Simon Hayward BSc (Hons) PGCert MCSP is a Physiotherapist/Physical Therapist (PT) in Diagnostic Thoracic Ultrasound (TUS) at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Research Fellow (Coventry University) in the United Kingdom (U.K.). He studied Physiology (BSc Hons) at Kings College London followed by Physiotherapy (BSc Hons) at Manchester Metropolitan University, qualifying in 2006. In 2022 he completed a PGCert in Medical Education at the University on Central Lancashire.

Simon’s experience has been in the National Health Service (NHS), primarily within respiratory and critical care services where he has been using TUS to inform his clinical practice since 2013. In 2016 he initiated a TUS training programme aimed primarily at PTs. To date over 300 PTs have attended his introduction to Thoracic Ultrasound course with more than 70 having gained their TUS accreditation within the U.K.

Simon considers himself an early career researcher and has published numerous studies and reviews around TUS. Most recently he has contributed to national PT TUS guidelines and co-developed a framework for TUS education, governance, and scope of practice. He has published qualitative work on the barriers to PT TUS adoption and implementation. He has also been invited to speak and present on TUS at numerous national and international conferences and is considered the leading authority on physiotherapy-initiated TUS within the UK.

In 2018 Simon was invited to join the Focused Ultrasound Intensive Care (FUSIC) committee, part of the Intensive Care Society (ICS) in the U.K., which is responsible for accrediting clinicians in TUS.