will be for
staff and patients? I
think the new
environment, it’s been
designed to maximise
use of the space and
will make the flow
through the
department a lot
easier. A lot of our
patients are elderly
and so moving them around this building can be quite
difficult, particularly over the two levels.
Have you heard any rumours/stories or tall tales
about the existing building? No, often I’ve worked late
into the night and even as a creaky old building it’s
actually quite a friendly old place. It’s going to be hard,
actually, driving to work, we’re all planning to put big
notices on our dashboards. I know at some point I will
end up driving in to the car park here and being the
only one around. It’s a friendly place to work, we’re like
a family. It’s a small community where we all look after
each other. I think that will be retained when we move,
I’ve no doubt about that.
Who would play you in the film of your life? Oh
that’s a good question, that’s difficult because I’m an
unusual looking guy… tall and skinny. Jeff Goldblum
would be my choice if I’m being optimistic... Rowan
Atkinson if I’m being realistic.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? I was a scene
of crimes officer for the police about twenty years ago, it
was horrendously stressful. I was working 14-15 hours
a day covering the southern half of Wiltshire, one man
one van, and the crime rate had trebled about six
months before I started, consequently they didn’t have
the staff and it was really quite stressful. I did that for 18
months, it was really interesting and if it hadn’t been for
the stress I would have stayed. It wasn’t called CSI
back then but that’s what it was.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The thing I’m proud of is a lead climb I did down at
Kenidjack near Cape Cornwall. It’s a 150ft single pitch
HVS (hard very severe) climb, it’s just off vertical.
Tell us something about yourself that no-one else
would know… As a child I won first prize in a Pontin’s
fancy dress competition, dressed as a King Edward
potato. I was about 9, it was form of child-torture really,
my parents used to make these costumes and take us
to Pontin’s where we’d have to wear them. I have a
sister who was equally as abused! There is
photographic evidence somewhere but I’m not sharing
that! I won third prize as Basil Brush the year before!