Meet the Team

Olivia Perfect

Olivia Perfect

Business Development Manager

Tell us a bit about yourself and your professional background

I came to Xyla Elective Care from a patient-facing role as a Cardiac Physiologist at HCA UK. My Sport and Exercise Science degree allowed me to undertake a professional placement year working as a Clinical Physiologist for a multidisciplinary rehabilitation centre (BeLife) in Rotterdam, Netherlands. I then worked in the Research and Development team at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust), assisting with a research project on innovative technology for the detection of heart conditions.

Once I had graduated, I was adamant that I wanted to be clinical and patient-facing. After a few months in that role, I decided it wasn’t for me. I found the ‘Sales and Partnerships Coordinator’ role at Xyla Elective Care (previously Xyla Diagnostics), which allowed me to combine my clinical expertise in Cardiac Physiology and my skills from being patient facing and translating this into being client-facing! From this Sales and Partnerships coordinator role, I have seen our Diagnostics business grow from a team of six to Xyla Elective Care, a team of more than 90! My role has expanded and grown since I joined the team, where I found a love for new sales and business development and currently work as Business Development Manager for Diagnostics, Insourcing and Devolved Nations.

I joined XEC in January 2020. I was excited to join a start-up business in a rapidly growing sector (Insourcing), which allowed me to continue utilising my clinical knowledge, NHS Experience, and interpersonal skills to sell services that made a difference. 

What specific skills and experience do you bring to the role?

My role involves building strong relationships with clients, being understanding of current pressures, and presenting solutions that work to resolve these pressures.

Having been in the business for three years, I have developed a deep understanding of our service offering and means. I work collaboratively with our Operations and Clinical teams; we draw upon our problem-solving skills, across a range of specialties and service delivery models, to shape the service to each trust, in a way we are experienced in and know will benefit trusts and their patients.

In addition to understanding our service offering, it is important to be strategic and develop our strategy in Business Development when understanding the pressures that impact the systems (such as winter pressures, funding, financial year and workforce). This strategy in place allows us to translate and execute solutions which we can support despite an ever-changing landscape.

What are your responsibilities?

My role is to lead the screening and development of potential opportunities and generate leads for Diagnostics, devolved nations, and Insourcing opportunities.

I work collaboratively with my respective business development colleagues, operational colleagues, Chief Nurse (Claire Fisher) and other clinical colleagues to put together a bespoke solution for each client including modelling service delivery, and pricing and governance assurances that are presented to the client in the form of a Proposal.

Once a proposal is agreed upon with a client, I also work to support the connection from sales to service delivery for seamless integration of Xyla Elective Care services to clients.

What does a typical day look like in your role?

Firstly, the day will always start with a cup of tea! A typical day will usually consist of: two to three client calls, work on outstanding proposals and pricing, updating the CRM and pipeline, an internal catch-up being: a governance board to approve proposals, pipeline updates, team updates or bid kick-off calls.

What’s the best thing about being in the XEC team?

We are all supportive and celebratory of our wins big or small, which is really positive and keeps us motivated and dedicated to continuing our efforts to find new clients to support!

What are your aims and ambitions for 2023?

To support the NHS in tackling elective care backlogs, specifically expanding our services into NHS Wales and Scotland.

What does the next year hold for XEC? What are you excited about?

2023 sees us expanding and moving into new areas and aiming to mobilise services in the devolved nations (specifically Wales). I am excited to see how Xyla Elective Care can work successfully to support services at these Health Boards that need our support with their elective backlogs and the difference this will make to their patients.

In addition, we are looking to develop further services in the diagnostics side of the business, moving towards more home monitoring and postal services, eliminating the need for patients to visit hospitals and reducing waiting times for diagnostic tests and results.