We're out in front, leading the way

I was a student nurse during my degree and the gastroenterology qualification involved achieving practical competence to be a nurse specialist in this field. Nursing is something that I had always wanted to do as a child.

Currently I am working within the Corporate Governance Department, which plays an integral role in the smooth running of the Trust’s business activities, providing advice and guidance as well as administrative support at all meetings of the Trust Board, Committees and Sub-Committees. I also undertake project work under the guidance of individual directors, which might involve reviewing an aspect of the service and making recommendations to the Executive Team on how this service may be improved upon.

In recent months, I’ve been focusing on the implementation of the Trust’s Public Health Strategy. I’ve met with lots of staff throughout the Trust to get a good understanding of the valuable work that they do, ensure that their achievements are acknowledged by the Board and identify local initiatives that could be expanded to the benefit of the population throughout the North West. I’ve also notably had a feature article published in Cancer Nursing Practice and was quite proud of becoming a Ward Sister as this is a role I aspired to upon qualification.

I thought getting on the scheme was an achievement in itself. But I’ve had a few more since then. I’ve now got the confidence to work with directors and present my work to them - something I would have thought impossible prior to joining the scheme.

Where do I see myself in the future? Working as an operational manager of an acute NHS trust. I want to make a difference in improving the experiences that our patients have by using both my clinical and general management experiences. As a nurse you can make a big difference to the lives of a few people, though I feel that management offers the opportunity to make a difference on a much larger scale.

I chose to do a degree in occupational therapy because I liked the idea of helping people to keep or gain their independence, and most of this kind of work is in the NHS. I have worked for other organisations, but working in the NHS has allowed me access to an unrivalled range of experience. I saw the scheme as an ideal way to further develop my career and as a good opportunity to challenge myself. I thought that my clinical background would be a good basis to start my management career.

I’m currently working as the Assistant Service Manager for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which provides specialist Mental Health Services to children and young people up to the age of 18. I manage 34 admin and clerical staff and I’ve also been responsible for a number of other projects, including a £300,000 refurbishment and development of our inpatient unit to include a two-bed high-dependency annexe. Another piece of work I’ve been involved in has been the development of a tool that captures the activity (including outreach work) done by the inpatient unit, which was challenging as it required something compatible with the activity recording in the acute hospital which is part of the same trust.

I have arranged my flexi-placement to get some private-sector management experience. Having always worked for the NHS, I’d like to see what the differences are and what I can bring back to the NHS. For my final placement, I’m going to Western Cheshire PCT where I’m hoping to get some experience in commissioning. I haven’t yet decided what kind of management position I’m aiming for; I’m waiting to get more knowledge of working in a PCT before making that decision.

After doing a degree which revolved around healthcare, and briefly running a hotel in my gap year, I wanted to carry on helping people get better healthcare and use my business skills and this scheme was perfect for that. The NHS is traditionally know for its great work-life balance, staff support such as flexi time and good annual leave as well as a good pension. As such a huge organisation, there are such a variety of roles that you can do which for me made it exciting.

I am currently working as a project manager in public involvement and engagement for a Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the North West. I have spent the last six months developing and implementing a strategic action plan which will help strengthen the engagement function within the PCT and support staff to engage better with their patients. I am also a project support officer for the strategic commissioning plan which is the PCT’s major piece of work over the next year and I have just taken on the responsibility of running a project to review green travel within the PCT.

When I first found out about my role for this placement it all sounded pretty hard and I wasn’t sure I could do it. But nine months later I’m not only really enjoying it, I’m actually quite good at it! I’ve got the confidence I need to be a project manager, presenting in front of over 100 managers in the PCT about my project! I’ve also set up a working group with members from various departments which will look at best practice ways of engaging with our stakeholders, advised some senior managers on good project management techniques and produced a step-by-step toolkit for staff on engaging well with their patients.

Following my studies, I chose to take a three-month sabbatical before working for a temping agency, and I was lucky to be given the kind of roles where I could build working relationships with various NHS staff. I got my first NHS contract while working for a family health clinic. The clinic received an internal fax from the local primary care trust (PCT) advertising for a primary care information facilitator and, having been fully supported and encouraged to apply, the rest as they say is history.

I am currently working through a programme of specific roles within different directorates of a PCT to build on my informatics background and supplement it with an understanding of how other roles use and require health informatics to deliver advanced commissioning. I am based within the strategy directorate, planning and managing practice based commissioning (PBC) projects. My work includes working collaboratively with members of the PBC team to ensure a framework is developed to support future commissioning intentions and to enable the management of consortia business plans against local, strategic and national objectives. I’m also responsible for ensuring that the plans of the Strategy Team are met by enabling analytical support and joint working with the PCT Performance Team.

One of the highlights of my NHS career has been as a member of several chronic disease “champions” groups, specialising in chronic heart disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The model of the group and the outcomes delivered were such that, at the HSJ 2006 annual awards, we won the Chronic Disease Management Award and the overall Secretary of State’s award for Excellence in Healthcare Management. And also, the scheme has been a highlight as it puts me in a position to influence the delivery of Health informatics management in the modern NHS.

I have high expectations of myself as I want and expect health informatics management to be the key stone to support all future NHS work. In the long term I would hope to be leading the future NHS through advancements in informatics management, knowledge sharing and access. The short term challenge is to position myself in such a way that I can influence and affect current thinking, practices and processes.

I joined the scheme straight from University, mainly because I had made a conscious decision to follow in both my parent’s footsteps and work in the public sector. What attracted me specifically to the NHS was its ability to affect everyone in the county in a profound way and the clearly tangible benefits of service improvement.

My decision to join the informatics management scheme was mainly down to circumstance but I am more than happy to have joined a new and exciting scheme in an arena of healthcare management that is rapidly growing in importance and visibility.

I’m currently a data quality officer, working to ensure all practices support the accurate and consistent recording and flow of data. At the end of this placement, I’ll have produced a framework and put all the relevant measures and procedures in place to ensure good data quality and which will eventually form part of a service level agreement with our partners.

My very first challenge was getting my head around how the NHS is organised and how information flows to support this complex organisation. Working in information, you can’t afford to view anything in isolation, so an understanding of the relationships between different organisations is vital to help improve the use of information in the NHS. Gaining this knowledge has been key to enabling me to do constructive work, so I consider it a big achievement.

After I finish the scheme I hope to take a ‘sidestep’ into more operational management but in a role where I can use my experience in informatics management to directly improve clinical outcomes. Being at the start of my career, I expect the next five years to have a big impact on the path that I choose, and so I’m determined to gain a broad range of experience and make the most of any opportunities that come my way.

Beyond the next five years I hope to have a long, enjoyable career making a positive contribution to the NHS!

I joined the scheme because I was motivated by the opportunity to get involved in the IT and various software projects currently being implemented in NHS through NpFit and Connecting for Health. I wanted to use the skills and knowledge I gained through my masters and the scheme appeared to provide the opportunities.

I am currently placed with ‘North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust’ as a Junior Business Analyst. I work alongside two Senior Business Analysts assisting them in various projects and reports. I’m also responsible for a few projects right from seeking approval from the Programme Board to Benefits realisation. I also share Data Quality, Information Governance, Policy Documentation, Database Warehousing and Reporting responsibilities with my other colleagues.

I started my Masters Thesis alongside my first placement and it was extremely challenging juggling both these demanding roles, so I’m very proud that I scored a ‘Distinction’. I am also very pleased that a Business Proposal I wrote about developing a Children’s Website creating awareness about First Aid and Ambulance Services has been approved for further development. My proposal was appreciated at Executive and Non Executive Directorial level which gave me a big boost. I also successfully managed a pilot Capacity Management project between the Ambulance Trust and an Acute Trust. It was a great experience which taught me a lot about various technical and people issues in NHS with regards to growing demand on services. I’ve also written – and had approved - two policies; Safe Havens Policy and Data Quality Policy.

I’m still unsure about my future direction as I’m still exploring all business aspects of the NHS and I haven’t yet decided on a particular career pathway. However, my interests currently lie in Commissioning, Information Management, IT Procurement and IT Project Management.

Whichever stream I choose, in next five years I hope to be in a Senior Position where I can make a significant contribution to the trust I would be working for and above all to the overall health and satisfaction of the patients.