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After graduating, I joined the NHS as a junior physiotherapist, and then moved on to the post of senior musculoskeletal physiotherapist working in GP practices. I then became a Senior Physiotherapist back in the acute hospital setting in 2006.

I decided to join the NHS graduate management scheme as I had aspirations to move into leadership, and this provided the platform on which to make a fast transition from clinical work to managerial work. Currently, I’m working at North Middlesex Hospital as Service Manager for General Surgery.

I’m responsible for the day-to-day running of the general surgery service, including waiting list management for inpatients and outpatients, outpatient clinic running and ensuring we achieve the 18-week target. I also write business cases for this service, facilitating changes and improving efficiency.

Highlights include writing a business case for £300,000 for a fully integrated laparoscopic surgery suite for the hospital's new private finance initiative (PFI), which involved vast amounts of external and internal networking. I’ve also written a business case for a Rheumatology clinical nurse specialist, facilitated the development of a new vascular surgery pathway and organised a GP study day on vascular condition management. I’ve also ensured that the General Surgery Service continues to be compliant with the Department of Health’s 18-week referral to treatment (RTT) target.

I hope to complete my MSc after finishing the graduate scheme, and progress into a senior management role. Currently I am undecided if this will have an operational or strategic focus, and I am hoping the next 12 months will clarify this for me.

I wanted to work for the NHS for two reasons. Firstly, I’d worked in the private sector for three years, so I wanted a 'business' job working with a variety of people with lots of interesting opportunities and real work that would challenge me. Secondly, having also studied psychology at undergraduate and masters level I felt very passionate about wanting a career in healthcare. I researched different career options and graduate schemes and the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme stood out as it seemed to fit my aspirations perfectly.

My current job on the scheme is quite unusual in the respect that I work as a project manager working in the 2012 London Olympic Games planning team. My role is very varied and has given me lots of new experiences and skills. I am solely managing a project on the training requirements for all staff for the Olympics. As this is a strategic role it is very different from my other operational placements, but it’s a really interesting role to be in as planning for an event on the scale of the Olympics is something we have never done before.

Before the management scheme I would have never thought I could manage a large budget, manage a team of people or deliver large projects but now I have the attitude that the bigger challenge the better!

I’m just about to start a new operational job which I am really excited about. At the moment this is my main focus but thinking in the long term I would ideally like to be in a senior position in the acute sector, but if something else comes along I could be doing something completely different! The great thing about the NHS is that there are so many new and exciting opportunities that come up.

I joined the NHS because I was attracted by the opportunity to give back to the community. So far I have been very impressed because every day brings something new and different.

The scheme invests so much in trainees (the training weeks away, the action learning set groups and even the social events) it’s virtually impossible not be well equipped for senior management positions at the end of it all.

Right now, I’m finishing up a placement in Financial Accounting where I got involved in the preparation of the year end accounts, negotiating deals on goods and services and liaising with other NHS organisations to agree balances. I’m looking forward to my next placement in Management Accounting.

One of my highlights was being asked to be a member of the Selection Panel of four to interview and select from a sea of companies wanting to provide two of the Trust’s core services.

Over the next five years, I’m aiming to get to Director level in my chosen organisation and I’m confident that I’ve gained enough experience to turn around a Trust in deficit to a Foundation trust.

I had never worked in the NHS before, but I completely believe in NHS values. In my current placement I have the title of Assistant Business Manager, responsible for performance and business of services within one borough with the Trust. This includes monitoring achievement of our target activity levels, and working with IT and finance to ensure the PCT reports and reference costs are correct. I also line manage the welfare office manager and the senior medical secretary.

One of the achievements I’m most proud of has been to open communication channels between IT and front-line clinicians. By translating what the ‘other side’ is saying into language that is understood more easily, and bringing the two sides together, we’ve been able to work together more effectively.

Another achievement I’m proud of is giving trainees a voice in the IHM (Institute of Healthcare Management) by joining the London Regional Council. Despite being members of the IHM, we don’t seem to interact much as a group, and I am working towards having greater trainee involvement, for example through finding mentors through IHM and developing a ‘student writer of the year award’.

I think as long as I’m challenged and continuously learning, I’ll have found what I’m looking for. So hopefully, in five years, I’ll be in a challenging role that keeps me on my toes, and teaches me something new every day.