About Us

Our Mission and Vision

Our mission is to improve the quality of life for people with long-term mental and physical health problems by educating them, their carers and their healthcare professionals about the most effective ways of managing their conditions.

Our vision is to bring practical, effective and credible information together in one place that will treat long term health as a complex and interconnected web of conditions and recognise that people with one condition may have other pressing needs. People who enter the site will feel they are in a space where they are treated as a whole person with multiple needs and anxieties. The focus will be on helping people to understand their conditions better and allow them to get the most out of life, whether at home, at work or in care.

Dominic Arkwright

Dominic Arkwright founded The Sound Doctor Ltd in 2011 after spending 25 years in front of microphone and camera with BBC news.

As well as travelling widely to report on wars and political upheavals across the world for the Today programme and Newsnight, Dominic reported on all aspects of life in the UK. He also presented a discussion programme – Off The Page – on Radio 4 for many years and several series of documentaries before he hung up his microphone in 2009.

His story-telling abilities – whether reporting on street gangs in Manchester or the curious popularity of beanie babies – were described by one editor as the best in the BBC and probably the world.

Dominic joined Dr Foster for a short time, producing audio content on many health conditions for NHS Choices before setting up The Sound Doctor with Rosie Runciman.

Dominic’s motivation for setting up a company delivering high quality, coherent and authoritative films about self-management of long term conditions was prompted by a growing realisation that if people weren’t encouraged and enabled to look after their own health the NHS would go bust.

Since 2012 the company has produced a library of more than 300 films covering diabetes, COPD, dementia and cardiovascular disease amongst others. They are of exceptionally high quality and extremely well reviewed by clinicians, charities and patients. The Sound Doctor library has been described as the best resource of its kind in the world by the Chairman of the National Association of Primary Care. Dominic conducts every interview and structures every film himself to ensure that his high BBC production values are maintained.

The aim is to give people the tools they need to look after themselves effectively, stay independent for longer and get the most out of life. The films are being used to help populations in many CCG areas including Barnsley, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire as well as being offered to customers at pharmacies in London and the West Midlands.

Evaluations have shown that The Sound Doctor reduces the amount of time that people spend with their GPs and other clinicians and also reduces the number of avoidable admissions to hospital.

Dominic also presented a series of weekly radio programmes about health and wellbeing for NHS Choices and Age UK aimed at engaging people with their own health.

When he’s not filming Dominic describes himself as a reluctant cyclist, an unlucky fisherman and a hopeless golfer. He lives in Gloucestershire with one wife, three dogs and five children.

Rosie Runciman

Rosie Runciman is co-founder of The Sound Doctor Ltd. Before that she spent more than 20 years producing and editing news and current affairs programmes on BBC national radio and the World Service.

She was the co-creator and editor of The World Today during a long spell at the World Service where she also edited Newshour before moving to Radio 5Live to produce and edit a range of daily shows including Victoria Derbyshire, Anita Anand and Matthew Bannister. She famously revealed the contents of her handbag live on air in between fixing interviews and discussions on more important matters of state.

Rosie left the BBC in 2009 and joined Dominic Arkwright, a reporter and presenter on BBC radio and television to set up The Sound Doctor in 2011.

Rosie’s skills in finding the right subjects to talk about and the right guests to make lively and engaging radio programmes have given The Sound Doctor a library of health information films unmatched anywhere in the world. Her motivation was to help people get the most out of life and the films on dementia, diabetes, COPD, cardiovascular disease and other long term conditions do just that.

The Sound Doctor aims to give people the information they need to self-manage long term conditions effectively and evaluations have shown that the films have reduced both the number of admissions to hospital and the number of visits people make to their GP.

Rosie was instrumental in producing and editing a series of weekly radio programmes for NHS Choices aimed at helping people engage with their health and wellbeing and brought her BBC flair to deliver a wide range of news and views on health and lifestyle. The programmes, presented by Dominic Arkwright have been re-broadcast by Age UK and are used to motivate people on hospital radio around the country.

Rosie is an enthusiastic walker of her three dogs, loves organising her husband and five children and hates mess.

Professor James Kingsland

Professor James Kingsland OBE was, until April 2020, President of the National Association Primary Care, having previously served as Chairman from 2004-08.

He is the senior partner in a nationally renowned, award winning General Practice in the North West of England and has a wealth of experience in primary care, medical education and medical politics.

James is the co-author of the new care model for the NHS, the Primary Care Home, and is now one of the two national leads for the programme.

He served as a senior GP advisor at the Department of Health to both ministers and the senior civil service from 1999-2002 and from 2009–2013.

James has also held advisory positions with National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Monitor. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust. In July 2018, he was made an Honorary Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Central Lancashire.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch. If you’d welcome an informal 30-minute meeting at a time and place to suit you, please ring. We’d love to talk to you.
Tel: + 44 1285 850 887

What our clients say

“The whole thing has a very positive and upbeat feel to it, which is just what is needed. I think it is an excellent resource.”

Simon O’Neill
Director of Health Intelligence, Diabetes UK

<p><em>"Like many of the best uses of technology, the Sound Doctor is both simple and effective. It gives patients easy access to practical information so they can better understand and manage their own health conditions."</em></p>

<p><strong>Professor Mike Morgan</strong><br />
Respiratory National Clinical Director | Vice-President, British Lung Foundation</p>

"Like many of the best uses of technology, the Sound Doctor is both simple and effective. It gives patients easy access to practical information so they can better understand and manage their own health conditions."

Professor Mike Morgan
Respiratory National Clinical Director | Vice-President, British Lung Foundation

<p><em>“Improving the care of people with dementia and providing support for their carers is a national priority. Providing information about dementia in an accessible form is a key component for this.”</em></p>

<p><strong>Professor Alistair Burns</strong><br>
National Clinical Director for Dementia</p>

“Improving the care of people with dementia and providing support for their carers is a national priority. Providing information about dementia in an accessible form is a key component for this.”

Professor Alistair Burns
National Clinical Director for Dementia