Royal Navy: ‘Warship and operating theatre communication similar’

“I originally thought about doing nursing and did a year of nursing at King’s College Hospital.

“One day I went to the operating theatres at Guy’s Hospital, and I thought, ‘wow’.

“This is a completely different atmosphere. It’s more dynamic and more suited to environments I’d been to in the past.”

Mr Oliver now works as an operating department practitioner, having completed a three-year operating department practice degree.

He said that as with a military establishment, a hospital also has a list of aims that need to be achieved each day.

“Each person has a fundamental role, or they wouldn’t be there,” Mr Oliver said.

“Because of the pace, you have to be direct, you have to have confidence in your team and in your own skills.

“You also need to build a rapport quickly to put people at ease, especially in a place as diverse as London. For the patient, it’s one of the biggest, most important days of their lives potentially.”