Meet the women of Nuffield Health - Alex Morel

Can you tell us about your role at Nuffield Health?

I have been with Nuffield Health for 5 years, starting as a Regional Director within the consumer fitness division. I have always been passionate about the connected health opportunities within the charity and how we are uniquely placed to offer our customer a fully holistic approach to their wellbeing and health. I recently took the opportunity to join the hospitals team taking on the post of Hospital Director (HD) at our Haywards Heath hospital. As HD, my role is to develop the business opportunities within the community, grow patient numbers across our multi service line specialities, whilst ensuring our teams are given the right support to do their job well, providing a safe, caring and patient centric experience.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate the achievements of women across the world in many fields of work. It allows us to recognise women who have challenged the stereotypes and been confident enough to back themselves for the job in hand, regardless of gender, culture or political beliefs.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for women today and what has been your biggest challenge?

I think some organisations make wrong assumptions and stereotypes with the roles women fit into - women make great managers AND great leaders. I think it’s also important that organisations create an “open to all” culture and adopt flexible working patterns for everyone.

My biggest challenge in my early career was having the confidence to be open about my sexuality and playing out a different persona at work - thankfully this was short lived, society has moved on hugely and I work in a very open and accepting work place with Nuffield Health which allows me to be me.

Which woman has inspired you and why?

Marie Colvin - American foreign affairs journalist and humanitarian. Marie specialised in covering middle east conflicts from the mid 1980’s. Known for her bravery and sometimes reckless risk taking, from confronting a number of controversial middle eastern leaders to crossing borders in order to get to the heart of a community in order to tell the full story. Amongst a number of accolades, Marie Colvin won the international women’s media foundation award for her courage in journalism for her coverage of Kosovo and Chechnya. Syria, 2012, she ultimately paid the price with her life leaves a legacy as a humanitarian.

Last updated Thursday 4 March 2021

First published on Thursday 4 March 2021