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Carole Gilling-Smith: Who Looks After the People Who Look After Our Patients?
Carole Gilling-Smith/LinkedIn
Oct 30, 2026, 15:45

Carole Gilling-Smith: Who Looks After the People Who Look After Our Patients?

Carole Gilling-Smith, Medical Director, Consultant Gynaecologist and Fertility Specialist of Agora Clinic, shared on LinkedIn։

“Who looks after the people who look after our patients?

In IVF, our patients bring us their hopes, their fears and, quite often, their spreadsheets full of questions.

Every scan, every phone call and every embryo update matters enormously to them, as it does to us.

Caring at that level asks a great deal of a team, day in and day out.

And it only works if everyone, whether they be a doctor, nurse, embryologist or member of our admin and support team, feels cared for too.

So I am absolutely delighted that the Agora Clinic is now officially Great Place To Work Certified!

A few years ago, with the support of my colleague César Gamio, I set up our Agora Workplace Well-being Programme.

Not because we needed another policy gathering dust in an HR folder, but because I wanted wellbeing to be something we actually did, rather than just talked about.

We developed a strategy spanning seven dimensions of wellbeing, with staff champions who listen to their colleagues, share ideas and, most importantly, help turn those ideas into action.

What makes this certification particularly special is that you can’t win it with a glossy application. It is based on what our own people say, anonymously, about working here.

And their responses make me incredibly proud:

  • 100% say colleagues celebrate each other’s successes,
  • 98% feel proud of what we accomplish together,
  • 98% say people here willingly go the extra mile,
  • 96% say our people genuinely care about each other,
  • 89% believe our patients would rate our care as excellent.

That last one means a great deal to me, because it reflects what our patients tell us through their feedback and surveys.

When your team and your patients are saying the same thing, you know the culture you’ve worked so hard to build is real.

Loyalty tells a similar story.

64% of our team have been with us for over three years, and 28% for more than a decade.

Of course, no workplace is perfect (and I would be rather suspicious of one that claimed to be!).

Our survey has also shown us where we can still do better, and we are already acting on that feedback.

Certification is the bar we start from, not the one we aim for.

A huge thank you to Lauren Johns for coordinating our programme, Sebastian Gilling-Ulphfor supporting our many initiatives, and to our wonderful wellbeing champions for all your energy and ideas.

And to the entire Agora team: this one is yours!

The photo captures one of our monthly ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions, where we combine learning with lovely food and conversation.

Add in team socials, charity events, prize-giving and some fiercely contested interdepartmental competitions, and there’s rarely a dull moment at the Agora!

Our Halloween photo competition is currently in full swing, and I can assure you the standard is frighteningly high!”

Stay informed with the latest updates in fertility and reproductive medicine on Fertility News.

Agora Workplace Well-being Programme Carole Gilling-Smith César Gamio Fertility Fertility News IVF Lauren Johns OBGYN reproductive health Reproductive Medicine Sebastian Gilling-Ulphfor Women’s Health
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