Pamela Enderby


Pamela Mary Enderby FRCSLT,, is a British Speech Therapist and Professor of Community Rehabilitation at the University of Sheffield.

Career

In 1975 Enderby became Head of the Speech Therapy Department at Frenchay Hospital. In 1983 she gained her PhD from Bristol University Medical School. In 1986 she became Head of the Frenchay District Speech Therapy Services.
Enderby was Chair and Vice President of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, of which she is a Fellow, in 1993-1994 and President of the Society for Research and Rehabilitation from 1994 to 1996. She has led research programmes into various aspects of therapy, particularly related to models of delivery, and effectiveness and outcomes. She is currently non-executive Director of South Yorkshire Health Authority and chairperson of the Regional Older Peoples´ Task Force. She is on the editorial advisory board for the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders.
Enderby was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of West England in December 2000 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to speech and language therapy and to rehabilitation research. In 1986 Enderby was awarded the Jacques Parisot Foundation Fellowship Award presented by the World Health Organization.
Enderby was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2018.
In June 2019 Enderby was the keynote speaker at the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders Annual Lecture.

Equal pay activism

Enderby was the lead claimant in a landmark legal case for equal pay in the NHS. In 1986 she argued that her work and that of her colleagues, mostly women, was of equal value to clinical psychologists, who were predominantly men. Her employers said the difference in pay could be justified because the two groups bargain separately. This claim launched the second longest group action for equal pay for equal work since a 1985 claim by female canteen workers against British Coal. The case involved twenty-six court appearances, 2,000 applicants and sixteen test cases.
The resulting compensation cost the government approximately £30 million in back-pay. The Enderby case led the then Labour government to institute a review of pay and grading scales throughout the health service in the form of the Agenda for Change.

Select publications