Spotlight On An Expert: Stephen McMylor, Associate Trainer & Nursing Expert
Insights - 19/11/25
As a growing lad, I never wanted to be a nurse; I wanted to be a policeman!
Anyway, I was born towards the end of the swinging sixties and grew up in the somewhat uninspiring village of Hadfield, on the edge of the glorious Peak District (Hadfield was transformed a few times in the 90s, to become the fictional village of Royston Vasey – if you know, you know). Throughout my early years, I was involved with the scout movement, which I still attribute to influencing me in my attitude to lean towards being helpful to other people, thus influencing my eventual career choice.
Upon leaving school, I decided that I did not want to further my academic education and so, enrolled in a youth training scheme and was placed, for a year, in a daycare centre (on about £1 an hour), looking after people with a range of needs. This progressed, with the natural move towards a career in nursing. But I still wanted to be a policeman!
Following my YTS year, I applied to Derbyshire Constabulary, as well as Oldham School of Nursing, and wouldn’t you know it, I was accepted by both. Decision time. Although I’ll never know what it would have been like to be a copper, and I still do wonder, I have been wholly satisfied with my career as a nurse, which, at the time of writing, spans 38 years.
After qualifying as an RGN in 1990, I worked nights on a trauma orthopaedic ward for three years, but knew I needed something different. One Saturday afternoon, I was in the pub with my soon-to-be father-in-law, who was in the fish and chip trade, and he said to me, “We could always buy a nursing home”.
Scary thought, but that’s exactly what we did. We initially took over an existing home in Crumpsall, Manchester in 1993, with me being the matron (as my hilarious staff liked to call me!). Over the course of the next nineteen years, we built the business up to include two homes and a busy domiciliary care agency, providing care to six local authorities.
Following the successful sales of the homes in 2007, we concentrated on the home care business, which eventually, due to changes in the procurement systems, became very pressured for a medium-sized business such as ours. We eventually off-loaded it (for not very much money) to a partner investor, who may or may not have known what he was letting himself in for!
In 2012, I became the general manager of a Barchester home, which is where my first experience with the medico-legal field tentatively began, following a discussion with a visiting investigator, who was taking copies of care records for an existing case.
I didn’t, however, pursue this until 2018, when I turned fifty and decided enough was enough in the often horrible home management game. This is when I went back to frontline nursing, still in the private sector, but I touted myself to solicitors and other businesses as a potential consultant.
In 2019, I was contacted by a solicitor, who commissioned me to deliver a lecture to their solicitors about the intricacies around the various funding processes within the care home arena. Lecture actually sounds a bit grand; we were in fact, just sat round a table, with them furiously taking notes while I droned on. Anyway, at this “lecture” I was approached by an expert witness, working for a rival business to Somek, and this is where my expert witness work really began in earnest. Over the course of about four years, I wrote numerous liability reports for this company until I had a change and moved to Somek in 2023.
After a couple of years of writing reports for Somek, I was pleased to be accepted as an associate trainer, which commenced in September this year. Up to now I am thoroughly enjoying this new role, not least for the fact that my daily commute involves me walking across my landing at home.
Outside of work, I have always enjoyed walking up big hills, such as in the Lake District. However, this became increasingly challenging post-fifty, when I started breaking bones! I now only stroll around lakes and rivers. I’m also a frustrated sailor and am qualified to skipper a boat; so if there are any sailboat owners out there who need crew, I’m your man!