Now I’ve had a few weeks to settle in to my new role here at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals, I’ve got to know Surgery B a bit better and got to know some of the staff. Everyone has been really welcoming and very supportive, and it’s been great working with all different members of the Ophthalmology team, the nursing staff, medical records team, managers and doctors across the department.
I’ve been asked a few times by different people about why I decided to get into NHS management. It can have the reputation of getting in the way of patient care, of “pen pushers” who only care about money, and it is a job that is sometimes viewed negatively by the press and the public. So old and new colleagues have asked me…why did I choose to do a management programme in the NHS when I could have joined a private company?
During my time at university, I volunteered for the afro Caribbean leukaemia trust (ACLT), a charity which aims to increase the number of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) donors on the bone marrow register. Bone marrow donation is race specific, and less than 3% of potential donors on the current register are from ethnic minorities, so when someone from one of these communities needs a bone marrow donor their chances of finding one are much less than white patients looking for a match. When I left uni, I taught English in a Somali community centre to a group of women and two classes of teenagers (the teenagers were definitely a challenge!). These experiences showed me that I am motivated by working for something that I believe in. I applied for the NHS graduate management programme despite the fact that it will be a tough challenge, especially in the current climate of the NHS. I believe that good management, working alongside clinical colleagues, does have the potential to improve patient care. I hope to counter some of those stereotypes about NHS managers and show that the reason I chose this graduate programme is that I am passionate about patient care and I believe in the core values of the NHS.
Over the last two weeks I have been getting to know the outpatient team by joining them for their huddles twice a day. These 5 minute team meetings are a great way to raise any problems from the day before and highlight anything out of the ordinary for the day ahead so the whole team is up to speed. Getting to know the outpatient team has been a highlight, while the lower points have probably been feeling very confused at finance meetings trying to interpret all the data and understand all the abbreviations! I have also teamed up with a doctor who is interested in management, and we will be following a programme which aims to break down the professional divide between clinicians and managers. This is alongside preparations for my next two days at uni, where I will be getting to grips with “Action Learning” and “Leading improvement through people”…so very busy but I will keep you updated!
First Published 01/11/12 here
I’ve been asked a few times by different people about why I decided to get into NHS management. It can have the reputation of getting in the way of patient care, of “pen pushers” who only care about money, and it is a job that is sometimes viewed negatively by the press and the public. So old and new colleagues have asked me…why did I choose to do a management programme in the NHS when I could have joined a private company?
During my time at university, I volunteered for the afro Caribbean leukaemia trust (ACLT), a charity which aims to increase the number of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) donors on the bone marrow register. Bone marrow donation is race specific, and less than 3% of potential donors on the current register are from ethnic minorities, so when someone from one of these communities needs a bone marrow donor their chances of finding one are much less than white patients looking for a match. When I left uni, I taught English in a Somali community centre to a group of women and two classes of teenagers (the teenagers were definitely a challenge!). These experiences showed me that I am motivated by working for something that I believe in. I applied for the NHS graduate management programme despite the fact that it will be a tough challenge, especially in the current climate of the NHS. I believe that good management, working alongside clinical colleagues, does have the potential to improve patient care. I hope to counter some of those stereotypes about NHS managers and show that the reason I chose this graduate programme is that I am passionate about patient care and I believe in the core values of the NHS.
Over the last two weeks I have been getting to know the outpatient team by joining them for their huddles twice a day. These 5 minute team meetings are a great way to raise any problems from the day before and highlight anything out of the ordinary for the day ahead so the whole team is up to speed. Getting to know the outpatient team has been a highlight, while the lower points have probably been feeling very confused at finance meetings trying to interpret all the data and understand all the abbreviations! I have also teamed up with a doctor who is interested in management, and we will be following a programme which aims to break down the professional divide between clinicians and managers. This is alongside preparations for my next two days at uni, where I will be getting to grips with “Action Learning” and “Leading improvement through people”…so very busy but I will keep you updated!
First Published 01/11/12 here
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